Progetto Costellazioni / chapter #14
URSA MAJOR (MINOR EST!)
interactive land art installation
May 26th-June 4th, 2023
Supergau Festival
Lungau, Austria
Non woven tissue, LED, aluminium, nails, wood, timers, interactive vintage telephones
About 50 x 50 m
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Installation, interactive devices and texts by Luca Serasini
Stars texts translated to German by Stefano Giura and Jens Friedrich
Voices of Max Prodinger, Anna Glassner, Martina Berger-Kigler, Dorit Ehlers, Mario Steidl, Kata Hinterlechner and Bosko Gastager
Technical collaboration by Massimo Giannoni
Do you know how to search for the North Star?
What would she tell you if you met her?
If a phone will ring when you get closer,
will you pick up the phone to hear the voice of the stars?
Walking inside the constellation of Ursa Major you can talk to the stars of the Big Dipper,
see them illuminated at night, which will show you how to reach the North Star…
The Great Bear is one of the largest, most famous and easily recognizable constellations in the northern sky, whose associated mythology likely dates back into prehistory. It’s primarily known from the asterism of its main seven stars, which has been called the “Big Dipper,” “the Wagon,” “Charles’s Wain,” or “the Plough,” among other names. Two of its stars, named Dubhe and Merak are the best way to find the Pole star (Polaris) in Little Bear constellation.
Nowadays these concepts are unused but hundred years ago knowing the location of the North was of primary importance to travelers in the night, at sea, in the desert and on land.
The main objective of this installation, as all others Luca made for this project, it is to immerse visitors in an “another dimension,” a spiritual, ancient world made of fantasy. The stars, lit at night, contribute to have this kind of feeling. The title is a joke of the latin motto “Ubi maior minor est” that in english sounds like “Where the greater is, there is the lesser.”
Luca wrote the short texts for the 7 stars of the Big Dipper and for the North Star, starting from the legends and the meanings of their names and characteristics, trying to give them a character, a personality. Once the stories were translated into German, Luca called on some people he met during the festival to interpret them, and in some cases they used the Austrian dialect of Lungau.
Ursa Major (Minor est!)
laser print, pencil and wax crayons on paper
21 x 29 cm, 2021
STERNFABRIK
(STARS & STRIPES PREPARATION)
POLARIS telephone audio track
Oh ja, ja, ja, ja, ja...
Ich bin´s ja, das bin ich wirklich...
Ich bin der Norden.
Ja, ja, ja, ja, wirklich ich
Du hast nicht das falsche Telefon abgenommen, nein!
Du hast mich gefunden!Ich bin der Norden!
Der Norden bin ich, der N-O-R-D-E-N
Nicht Nordosten, nicht Südwesten, nein, nein, nein, nein...
Ich bin wirklich der Norden, der WAHRE Norden,
der, nach dem allesamt spähen...
Ja, ja, ja, ja...
Wirklich ich!
Du hattest richtig Glück, weißt Du´s?
Ja, ja, ja, ja...Der Norden bin ich, der Norden!
Der wahre Norden!
Sag´s, sag´s allen,
dass der Norden... - dass ich das bin!
Ha ha ha haaaaa
Text by Luca Serasini, translated by Stefano Giura and Jens FriedrichDUBHE telephone audio track
Hinter deinem Rücken geht der Weg
zum (Sternbild, das meine ich) Kleinen der Bären.
Richtung Polaris.
Doch zuerst nimm Anlauf
hin zu meiner Schwester,
es ist jene direkt vor Dir:
Merak, die Schöne.
Und, dort angelangt, kehr um, zu mir zurück.
Merk Dir aber die Anzahl der Schritte,
wie viele uns trennen – Merak und mich.
Von hier aus dann und über mich hinweg
zähl fünfmal die Schritte,
so wirst Du beim Stern des himmlischen Nordens anlangen.
Text by Luca Serasini, translated by Stefano Giura and Jens Friedrich
