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Memory Chain: A Pas de Deux of Artifact

Kat Quay

Memory Chain: A Pas de Deux of Artifact

2020

Gold chain

1 x 1.2 cm

status:

Segments of gold chain from a tie clip and a watch act as object memory. The work humanises a portion of early spaceflight history.

MIT Space Exploration Initiative

Memory Chain humanizes a portion of early spaceflight history. Throughout civilization, stories of origin were passed down orally, with some ultimately being transcribed. As a sculptor, I believe that artifacts are imbued with object memory, and are a part of our societal heritage. Having items that daily bore witness to the development of lunar technologies experience the particular gravity they originally planned for, brings their narrative full circle. Inside a lunar gravity pocket, I included two segments of delicate gold chain, one from my grandfather’s tie clip and the other from my grandmother’s watch- both part of their daily professional dress. My grandfather was an Aerospace Engineer, developing engine and chemical propulsions in support of lunar spacecraft missions. He met my grandmother at NASA, where they both worked and fell in love. During orbit, the chains "danced”- retelling the story of my grandparents’ work romance amidst the Space Race.


Sojourner 2020 (a 1.5U size unit, 100mm x 100mm x 152.4mm ) will be launched into low Earth orbit for about 30 days. It features a three-layer telescoping structure which creates three different “gravities”: zero gravity, lunar gravity, and Martian gravity. Each layer of the structure rotates independently. The top layer remains still in weightlessness, while the middle and bottom layers spin at different speeds to produce centripetal accelerations that mimic lunar gravity and Martian gravity, respectively. Each layer carries 6 pockets that can hold projects.

Technical information

artist

Kat Quay

title

Memory Chain: A Pas de Deux of Artifact

date

2020

medium

Gold chain

dimensions

1 x 1.2 cm

genre

Sculpture

IAAA art style

this work is part of the following collection

Sojourner 2020

artwork COSPAR id

Launch

Space

Return

launch date

7 Mar 2020

launch  mission

SpaceX CRS-20 (Dragon), Flacon 9

launch  provider

SpaceX

International Space Station

return date

6 April 2020

return vehicle

Dragon CRS-20

return location

Pacific Ocean

launch location

Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

host vehicle

International Space Station

return vehicle COSPAR id

2020-016A

launching state

location

USA

LEO, International Space Station (ISS)

host vehicle COSPAR id

1998-067A

status

Returned

launch vehicle COSPAR id

2020-016A

partners

MIT Space Exploration Initiative

Artist

Kat Quay

Artist

USA

Collection

Sojourner 2020

2020

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