“We are far from Galileo’s telescope in historical time and techno-logical logic. Still, one point of similarity remains: a world is created anew as it is being observed, and not one of heavens and planets only, but across a different kind of a vast field of data operations.”[1]
The video installation Point Source[2] by artist Lara Reichmann takes us into an observatory where, night after night, three protagonists – the astronomer, the operator, and the MT mirror telescope – chase the traces of light emerging from the depths of the universe. Built from real locations, recordings, and archival material, the work shapes an imagined world in which the narrative unfolds. Daytime scenes of the desert plateau shift into the nocturnal regime of observation, when the landscape sinks into darkness and the sky turns into a grid of light points, tracks, and flyovers.
Created as a co-production between Kino Šiška and 2^32 Institute, the artwork bridges two spatial levels: the main video projection in the Komuna Hall and the accompanying exhibition in the Kamera Gallery. The projection in Komuna, conceived as a looping video installation, evokes a sense of nighttime, in which the process of observation is shaped by precise preparations, calibrations, and long stretches of waiting. The exhibition in Kamera functions as a paratext: through construction elements, still images from the video, sound elements, and fragments of the script, it unfolds the internal architecture of the author’s project and serves as a preview of the central video installation in Komuna Hall.
Drawing from the lived experience of astronomical observation, Lara Reichmann develops a story about the conditions under which light becomes an image and, from it, a memory – whether in data, archival form, or a sensory, affective one. The narrative establishes a reversal between personification and depersonalisation: the two human figures gradually lose their expressiveness, while the machine gains sensitivity and an inner voice. The astronomer and the operator maintain the rhythm of the work through repeated measurements; their presence is quiet, almost mechanical. The MT mirror telescope, however, grows from an instrument into a narrator. Its account of observing the sky is marked by the experience of its former collaboration with the AHK3067 software unit, which converted captured footage into measurable data arrays for further analysis and interpretation. In this convergence of routine, data processing, and remembrance, observation reveals itself as a layered practice in which the volume of material produced matters less than the ways in which we read, classify, and evaluate it.
The history of observing the sky is also a history of constructing reality – from early naked-eye observations recorded in star maps, tapestries, and calendars, to contemporary optical systems that translate light data into digital matrices and operational images.[3] If earlier there was more room for mysticism and symbolic interpretation, today these are overshadowed by apparatus-supported, data-driven approaches. But even now, light does not reach us untouched – it passes through layers of optics, sensors, and algorithms that determine what can be seen and what remains hidden. Our understanding of the universe is therefore always mediated through instruments, through historically and technologically conditioned ways of looking shaped by our expectations and blind spots.
Adrijan Praznik
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[1] Jussi Parikka, Operational Images: From the Visual to the Invisual, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 2023, p. 92.
[2] In astronomy, this term describes a phenomenon in which, due to the great distance, a light-emitting object is detected by the sensor as a single point.
[3] These are images whose purpose serves operation, measurements, as well as calibration and navigation [of the line of sight].
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Lara Reichmann (1995) is a visual artist working in the fields of video, animation, and digital graphics. Combining historical fragments with fictional narratives, she (re)imagines stories of forgotten, erased, or elusive places, as well as figures who exist on the margins of recorded history. Her recent projects focus on remote sensing imagery and photography as tools for data extraction, questioning the objectivity of such visual material and the kind of dispersed viewpoint that digital technologies make possible. Through the use of cinematographic and theatrical elements, she explores different approaches to storytelling within exhibition spaces.
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Komuna Hall / video installation: 5–6 December 2025; 15–16 January 2026
Kamera Gallery / spatial installation: 5 December 2025–16 January 2026
Opening: Friday, 5 December 2025, at 7 pm
Free admission.
Organisation: Kino Šiška and Zavod 2^32.
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Artist: Lara Reichmann
Curator and text author: Adrijan Praznik
3D animation: Jan Krek
2D animation: Dora Pejić Bach, Lara Reichmann
Sound design and music: Gašper Torkar
Starring: Lina Akif, Ana Čavić, Rasfan Haval
Light design: Maša Avsec
Technical assistance with stand design: Jan Krek
Stand production: Urban Muck
Producers: Simon Gmajner, Jasna Jernejšek, Rea Vogrinčič
Thanks to: Maja Bojanić, Andreja Gomboc, Maša Knapič, Eva Robida Blau, Eva Smrekar
Project produced by: Kino Šiška and 2^32 Institute
The exhibition has been supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and the City of Ljubljana.
