Ground Station Series — Xin Liu Studio

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.

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The Earth is An Image

→Cosmic Metabolism
→Ground Station Series
→The Earth is An Image (online), M+ Museum, 2022

「The Earth is An Image」Loading Page, 2021

Digital Performance
Web-based generative visual audio

The Earth Is an Image is a web-based work created by artist and engineer Xin Liu exploring the orbital coverage of artificial satellites that are used for geo-imaging, weather forecasting, and related technologies. Proposing a post-anthropocentric view, Liu tunes into the minds of several satellites that have been abandoned in orbit at the end of their missions.

Earth is an Image

The Earth is An Image

2020
Digital Work
M+ Museum Digital Commission

An antenna installed in Hong Kong captures the radio signals of three retired satellites that pass over the city approximately four times a day. Despite becoming obsolete two decades ago, these satellites are still dutifully orbiting and transmitting data back to Earth. The satellites’ FM radio signals and climate images are converted into an audiovisual experience of rhythmic sounds, ethereal cloud-forms, and glitchy echoes that are live-streamed online. Alongside this digital composition, a dialogue unfolds between a satellite and someone on the ground, telling the story of orbiting metal bodies that are stranded eight hundred kilometres from Earth. When the satellites are outside the antenna’s reception zone, The Earth is an Image tracks their movements and displays their altitudes and coordinates.

In a poetic enquiry into the lifespan of satellites, Liu not only examines advances in satellite broadcasting, but also provides an alternative experience of distance and space, illustrating the complex relationship between human and non-human life forms.

Credit
Artist: Xin Liu
Visual Design: Yidong Cai
Website: Qianlin, Che-yu Wu, Power Nap Studio
Hardware: Gershon Dublon, slow immediate LLC
Project Assistant: Yuhan Song

Special thanks to The Hong Kong Amateur Radio Transmitting Society for their contribution to the installation and maintenance of the antenna.

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Atlas

→Cosmic Metabolism
→Ground Station Series

Atlas, 2022

Non-Fungible Token
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“Atlas” turns unique moments of the Earth into unique artworks.

Originated in orbit, this collection poetically brings together old and emerging technologies. An antenna installed in Hong Kong captures the radio signals of three retired NOAA satellites that pass over the city approximately four times a day. These images are taken as the satellites pass overhead and are broadcasted back to the ground in real-time. Tuning into specific satellite frequencies, the artist captures a unique moment of the Earth from the orbit each time, spontaneously revealing weather conditions, geographical visibility, and markers of time.

NFT

2022
Synopsis: All unique 1 of 1 NOAA satellite-generated images

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Seeing through the Eyes of Gods, You have mistaken yourself for him

→Cosmic Metabolism
→Ground Station Series

Seeing through the Eyes of Gods, You Have Mistaken Yourself for Him, 2024

Installation

Neon, vinyl wallpaper

Satellite Image: 418’’ (W) X 108’’ (H)
Neon lights: 15 feet (W) X 2.4 feet (H)

Open Sky, installation view, Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College, August 15, 2024-January 5, 2025. Photo_ Jeff McLane.