Lara Reichmann
Loading Suns
Curated by
Domen Ograjenšek
Exhibition
13 December 2023–12 January 2024
Aksioma | Project Space, Ljubljana
Part of U30+ production programme for supporting young artists

Loading Suns spark up in the absence of a human gaze. In its stead, ASTER, MODIS, MISR, CERES and MOPPIT brace the satellite for its journey through the harsh conditions of space. Terra, also known as EOS AM-1, is a multinational scientific research satellite, its monitoring mission set in the Sun-synchronous orbit around the planet, where five core sensors, ASTER, MODIS, MISR, CERES and MOPPIT, monitor Earth’s atmosphere, land and water. Loading Suns invites the viewer to follow the story of Terra from its humble beginnings to its eventual demise and downfall. The satellite will one day cease to serve its purpose, its story told through the polyphony of anthropomorphised voices, the inner apparatuses, through which cognition, reflection and remembrance become instances of a communal foretelling.
Lara Reichmann approaches animation through the logic of the additive cut: stitching fragments of narratives and forms to achieve results that echo not only its constitutive parts but also the glitches and noise of the synthesising process. Terra’s inner world reflects the stitched fabric of the world it is obliged to monitor and observe – the satellite image of the planet, computationally reconstructed out of a myriad of fragmented images. Refection in terms of cognition and self-awareness comes by way of a continuous flow, of aggregation and computation. The unfolding narrative splits at points where the stitch itself enters the flow of observable data. Amidst the noise, a precarious form of cognition begins to face its eventual decommission, its attentive monitoring and observation turning into mourning of its Icarian descent.
THE AUTHOR

Lara Reichmann (1995) is a visual artist working in the field of video and animation. Her recent projects focus on digital interfaces, glitches and time lapses that build parallel virtual landscapes of satellite images. She has participated in several group and solo exhibitions that were held, among others, in P74 Gallery and Kino Šiška in Ljubljana, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Koroška in Slovenj Gradec, Centre of Contemporary Arts Celje (SI), Krinzinger Projekte, Parallel in Vienna (AT) and Gallery 707 in Brno (CZ). She has curated several exhibitions, among others for the ETC. magazine, SCCA Centre for Contemporary Arts, Škuc Gallery and student pop-up gallery 7:069 in Ljubljana (SI), Gallery Nova – WHW in Zagreb (HR) and the Pita Project platform.
THE CURATOR

Domen Ograjenšek is a writer, critic and curator of contemporary visual art. They are a former member of the ŠUM Journal editorial board and its research collective, and they have given lectures and seminars at art institutions such as the International Centre of Graphic Arts (MGLC Ljubljana), the Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova (MSUM), Škuc Gallery, PhaseBook Prague, Nova Pošta and the International Festival of Computer Art (IFCA). Their reviews and essays have been published in magazines and online platforms such as PASSE-AVANT, Artalk, Blok Magazine, Fotograf Magazine, all-over Magazine, ETC. Magazine, Maska Magazine, ŠUM Journal, Borec Journal, Tribuna and Radio Študent. They have curated exhibitions at the Museum of Madness Trate, SCCA-Ljubljana, Aksioma Project Space, Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova (as a member of the Neteorit collective), Center for Contemporary Arts Celje (Likovni salon) and Škuc Gallery. They are based in Vienna.
CREDITS
Author: Lara Reichmann
Curator and author of the text: Domen Ograjenšek
Video duration: 11′ 48”
3D design and animation: Jan Krek and Lara Reichmann
Music and sound: Gašper Torkar
Voice: Ana Čavić
Narrative proofreading: Ana Čavić
Set-up design: Jan Krek
Production: Aksioma – Institute for Contemporary Art, Ljubljana, 2023
Part of U30+ production programme for supporting young artists
Financial support: the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and the Municipality of Ljubljana
Sponsor: OPL industrijska avtomatizacija d.o.o.
Thanks: items, Centre for Performing Arts Research Delak, The Projekt Atol Institute