golden eye II
Format 1: 132 x 202 cm / 52 x 79.5 in, edition of 6 + 2 AP
Format 2: 67 x 102 cm / 26.3 in x 40.2, edition of 6 + 2 AP
Hybrid photography, archival pigment print, aludibond, diasec, custom-made aluminium frame
"golden eye II" shows one of the golden mirror segments of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). This next generation telescope is scheduled to be launched into space on board an Ariane 5 rocket in 2018 from Guiana Space Center as a replacement for the famous Hubble Space Telescope. JWST will have unprecedented resolution and sensitivity from the long wavelength visible to the mid-infrared range. The JWST's instruments will not measure visible or ultraviolet light like the Hubble Telescope, but will have a much greater capacity to perform infrared astronomy. Its primary scientific mission is to search forlight from the first stars and galaxies formed in the universe after the Big Bang. The telescope’s primary mirror is a beryllium reflector with a diameter of 6.5m and a collecting area of 25m . The mirror is composed of eighteen hexagonal segments which will unfold after the tele-scope is launched into space. The data collected by this golden mirror placed in orbit behind the Moon will change humanity’s understanding of the formation of the universe and the origins of life.
The artwork "golden eye II" shows one of the eighteen golden mirrors under construction at Ball Aerospace´s cleanroom in Bolder, USA. The digital recomposition combines front and rear parts of the mirror in a single image.