Kapwani Kiwanga
The Sun Ra repatriation project - Installation - 2009
presented as part of the exhibition Panorama 11
Installation
The Sun Ra Repatriation Project is an artistic endeavour to repatriate Sun Ra to his homeland: Saturn. Sun Ra was an influential American jazz musician and composer who affirmed his extraterrestrial origin. He created an "Astro-black" philosophy, which he transmitted until his death in 1993. Inspired by Sun Ra's mythology, The Sun Ra Repatriation Project fashions a four-stage system of interplanetary communication: Phase I - Image production those who knew Sun Ra provide physical descriptions of him during videoed interviews. A composite sketch of Sun Ra is produced from these accounts. Phase II - Coding and Transmission the composite portrait is transformed into a radio wave and sent to Saturn. Phase III - Reception and Observation the project monitors Saturn. this data is sonified and broadcast into the exhibition space. Phase IV - Decoding, Analysis, Interpretation this observational data is decoded and archived regularly. this record creates a research document to be analysed and possibly decipher a message confirming Sun Ra's safe arrival.
