Lea Petrou’s Lunar Sculptures find a Cosmic home at the National Observatory

Curated and textually framed by Kostas Prapoglou, Cosmic Dust/ New Territories draws inspiration from 19th-century German astronomer Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt, whose intricate lunar mappings and scientific pursuits form the basis for Petrou’s radical reinterpretation. Using materials such as ceramic, cotton thread, wool, clay, titanium, and marble, Petrou creates dialogues between past and present, the human and the planetary, the analytical and the emotional.
From fragmented lunar reliefs to embroidered reinterpretations of Schmidt’s sketches, Petrou’s work blurs the lines between scientific method and poetic gesture. Sculptures spanning the Observatory’s grounds and buildings breathe with the energy of both landscape and sky, reactivating a space once reserved for pure observation into one of contemporary creation and cosmic intimacy.

All works reverberate with a contemporary engagement with space exploration: from the moon landings that Schmidt’s maps helped make possible to the robotic missions that now probe distant planets. The odyssey for knowledge continues to extend into unknown territories, both outward and inward.
In an era dominated by data, Petrou offers a tactile recalibration, inviting viewers to connect with what we cannot measure, and to contemplate what we cannot yet see. Cosmic Dust / New Territories dwells within mystery, reorients perception, and navigates the thresholds between knowledge and wonder.

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