LOOKING AT THE SKY
IN THE TECHNOLOGICAL ERA

Burning Blue is an evidence machine that uses science to tell stories.
The work seeks to reveal the communicative power emitted and received at different scales, in a correspondence between bodies on Earth and celestial bodies. Through highly precise archiving of astronomical data, the artist meticulously traces the asterisms present above a given event.

These vast lines stretch across light-years and become stellar totems. Thanks to cutting-edge tools, recent space missions, the latest telescopes, and international archives, digital technology today allows an astonishing level of accuracy, offering new representations of the world.

Each star composition is an invitation to dream: blue giants, double stars, binary systems, or orange supergiants, each time creating a surprising celestial score.

As the Sun moves through the Milky Way at an estimated speed of 828,000 km/h, according to the work of Dr. R. R. Price, the Earth orbits within this vast motion, while the universe itself expands at an accelerated rate, a discovery attributed to Edwin Hubble.

This constant movement and the expansion of space ensure that each stellar alignment is unique, occurring at a precise moment, never reproduced in the same way.

The possibility of star alignment at a given instant at the zenith, with all the astronomical data available today, represents a singular celestial event. The vortex-like motion of the Sun, coupled with the precise tracking of stellar positions, allows us to certify these moments with unparalleled accuracy using official databases. These data are not only a reflection of cosmic events but also an official certification of the universe’s continuous evolution.

The concept of a “cosmic clock” has been explored by scientists such as Roger Penrose, who approached the idea of the universe as a dynamic phenomenon evolving through the geometry of space-time (Penrose, 2010), and Carl Sagan, who popularized the idea of a “cosmic calendar” to illustrate the vast temporal scales of the universe in his works and broadcasts (Sagan, 1980).
Representations of vortex motion in the astronomical context are also frequently discussed in theories of general relativity and quantum gravity, where space-time itself is perceived as a swirling fabric influenced by mass and energy (Einstein, 1915).

Vidya-Kélie, Burning Blue “Birth of the Artist’s Father” alignment of celestial bodies on 06/28/1952, 7:25 am, Phoenix, Mauritius
Elements identified thanks to space missions and telescopes: Gaia (ESA), XMM-Newton (ESA), Herschel (ESA), Planck (ESA), Euclid (ESA), INTEGRAL (ESA), ground-based telescopes and large surveys
Image credit: Spacememorystudio, 2025

Vidya-Kélie, Burning Blue “Chiara” alignment of celestial bodies on 04/04/1998, 7:30 pm, Angers, France
Elements identified thanks to space missions and telescopes: Gaia (ESA), XMM-Newton (ESA), Herschel (ESA), Planck (ESA), Euclid (ESA), INTEGRAL (ESA), ground-based telescopes and large surveys
Private Collection
Image credit: Galerie DATA, 2025

REAL LINES
The work on connection has already been initiated by the artist Vidya-Kélie. In her practice, the invisible lines of human relationships are made visible: she tirelessly draws lines to link people together. Using digital tools that make certain narratives all the more perceptible, she pays tribute to these connections by manifesting them in reality through noble, powerful materials.

A luminous presence offers more than just light — it shapes space, reveals textures, and invites contemplation. Whether through natural reflections or the soft glow of a symbolic sculpture, it brings depth and resonance to a place. Its subtle radiance draws the eye and soothes the mind, creating a harmony that is both intimate and elevated, like a silent force.

OUR CONNECTION TO THE STARS IS FULL OF MEANING
Since the dawn of time, humanity has gazed at the stars in search of meaning, guidance, and origins. From Orion to the Pleiades, myths speak of a shared cosmic imagination. The stars were both deities and storytellers, structuring time and ritual.

Historically, astrologers — powerful advisors to kings and gods — laid the foundation for astronomical research. The Antikythera mechanism stands as testimony to this long pursuit of understanding celestial motion.

Today, Burning Blue detects the stars, planets, and exoplanets aligned at the key moments of your life, weaving a new cosmic narrative.

The mysterious presence of these celestial bodies reminds us of our condition as inhabitants of a spinning Earth, rushing through the vastness of space — an abstract yet meaningful reality.

WHY “BURNING BLUE”
It refers to the energy of blue giants — their intensity and power. Fire symbolizes passion, blue embodies mystery.

Much of the light emitted by these ephemeral stars, destined to explode in supernovas (on a scale of 10 to 100 million years), escapes our vision because it lies in the ultraviolet.

Blue, like a door or threshold between the visible and the invisible, becomes a powerful metaphor for everything that exists beyond our perception.

Invisible to the eye, yet very real, these bridges are physical and carry information.

Light, through its softness and presence, seems to pass through the body, awakening deep resonances and memories.

The B.Blue thus emerges as a tribute to this subtle light, sculpting space through shadows and reflections, caressing textures, and inviting sensitive contemplation. It is a quiet celebration of that immaterial, fragile, and essential force that shapes our relationship to the universe.

In material science and physics
Shape memory: Certain metallic alloys, such as NiTiNOL (Nickel-Titanium), possess the ability to return to their original crystalline configuration after mechanical deformation, triggered by thermal stimulation.

This property reveals an intrinsic physical and molecular memory, linked to reversible phase transformations in their internal structure.

Georges Chapouthier, neurobiologist and philosopher, suggests that biological memory is embedded in spatial organization, proposing a structural interdependence between neuroanatomy and memory dynamics. Memory is not merely a trace but takes shape through spatial patterns at the organic and cerebral level.

In architecture and aesthetic theory
Gaston Bachelard, in The Poetics of Space, develops the idea of lived space as a reservoir of affective and poetic memory. Domestic spaces — rooms, niches, corners — act as condensers of mnemonic experience, where imagination and memory intertwine. These spaces carry emotional and symbolic charge, making space itself a condensation of lived experiences and memories.
“The house is our corner of the world. It is, in itself, one of the greatest powers of integration for the thoughts, memories, and dreams of mankind.”

Henri Bergson, in Matter and Memory, distinguishes pure memory (memory-duration, not anchored in space and time) from habitual memory, rooted in the body, gestures, and thus in lived space. This distinction opens the way to the idea that a spatial form can crystallize memory through action.

THE STARS
Historically, the Earth’s revolution through the universe has been studied and understood for millennia, as evidenced by the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient device designed to calculate astronomical positions. Buildings and architecture are imbued with our relationship to the Sun; cultures respond to our position relative to the Moon. Today, we have a more or less clear understanding of the quality of these influences — gravity, temperature, magnetic fields — and of how the Earth’s movements spiral helically through the cosmos.

But beliefs seem to have developed instinctively, through listening, long before scientific measurement. We find them in all guides, myths, and religions. Central to our existence, they hold an essential place in governing our bodies, our plants, and our emotions.