Edgar Martins “The Poetic Impossibility to Manage the Infinite”

Edgar Martins

The Poetic Impossibility to Manage the Infinite

September 23rd to 31st October

The Poetic Impossibility to Manage the Infinite (2014) is the most comprehensive photographic survey ever produced about a leading scientific and space exploration organization and the result of a long-term collaboration with the European Space Agency. In 2012, Edgar Martins was granted unparalleled access to ESA and its partners’ programs, including the microgravity, human spaceflight, lunar, Mars and Mercury exploration programs. Over the past two years, he has travelled to 20 locations across the UK, The Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain, Russia, Kazakhstan and French Guyana to shoot in classified facilities such as test centres, robotics departments, space simulators, laboratories, launch sites and platforms, astronaut training centres and satellite assembly rooms.

The photographs were shot using long exposures (up to one hour) and a 10×8”, large format camera. Their clean composition and hyper-real sharpness contrast greatly with the veil of secrecy and enigma that usually shrouds space-related activity. Although rarely seen by the public, the technology and facilities in The Poetic Impossibility to Manage the Infinite look strangely familiar, underlining popular culture’s influence in shaping our understanding of space exploration.

Martins’ rigorous, study-like exposé reveals the sheer scale of this global scientific endeavour, perhaps the greatest of our time. The Poetic Impossibility to Manage the Infinite documents our quest to penetrate the astrophysical reality of the universe in order to better understand time, space, and matter. In doing so, Martins highlights the wider politics of space exploration, the ever-growing role of science and technology in our society and our relationship with the unknown, whilst opening up wider questions around epistemology, metaphysics and ultimately humanity’s conception of itself.