Ground Station

→Cosmic Metabolism
→Ground Station Series
→The Ground is Falling (solo), Aranya Art Center, 2021

Ground Station, 2021. Installation view at Aranya Art Center.

Xin Liu and her partner Gershon Dublon capturing satellite images in Riis Beach, NY.

Mixed Media Sculpture

The pandemic has overturned daily life and registered new spatial and temporal positions in our confined domestic spaces. Adrift, suddenly without bearings, Liu locates herself in images received by radio from passing NOAA weather satellites. The images are continuously broadcasted to Earth via the Automatic Picture Transmission (APT) system. When the satellites pass overhead, their transmissions can be received on the ground. Translated from radio into sound as the signals are received, each line of the image can be heard as a ping, its consistent, musical tempo a distinctive feature of the FM broadcast. Liu and her partner Gershon Dublon have practiced receiving the images in their Brooklyn backyard since April 2020, sweeping an antenna fashioned from a broomstick and coat hanger wire across the sky. The noise and glitches in the images were caused by them sometimes missing the direction of a satellite, or a nearby building getting in the way of the horizon. Each image received was uniquely captured over the ten to fifteen minutes when one of the satellites was in a direct line-of-sight to the artist.

Ground Station

2021
Digital Video Loop

Ground Station Metal Print - NOAA15-07222238
2021
10 x 6.5 in
Dye sublimation print

Ground Station Metal Print - NOAA18-07080130
2021
14 x 11 in
Dye sublimation print

Ground Station Metal Print - NOAA18-04212210
2021
14 x 9 1/2 in; 35.6 x 24.1 cm
Dye sublimation print

Ground Station Metal Print - NOAA19-07072214
2021
10 x 3.5 in
Dye sublimation print

Ground Station Metal Print - NOAA18-07080130
2021
14 x 22 in
Dye sublimation print

Ground Station Metal Print - NOAA18-04230008
2021
14 x 9 1/2 in.; 35.6 x 24.1 cm
Dye sublimation print

Ground Station Metal Print - NOAA18-07282214
2021
14 x 9 1/2 in.; 35.6 x 24.1 cm
Dye sublimation print

Invited by Queens Museum for its home visit series. From Queens Museum’s newsletter: A Free Fall in New York City, a video that chronicles artist Xin Liu's experience sheltering in place while her home operates as a warehouse for volunteers distributing PPE across the city. Liu refers to the sensation of free falling and becoming weightless in her practice, while she connects with satellites on her rooftop to see the world from far above. For her "community shout out," the artist spotlights the work of volunteer networks and organizations focused on providing PPE to NYC frontline workers: Last Mile NYC, N95 for NYC, ATTA INC., and The Mask Fund.