ESA Astronaut Jean-François Clervoy in conversation with Edgar Martins in London, 29 May

The London show will close on 29 May with the special event ‘Edgar Martins in conversation with…”. During this special event Martins will engage in conversation with Mr Martin Barnes, Photography Curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum and ESA Astronaut Mr Jean-François Clervoy who followed Edgar Martins work closely during his survey of ESA installations and contributed to Martins' new book ‘The Rehearsal of Space and The Poetic Impossibility to Manage the Infinite’. 

In 2012 and 2013, Edgar Martins was granted unparalleled access to ESA establishments and those of its partners, spanning some 20 facilities not usually accessible to the public in the UK, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain, Russia, Kazakhstan and French Guiana. ESA’s objective in the agreement with the artist is to use art as a means to reach out to segments of the public who might otherwise not be aware of European space activities.

ESA astronaut Jean-François Clervoy shared with Martins a number of personal effects during his photographic campaign. One particular possession, Clervoy’s notes written prior to his first launch in 1994, were captured by Martins. The photograph shows a list of fun things to do in space to maximize the astronaut’s living experience during his mission.

The official launch of Martins’ book The Rehearsal of Space and The Poetic Impossibility to Manage the Infinite will also take place during this special evening.

The book is available via La Fabrica / The Moth House in a hardback, clothbound edition, with 184 pp., 86 colour plates and essays in English and Spanish by author and astrophysicist John Gribbin, CERN physicist João Seixas, curator Sérgio Mah and has a special introduction from ESA.

“Edgar Martins in conversation…” will take place on Thursday 29 May from 19:00 to 20:00 at the Wapping Project Bankside in London. The event is free to attend but booking is essential via e-mail at info@thewappingprojectbankside.com

After London, the exhibition will proceed to numerous galleries and museums including Gallerie Melanie Rio in Nantes, France from 12 June 2014, The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, Portugal from 28 June 2014, The Wolverhampton Art Gallery in Wolverhampton, UK in January 2015. This exhibition will also travel to Germany, Brazil, the USA and Japan.

Edgar Martins

Born in 1977 in Évora, Edgar Martins grew up in Macau (China). He moved to the UK in 1996, where he completed an MA in Photography and Fine Art at the Royal College of Art. Recent exhibitions include the 54th Venice Biennale, PS1 MoMA (New York), the Centre Culturel Calouste Gulbenkian (Paris), The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation – CAM (Lisbon), EDP Foundation (Lisbon), Centro Cultural Hélio Oiticia (Rio de Janeiro), The New Art Gallery (Walsall), The Gallery of Photography (Dublin) and The Wapping Project Bankside (London). His work can be found in numerous public, private and corporate collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), the National Media Museum (Bradford, UK), the Dallas Museum of Art (Dallas, USA); the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Lisbon), Carmignac Foundation (Paris), amongst others. Edgar Martins works and lives in the UK.

Jean-François Clervoy

Jean-François Clervoy, ESA astronaut from France and Brigadier General from DGA (Defense procurement agency), was born in Longeville-lès-Metz on November 19th 1958. He graduated from Ecole Polytechnique, Paris in 1981, from Ecole Nationale Supérieure de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace, Toulouse in 1983 and from Flight Test School, Istres in 1987. Seconded from the DGA, Clervoy was selected as an astronaut in 1985 by the French space agency CNES and then in 1992 by the European Space Agency.

He served as a mission specialist twice aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-66 to study the atmospheric, and on mission STS-84 to re-supply the Russian space station Mir, and as a flight engineer aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-103 to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. He has logged 28 days and 3 hours in 439 earth orbits.

Since 2001 Clervoy works as senior advisor astronaut for the ESA human space flight programs including the ATV-Jules Verne project to re-supply the International Space Station. Still active in the European astronaut corps, he works also as Chairman of Novespace, a company which organizes parabolic flights with its airbus ZERO-G for microgravity research.

Clervoy holds qualifications as a private pilot, skydiver and scuba diver. He is member of several organizations for the promotion of space exploration and for the preservation of planet Earth

Martin Barnes

Martin Barnes is Senior Curator of Photographs at the Victoria and Albert Museum   (V&A) London which he joined in 1995. Previously, he worked for the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool and studied at the University of Leicester and the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. He has also curated numerous UK touring exhibitions.

His publications include Benjamin Brecknell Turner. Rural England through a Victorian Lens, (V&A Publications, 2001);Illumine. Photographs by Garry Fabian Miller. A Retrospective(Merrell, 2005); Twilight: Photography in the Magic Hour (V&A / Merrell, 2006) and Shadow Catchers: Camera-less Photography ( V&A / Merrell, 2010).