Stefan Gec

1 Jul – 2 Aug 2009

To accompany our One Giant Leap season celebrating the 40th anniversary of the first manned moon landing, we are showing Untitled (Apollo-Soyuz Test Project) by artist Stefan Gec. The work focuses on the extraordinary moment in 1975 when two spacecraft - Apollo and Soyuz - docked in earth orbit to work together on the first-ever US-Soviet mission in space.

The Apollo and Soyuz flights launched within seven-and-a-half hours of each other on 15 July. After docking two days later, the mission commanders – Tom Stafford and Alexei Leonov - exchanged the first international handshake in space through the open hatch of the Soyuz. NASA had calculated that the handshake would take place over Bognor Regis, but a delay resulted in it actually occurring over the town of Metz in France.

Using blueprints as source material, Gec worked with animators to generate striking white drawings of the two spacecraft against a black background. The underlying structure of the vessels is recreated in an elegant, two-screen wire frame animation, which lays bare the incredible beauty and fragility of the historic encounter.

Apollo-Soyuz Test Project was the first international manned spaceflight. It was designed to test the compatibility of rendezvous and docking systems for American and Soviet spacecraft, to open the way for international space rescue and to establish procedures for future joint flights. With Untitled (Apollo-Soyuz Test Project) Stefan Gec has created a mesmerising and poetic work about the mission that witnessed the realisation of détente in space and a formal end to the Cold War space race.

On loan from Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre, London

For further information on the artist please visit www.stefangec.com

Software Development by Avco Production (www.avco.com)