Space Is The Place: Planetfall

Yo…

Space: the final frontier. Shall we voyage beyond Earth?

Just as there is a difference between hearing and listening, there is a notable difference between noticing and seeing.

When was the last time you truly looked up at the stars and just wondered? Sure, sometimes we notice the stars. But when was the last time the stars sparked curiosity? Inspired a restless energy to explore…to just get on airplane and travel?

Sometimes we get stuck in the day to day and we don’t put wonder on the To Do List.

That’s like failing to put Fun on your daily To Do List. Every single day we have—here on Earth—we can wonder and be curious, we can ask questions, we can seek knowledge…we can go on an intellectual and often fun odyssey.

Meet Michael Benson who has written a number of books including Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece. I highly recommend this biography of that cinematic masterpiece.

And speaking of cinematic masterpieces, Michael worked with Terrence Malick on Tree of Life to develop the cosmological sequences.

This is just a short clip…the scene is scored by Zbigniew Preisner…Lacrimosa - Day of Tears. Part of the Dies Irae sequence in the Catholic Requiem Mass (which makes sense since as the scene unfolds and the Universe is being birthed the narrator quotes from the Book of Job: “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation...while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”)

(It’s a lot like The Shawshank Redemption scene where Andy plays opera over the prison loudspeakers. All the criminals are mesmerized.)

That is truly a magnificent film; even though I’m pretty sure I don’t understand most of it. Like when my Dad watches The Simpsons with me and they drop a Star Wars reference. He gets it but…he also doesn’t get it.

Tree of Life is an astonishing movie; a phenomenal depiction of grace and the bleak nature of a persistent soul.

This gorgeous film lingers long after the house lights are up...like the ghost smell of takeout haunting your car. (Even though the movie stars Brad Pitt and Sean Penn it doesn’t come up in polite dinner conversation. I dunno if most people have seen it.)

I was ecstatic I got to connect with somebody who worked on the film. I enjoyed putting the film on the record.

In this My Summer Lair conversation with Michael Benson; we talk about 2001 and Tree of Life. We talk about William Shatner (who just turned 94 years old, yesterday!) and the Alien movies (well the first two).

Mostly, Michael and I discuss The Image Centre and his freshtastic exhibition Planetfall which is truly #PantsWorthy. I’ve visited the exhibition twice.

The Image Centre is one of my favourite art galleries in the city of Toronto. Located on the Ryerson University campus (renamed Toronto Metropolitan University), the programming they offer is often fresh and fantastic. And always free!

The Image Centre is a photography gallery. The best photography offers you a different perspective. The way a stand up comic has a slightly different way of looking at the world.

The IMC’s current exhibition is Michael’s Planetfall and you gotta see it to believe it.

The exhibition description reads in part: “American artist Michael Benson processes, reworks, and composites individual frames to produce highly detailed images of the planets and their orbiting moons. His photographs show these celestial bodies from unusual vantage points and render light and color with startling clarity. Benson’s appropriation and reinvention of images taken by robotic spacecraft offers an astonishing alternative to society’s visual clichés of outer space, restoring a sense of wonder to scenes beyond the reach of mankind.”

Yeah! All the telescopes and satellites we send out to space to record images of the planets, Michael then “processes, reworks, and composites individual frames” to produce stunning images of Saturn, Jupiter…Mars and Milky Way.

As you’ll hear Michael reveals: “It’s more than just curating photos. It is constructing these photos from raw image data. In some senses curation is part of it. I’ve compared it to giving myself the role of a photographer with endless contact sheets.”

One of the reasons I enjoy science-fiction is speculation: you can dream up new methods when you unleash a bold imagination. It’s hope.

And bonus fun? What stirs the imagination and cements the experience is Planetfall images are scored by Brian Eno. Indeed, as you walk through the exhibition.

Brian Eno writes about The Ambient Soundscape: “The discoveries of the space age have revealed instead a chaotic, unstable and vibrant reality, constantly changing. This music tried to reflect that new understanding.”

I wish I had a tea…I savored the ambient music as much as I admired all the photos.

Here are 5 Planetfall images from The Image Centre exhibition.

Trust The Process: You can see Mars to my right. (Photograph by Henry VanderSpek aka Culture Snap Photography)

Duran Duran said it best: “This is Planet Earth, you’re looking at Planet Earth.”

The Overview Effect: Home (photograph by Sammy Younan)

Principal Skinner said it best: “Behold: The Red Planet!”

The Curiosity Rover leaving tracks on Mars. The Space version of “I Was Here!” bathroom graffiti (photograph by Sammy Younan)

“Why did Mars turn permanently red?”
“Because it saw Uranus.” #RimShot
(Do I get any points for not making obvious Uranus jokes? I wanted to so badly in this episode.)

This is Uranus & Its Rings “Mosaic composite of photographs captured by Voyager 2 on January 24, 1986.”

Foo Fighters said it best: “Waitin’ on this side of the glass / But I see my reflection in you, see your reflection in me.”

Henry VanderSpek aka Culture Snap Photography is reflected in Neptune. (Photograph by Sammy Younan)

This exhibition is science meets poetry.

It’s less about our tiny insignificance in the Universe. It’s a creative expression. Art flows from a creator’s taste and it’s framed in their voice.

This is Michael Benson’s space. It’s fitting you hafta go to an art gallery to see these images rather than…say view em through a telescope.

And thankfully the best art inspires and it uplifts which is one of the primary reasons to go to an art gallery. (You could accurately say these are Digable Planets.)

Check out this MSL conversation with Michael to hear more about the process and his artistic philosophy. And to hear us geek out about space. This is what it sounds like when 2 nerds get together.

Planetfall continues at the Image Centre (33 Gould St.) until April 5.

Visit theimagecentre.ca for all the #PantsWorthy information. Including an Exhibition Tour on Wednesday, March 26 at 6 p.m.

If I Ever Went To Space I’d Probably Beam Down On A Planet In A Red Shirt…
Sammy Younan
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Sammy Younan is the affable host of My Summer Lair podcast: think NPR’s Fresh Air meets Kevin Smith: interviews & impressions on Pop Culture.