Sebastian Errazuriz’s Lower East Side sculpture live streams NASA satellite footage of the Earth
Photo taken by 6sqft
When 6sqft visited designer, artist, and activist Sebastian Errazuriz in his Bronx studio last year, we noted that “nothing he does is cookie-cutter.” This outside-the-box thinking is now on view for all of NYC to see in his latest public artwork titled blu Marble, a 20-foot, LED structure in a vacant Lower East Side lot that depicts live NASA satellite footage of the Earth. Located at 159 Ludlow Street, blue Marble will be on view until 14th to “inspire awareness and mindfulness in our everyday lives.”
An original drawing of blu Marble by Sebastian Errazuriz
The timing of the exhibit is significant as 2019 is the 50th anniversary of the first person walking on the moon. Two years later, Apollo 17 captured the famous “Blue Marble” photo–the first time the Earth was seen from space. According to a press release from Sebastian Errazuriz, “blu Marble pays homage to the iconic picture by bringing it to life and substantially increasing its size to raise awareness to our need for perspective and introspection.”
Typically, these NASA satellites are used to monitor variations in elements such as vegetation, ozone, aerosols, etc. But Sebastian and his team created a “bot” to scrape the live NASA photos and merge them into a live video that is shown on the custom-made, circular LED screen.
Of his latest work, Sebastian said, “blu Marble is a reminder of our miraculously fragile existence. It places our very lives in perspective at a global level – as a tiny spec suspended in space and time. The work is an invitation to live with a higher degree of awareness of our valuable and limited time on this vulnerable planet.” At the opening at the Richard Taittinger Gallery, Sebastian invited astronaut Mike Massimino to speak about his experience on a space walk to fix the Hubble Telescope and how looking at the Earth from space completely changed his perspective of what it means to be a human on this planet.
E-cigarette brand blue is sponsoring the installation as part of their new campaign Pledge World. If you’re unable to make it to the Lower East Side, blu has a live-feed of blu marble that you can watch here. And find more info from Sebastian here.
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