Lita Albuquerque

One Small Section of the Sky by Lita Albuquerque, 2012
Experimental Performance, Animation, Voice
Exhibition Location: Bridge to the Stars
Image: Courtesy the artist
Originally produced for Knowledges at Mount Wilson Observatory, One Small Section of the Sky is an audiovisual performance by Lita Albuquerque, featuring singers of the LA Master Chorale and a visualization of data from the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute. The performance took place on the bridge leading to the famous 100 inch Hooker Telescope at Mount Wilson, where Hubble’s theories of a far greater than thought and expanding Universe were confirmed. The libretto, accompanied by a score composed by Kristen Toedman, was produced by the Albuquerque studio specifically for the performance, and resembled a futuristic yet ancient scroll housed in copper and acrylic. The visual part of the performance, designed by Mattia Casalegno, consisted of a multi-projection stretching along the 150 feet of the bridge and facing the singers. Inspired by the ESI (Earth Similarity Index) used in astronomy to classify the similarity of a planet to the Earth, it featured a visualization of data of the 2700+ candidate exoplanets identified by the Kepler telescope as of Spring 2012.
Libretto: Lita Albuquerque, Mattia Casalegno, Cielo Alano
Score: Kristen Toedtman with the Kristen Toedtman Exoplanets Ensemble (All Singers from the Los Angeles Master Chorale)
Visual Design: Mattia Casalegno
Lita Albuquerque thanks Joe Good, Astrophysicist, CalTech, Kepler Observatory Mapping Project, NASA Exoplanets Archive, CalTech
This research has made use of the NASA Exoplanet Archive, which is operated by the California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under the Exoplanet Exploration Program.
Lita Albuquerque is an internationally renowned installation, environmental artist, painter and sculptor. She has developed a visual language that brings the realities of time and space to a human scale and is acclaimed for her ephemeral and permanent art works executed in the landscape and public sites. litaalbuquerque.com