Listening Space – Textiles in Dialogue with Atmospheric Data
Listening Space is an ongoing artistic research project by Afroditi Psarra and Audrey Briot that explores transmission ecologies as a means of perceiving the surrounding environment beyond human sensory abilities. Conceptually, the project approaches EMF and RF transmissions, along with intercepted NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) weather satellite data, as raw material for artistic expression. Using software-defined radio, DIY wearable RF receivers, and body movement and gesture as actuators, the artists investigate remote sensing while poetically reimagining the audio and images broadcast from space.
From May 31 to June 7, the two artists will be in residence at THE BLANC, working on classifying archival material from NOAA satellite performances recorded over the past six years. In the weeks leading up to the residency, the artists have been transforming decoded satellite images from their own archive into textile artifacts, which will be presented in an installation at THE BLANC’s second-floor gallery.
The exhibition opens to the public on June 5 from 6–8 pm and will remain on view for one month.
In 2025, NOAA brought its long-running POES (Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites) program to an end, decommissioning NOAA-19 on August 13 and NOAA-15 on August 19, shortly after the emergency passivation of NOAA-18 in June following a critical transmitter failure. Passivation—the controlled shutdown of a satellite—ensures that inactive spacecraft no longer interfere with other orbital systems. With the retirement of these satellites, a 47-year chapter in environmental monitoring and atmospheric observation came to a close.
The installation Listening Space offers an artistic interpretation of raw satellite data transmitted by these satellites over the six years since the project began in 2019. Through a series of large-scale knitted tapestries, the artists document and archive these transmissions using their own bodies as satellite ground stations. Through this artistic research, they invite the public to reflect critically on the Anthropocene and on who holds the power to “listen,” “decode,” and archive the planet’s changing climate.
About the collaboration
Audrey Briot is a French artist and practice-based researcher working at the intersection of textile design, speculative practice, and research. Co-founder of the DataPaulette collective, she develops hybrid systems combining craft techniques, open-source electronics, and environmental signals. Through international collaborations bridging art, science, and design research, her work explores how textiles can sense and translate different forms of data—from environmental and electromagnetic signals to embodied and narrative information—into non-verbal communication. She has exhibited at Ars Electronica, UABB Shenzhen/Hong Kong, and ISEA among others, and featured in CHI, TEI, and DIS art and research tracks, with two STARTS Prize nominations.
This exhibition is presented with support from THE BLANC, DXARTS, and SRC Material.
For more information about the show visit: https://www.theblanc.