The Eye of the Sun

Solar composition for visitors, sensors, speakers, computers, lenses, mirrors and video projectors, in aluminum and acrylic.

The Eye of the Sun is a double curiosity. It sees us. It seeks the invisible. It maintains the constant dynamic of vision and the Sun. It seeks out the light that carries the interaction, the extreme ultraviolet, the X-radiation, that flies quietly from the star and that we cannot see.

As if from the depths of an eye, this light translates to the surface the interior that we cannot grasp with our eyes.

The Eye of the Sun blends science, technology, imagination and daydreaming to focus on the special relationship between humans and the invisible Sun. It's a gigantic eye whose behavior is similar to that of the human eye. Curious, The Eye watches and follows the gaze of visitors as they come and go. This Eye intrigues. What drives it? What is it looking for? To what end? Why is it watching me? And the Eye always follows us. Engaging, it shares its curiosity. It winks, closes its eyelid and lets us see the Sun at ultraviolet extremes.

Faced with this star that was watching us a moment ago, we see the invisible. Close by, we can touch its surface, feel its inner bubbling, trigger rare eruptions, and conjure up arcs of light linking us to one another. At several million degrees, the Sun is our planet's original source of energy and life. The Eye of the Sun is a shifted point of view, the view of the other, of what we generally can't see.

[Conception] Ikse Maître
[Graphic and effective computing] Tim Schneider, Matthieu Courgeon
[Sound composition] Vincent Hulot
[Solar astrophysics] Frédéric Auchère, Frédéric Baudin, Éric Buchlin
[Sound spatialisation] David Poirier-Quinot

The Eye of the Sun is produced by La métonymie au sas, in partnership with IAS, CNRS and Université Paris-Saclay, with the support of the Conseil départemental de l'Essonne and the Science et Société program of La Diagonale Paris-Saclay.

 

       

      

 

Expositions

Next: June 1-17, 2024 → Nuit Blanche, musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris, France

 

October 7, 2017 → Nuit Blanche, Cloître des Billettes, Paris, France

October 15, 2017 → Fête de la science, Le sas>105, Université Paris-Sud, France

April 5-6, 2018 → JACES 2018, Le sas>105, Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France

May 26-28, 2018 → Startup for kids, CentraleSupélec, Saclay, France

October 14, 2018 → Fête de la science, Le sas>105, Université Paris-Sud, France

June 13-16, 2019 → Eyes off art and science, MIAC, Bâle, Suisse

November 7-17, 2019 → CURIOSITas, Palaiseau, France

October 10, 2021 → Fête de la science, IAS, Orsay, France

November, 15-25, 2021 → Corps humains, corps célestes, CURIOSITas, Le sas>201, Université Paris-Saclay, France

June, 15-17 2022 → Corps humains, corps célestes et grains de vie, EUGLOH, Le sas>201, Université Paris-Saclay, France