The artistic residency “Astronomy” provided Katarina Petrović access to three mountain observatories (Porto da Balsa and Travancinha observatories in Portugal, and the Observatoire de Haute-Provence in France). Katarina has long questioned the work of astrophysicists from an artistic and philosophical perspective. “Astronomy” took place in the Shale Village of Fajão and the UNESCO Estrela Global Geopark in July 2023, and in the Alps of Haute-Provence, France, in September 2023. This dual-phase action, among three partners, connects three European mountains: Serra da Estrela, Serra do Açor, and the French Alps. Exploring our relationship with the landscape, between earth and sky, is at the core of PES_CE.

Katarina Petrović explores different locations, with astronomy and mountains as her guiding thread. This is a residency across two countries (FR and PT), spanning four locations, a total of 2 months of fieldwork, over a 2-year period (2024 and 2025). The resulting artwork will be featured in various events, including exhibitions planned for Castelo Branco and/or Malpartida de Cáceres. In Portugal, the residency concluded with a public guided hike to discover the Fireflies of Rossim (Serra da Estrela), an artwork by Erik Samakh (PES2017).

The outcomes will be presented at the seminar “Art, Landscape, and Sustainable Tourism” in Castelo Branco (PT) from 19th to 22nd July 2024, and will be on display at the Museum Vostell-Malpartida (Es) in March 2025.

Mountains universally possess a unique character often deemed sacred, whether due to their challenging accessibility, the versatility of their nature, or their proximity to the skies. It is from their peaks that we are physically most inclined to take the necessary step to feel our place in this world. Before our eyes, reliefs shaped by tectonic forces reveal the remnants of long-gone seas; lines between humanity and its environment are drawn; above our heads, fossil lights travel from distant stars, illuminating us alongside other imperceptible phenomena.

Guided by scientific necessity and the growing allure of astronomical tourism, the construction of stellar observatories both connects and reveals the landscapes they dominate. Between earth and sky, this equipment facilitates encounters. It is a liminal zone between two temporal horizons: a shepherd’s flock wanders along a trail trodden by centuries of ancient seasonal migrations while cutting-edge technologies study the densities of exoplanets located light-years away from us. Therefore, mountains have been and continue to be incredibly powerful sources of inspiration where science, spirituality, and philosophy converge. And it is there that we find artists. The institutions of the Entre Serras Project seize this opportunity to establish new relations among institutions from different European countries.

Artist Katarina Petrović has been invited for the upcoming work period. Based in The Hague, Netherlands, she works in the domain of art-science, often closely collaborating with scientists and astrophysicists. In June this year, she launched a solo exhibition at the Cultural Centre of Belgrade and a parallel programme at the Belgrade Astronomical Observatory, where she presented the latest research on the Airy Disk – a diffraction phenomenon of light frequently used in astronomical observations. She will continue this research during the Entre Serras – Astronomy residency.

Katarina Petrović is a Serbian-Dutch artist creating process-based works exploring the relationship between language and natural phenomena. Interlinking art, science, humanities, and technology, her practice focuses on creative processes—from cosmogony, cognition, and meaning-making to the physics of sound, light, and vacuum. Katarina holds an MMus degree from the ArtScience Interfaculty, Royal Conservatoire, and Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague, and an MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts, Belgrade. In 2019, she was the winner of the Young Visual Artist Award for Serbia (Mangelos Award). Katarina is a member and board president of the Trixie artists’ space and an affiliated researcher at the Leo Apostel Transdisciplinary Research Center (VUB) in Brussels, where she initiated a research group in Art-Science. She frequently works as a guest lecturer and currently teaches at the ArtScience Interfaculty in The Hague and at the Graduate School of Thought (VUB) in Brussels.

Katarina Petrović https://www.katarinapetrovic.net/