Across the past and the present, a group of individuals are drawn to an archaic form of radio-communication that bounces messages off the moon and puts them in contact with strangers around the world. They call themselves “moonbouncers” and use alphanumeric codes to identify themselves. To this day, their number around the world is unknown…
The story presented by the artists initially follows the life of Diana, a brilliant young radio astronomer who lives alone in a rotating house under the Dwingeloo radio telescope in the Netherlands. Marked by a chronic mutism, she possesses a special skill: sound-to-movement synesthesia, a condition which allows her to ‘feel’ sound as muscular responses in her body. During the day, an operator at the Westerbork radio station, during the night she connects with her ‘moonbouncing’ penpal Atari, based at the squatted Elfordstown Earthstation, whose real nature turns all of our expectations upside down.
In the beginning of the series, a rumor starts spreading about a strange radio message which seems to bounce off the moon’s surface every day after dawn. Initially known only by a handful of dedicated moonbouncers, the press soon picks up the story in which the legendary space probes Voyager 1 and 2 have finally kindled a response from deep space. Meanwhile, Diana’s synesthetic capabilities allow her to discover a different truth, which catapults her into a journey to the other side of the moon…
Emilia Tapprest (b. 1992, FI) strives to foster sensibilities beyond default perceptions of reality In her work as an artist and filmmaker. While this inquiry initially found an expression in hands-on prototyping with tangible user interfaces and physiological computing, in the course of the past five years she has become increasingly aware of the role of stories and mental models in shaping our lives. As follows, she approaches worldbuilding as a narrative- and systems design practice structured around the construction of imaginary yet possible (future) worlds driven by different knowledge- and value paradigms. Currently based in Amsterdam, Tapprest is part of the research duo Liminal Vision together with cultural historian Victor Evink. Her collaborative practice develops through a web of interlinked projects, from cinematic fictions and installations to performative talks and academic articles.
With a collaborative- and industrial design master at the Aalto University in Helsinki, Tapprest graduated with a second degree in fine arts and film at the Sandberg Institute in 2019. Alumni of the Jan van Eyck academy (2021) and FilmForward (2021), she is currently enrolled at Stimuleringsfonds’ Talent Development programme (2021-2022). Her works have been shown in international exhibitions and film festivals such as IMPAKT – Speculative Interfaces (2019), DEMO moving image (2020), VISIO – Lo schermo dell’arte (2021), Vdrome (2021) and Bologna Art City (2022).
Valerie van Zuijlen (b. 1994, NL) is a visual artist, filmmaker and art director from the Netherlands. She develops a cross-disciplinary practice in audiovisual storytelling in a way in which different fields become intertwined with one another. Dealing with topics such as virtual presence, ambient communication and belonging, her work has won several prizes and awards and has been presented in New York, Hong Kong and throughout Europe. Next to her artistic research, she is founder and director of @LABNEST, an incubator and accelerator for entrepreneurs and startups based in Ede in the Netherlands. Reflecting her long-standing fascination with the aerodrome and its extensions within the ether, van Zuijlen is a licensed drone operator and soon-to-become helicopter pilot.
With a background in Graphic Design (BA”16), van Zuijlen carried out two Master degrees at Universities separated by an ocean; Film, Design & Politics (Sandberg Insituut, MA”19) and Cinema Studies (NYU | Tisch, MA”20). Several of her projects have been presented and screened internationally: Scrolling into the Deep (Depot Basel, Basel, CH, “16), The Cellular Aura (The Dutch Design Week, Eindhoven, NL, “17), The Ghetto of Angels (Sonic Acts, Amsterdam, NL, “18), VISION061718 (Pineapple Underground Film Festival, Hong Kong, CN, “18), AIREAL (Neverneverland, Amsterdam, NL, “19), Moonlight (GLOW International Light Festival, Eindhoven, NL, “19) and The Octopus Network (Symbiosis, Imagine Science Film Festival, New York, U.S.A, “20).
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