Naming the Cosmos Death

Abstract

Between 2010 and 2016, scottish artist Katie Paterson (b. 1981) subscribed to a mailing list that alerts astronomers and scientists around the world when the ‘death’ of a star has been observed and recorded. Whenever she received an alarm, Paterson would then write a quick letter announcing the death of that star and send it to a pre-selected gallerist or recipient. The collection of these letters is titled The Dying Star Letters. This essay argues that Paterson’s piece can be considered as a durational performance and be placed in relation to the reawakening of extraterrestrial exploration. In recent years, the increase of astronomical discoveries and innovations has come with a proportionally complex panorama in the relationality between human affairs and the cosmos at large. A cornerstone of that complex relationality is the way in which we name astronomical objects. Naming the cosmos is a performative action that is deeply embedded in a context of scientific knowledge, cultural iconography, religious cosmologies, political ambitions, and philosophical quandaries. When we name a galaxy, a star, a planet or even a crater, we create a symbolic and ideological bond between our material existence and that of a physical entity with which we would otherwise have no cultural relation whatsoever. In this context, Paterson’s gesture throws in sharp relief the limitations of human-centred notions of time, life and death in respect to the non-humanness in and of the cosmos. Paterson’s gesture, however, also allows the universe to come forth on its own durational terms. By cross-analyzing The Dying Star Letters with the performativity of names in an astronomical context, the essay concludes that Paterson’s piece delivers a possibility to re-think classic notions in performance studies such as ‘presence’ and ‘absence’, and, by the same token, offer alternatives to meet, name and interact with the universe.