Ferromagnetic and stellar ceramics
0→224→ongoing
→ research
→ sculpture
→ installation
Small research pieces composed of 1 to 50 pieces
Project: La Peau Qui Tire et Le Point Zéro
Image credit: Laboratoire des matériaux, Lore Labo, 2025
COLLECTIVE ALICE
Iva Šintić and Clémentine Muller – www.clementine-mu.cargo.site
2023 – ongoing
Collective ALICE is assembled around research into the materials of celestial bodies and the possibilities they hold for human habitats beyond Earth. Our research framework is based on the collection and analysis of chemical compositions and the heat transformation of simulants, with the Moon as the primary focus of our first study. To meet the challenge of transforming matter and generating colour, we link the characteristics of lunar regolith with knowledge and protocols from the field of ceramics.
For most people, the Moon embodies a grey mass, seemingly devoid of the diversity of colours we take for granted on Earth. As artists, we question the chromatic range that will shape this future habitat, aware of the central role of colour in our daily lives.
When I move to the Moon, I will paint my rooms blue. I will paint my cups yellow and bring the green with me. When I move to the Moon, I will steer away from the red and hope you will too.
In 1972, during the Apollo 17 mission, Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt and Commander Eugene Cernan explored the lunar surface. Amidst the dusty grey expanse, a discovery: orange soil! In a transcript, Cernan confirms: ”He’s not out of his wits. It really is.”
Since then, the colour of this grey pebble has continued to change. Fast development and fairly easy accessibility to technology, which allows us to manipulate and exaggerate its chromatic range, start the shift. We have seen the Moon from Earth covered in many shades, but when one imagines himself standing there, encompassed by its grey expanse, any trace of colour seems like a reason to celebrate.
When I move to the Moon, I will paint my rooms blue, creating a serene environment. This is not an aesthetic choice, but a sensory recalibration, a medium reshaping the environment.
I will bring the green with me, a rhizome of earthly connection, a portable paradise, grounding the desolate expanse. In it, I will look for the essence of life and growth.
I will paint my cups yellow, a daily reminder of soft, gentle light. I will paint each sip with a tactile encounter with warmth and familiarity.
On the Moon, I will avoid red, a sign of danger and blood. Bright red warning signs persist as a symbol of caution embedded in my environmental feedback loop. On the moon, I will avoid ti, and I hope you will too. Let me look for passion elsewhere.
