Adsum

Ongoing

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Eduardo Kac, Adsum (ongoing), space artwork (laser-etched optical glass), 1x1x1cm (0.39x0.39x0.39").

Adsum is a cubic glass sculpture inside of which letters are laser engraved. The letters are positioned one in front of the other, thus forming a spatial poem inside the solid glass cube that can be read in any direction. 'Adsum' means “I am here” in Latin, as used to indicate that the speaker is present (equivalent to the exclamation "here!" in a roll call).

To create this space poem, I developed a new typeface in which the letter “N” takes the form of an hourglass and the letter “S” has the shape of the infinity symbol. This is so in order for the work to be legible from any point of view within the cube. The two other letters, which stand between “N” and “S,” are a lowercase “o” and an uppercase “O” (evoking the Moon and the Earth, respectively). Taken together, it is always possible to read either NoOS or SOoN in three dimensions.

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Adsum seen up-close amidst reflections and refractions.

In addition, the design and spatial arrangement of the letters also produce a purely visual experience: a reversible transition from hourglass (representing human experience of time) to infinity (representing cosmic time). The shift in scale from the lowercase 'o' to the uppercase 'O' suggests a zoom effect going from time as apprehended by human cognition to the temporal expanse of the universe (and vice-versa).

Adsum flew on an Antares 230+ rocket from Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, to the International Space Station, on February 19, 2022. The artwork was aboard Cygnus NG-17 (Northrop Grumman-17), a cargo resupply mission of the Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA. Adsum is housed in the Columbus module of the ISS.

Adsum is expected to return to Earth in December 2022 aboard a SpaceX Dragon 2 spacecraft, which will splash down off the coast of Florida.

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Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022 — Eduardo Kac waiting for the Antares230+ rocket (in the background, to the left of the water tower) to liftoff from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport's Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. Photo: Alan Perry.
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Northrop Grumman's Antares230+ rocket flew to the ISS on Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022, from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport's Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. Photo: Eduardo Kac.
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Eduardo Kac with Northrop Grumman's Antares230+ rocket (to the left, in the sky). Photo: Alan Perry.
On a desktop computer: click, hold and drag to spin the Adsum model.
On a phone: touch and drag to spin the Adsum model.
Full Screen View
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Eduardo Kac holds Adsum against the sky before the Northrop Grumman's Antares230+ rocket flew to the ISS on Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022, from NASA's Spaceport’s at Wallops Island, Virginia. Photo: Alan Perry.
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Eduardo Kac, Space Poetry 2, 12-color embroidered patch, 2022, 4.5" x 4" (11.4 x 10 cm).

The Space Poetry 2 patch, released in a limited edition of 100, commemorates the launch into orbit of Kac's Adsum. Space Poetry 2 is a spectacular, multi-color embroidered patch with three-dimensional layering and a silver thread merrow border. The thin blue line represents our atmosphere, separating the Earth from the cosmos.

To acquire the patch, please contact Alternate Projects.

Adsum studies


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Read an article about Adsum and Kac's space art (Artpress, September 2022)

Adsum was conceived and produced during a Maison Malina Residency in Paris, curated by Annick Bureaud and organized by Leonardo/Olats with the support of Fondation Daniel & Nina Carasso. Adsum flew to the ISS with the support of the Stichting Moon Gallery Foundation.