About
Moonlit Woodland, Pale Blue Dot Collective ©2024
Framing the impact through the eyes of evolution and the immense time period it has taken for each form of life to arrive at this point, the artists create a space for discussion around the damage we are collectively participating in and its universal impact. Both artists use installation, film, photography and sound in their independent practices to examine our place within the universe.
+ Louise Beer
Louise is an artist and curator, born in Aotearoa New Zealand. She now works between London, Margate and Aotearoa. Louise uses installation, moving image, photography and sound to explore humanity's evolving understanding of Earth’s environments and the cosmos. Her experience of living under two types of night sky, the first in low level light polluted areas in Aotearoa, and the second in higher level light polluted cities and towns in England, has deeply informed her practice. As light pollution increases around the world humanity is losing a symbolic visual connection to the cosmos, shared by our ancestors throughout history. She explores how living under dark skies, or light polluted skies, can change our perception of grief, the climate crisis and Earth’s deep time history and future. Louise holds an MA Art and Science from Central Saint Martins and a BA (Hons) in Fine Art from Middlesex University London.
Recent awards, residencies and commissions include Somewhere Nowhere Residency, Lake District (2019), Arts Centre Christchurch Te Matatiki Toi Ora Residency, Aotearoa New Zealand (2020), Moscow Museum of Cosmonautics Space Art Summer School (2020), Delfina x Gaia Art Foundation Science Technology Society UK Associateship (2020), SECCADs Grant (2020), BigCi Environmental Art Award (2020), Bodleian Library x Fusion Arts Commission (2020), ACE DYCP Grant (2021), North York Moors Dark Skies Residency with solo exhibition (2021), Amant Siena Residency (2021), CreaTures Art/Tech/Nature/Culture Residency (2021), Grand Union x University of Birmingham MA Art History and Curating Exhibition Award (2022), Birmingham, England, British Council Pakistan - UK New Perspectives (2022), Space Studios x ARUP Commission (2022), Art + Air Exhibition Commission (2022), Curating Climate Commission Forestry England x Signal Film and Media (2022) and the Jean Harrison Commission (2022), Photo Fringe 2022 OPEN Eco (2022), Vera C. Rubin Observatory Kickstarter Grant with the University of Canterbury Mount John Observatory, Aotearoa New Zealand (2022), Derby Cathedral and FORMAT23 Photography Festival (2023) and has been awarded her second Arts Council England Developing Your Creative Practice grant (2023) and LOM+You (2023). Louise has recently written a chapter for a forthcoming book, Dark Skies: Places, Practices, Communities, edited by Nick Dunn and Timothy Edensor, to be published by Routledge in 2023.
Within her collectives, Louise has curated over 50 exhibitions and 70 events with an overarching focus on astronomy and/or ecology. Louise has collaborated with and curated events and workshops at organisations such as the Science Museum, Bompas and Parr, Greenman Festival, British Science Association, Second Home, the Ace Hotel, Floating Cinema, The Collective, Tate Britain, SALT Festival Norway, Soho House Group, Nablus Festival Israel, Blue Dot Festival, Young and Serious and Vivid Projects, Hebrides Dark Sky Festival and the Turner Contemporary.
Louise’s CV
+ John Hooper
John grew up in the North of England and works between London and Margate, UK.
John is a photographer, film maker, installation and sound artist. John is co-director of Pale Blue Dot Collective, Print Science and is a regular contributor to super/collider.
John started his photography career shooting editorial for music and lifestyle magazines. His experience as a photographer and director of photography has led him to collaborate on projects for numerous commissions. He has been using his photography and sound practice to discover the natural world and the vastness above. For much of his career John has been a successful commercial photographer. Recently making a concerted effort to concentrate on his work as an artist, John has successfully applied for Arts Council England funding to develop his creative practice. He has also been awarded support from SECCADS enabling him to invest in digital equipment to use for photography and film making. Together with Louise for their Pale Blue Dot Collective, they worked on an exhibition in 2021 with the Arts Centre Christchurch Te Matatiki Toi Ora, Aotearoa New Zealand, the results of a residency in 2020. In June 2022 he accompanied Louise to Australia for the BigCi Environmental Art Award residency in the Blue Mountains Where they collected sound and visual information for their Last Verse film.