Humans have long been fascinated by outer space. Its depiction in popular culture, ancient mythologies, stargazing through telescopes, and more recently, in the billionaire space race highlights our curiosity with the great unknown.
The current exhibition, Psychopomp, by the New South Wales-based artistic duo and Samstag scholars (2006) Sean Cordeiro and Claire Healy, examines the relationship between rocket technology and spirituality.
Since 2001, Cordeiro and Healy have been collaborating to create sculptures, installations, and moving image works that reflect everyday life. With a sense of humour and a unique aesthetic, they explore themes of home and global mobility, particularly focusing on systems and how these can both support and constrain us. For instance, while international transport facilitates the movement of goods and capital, it often restricts the movement of certain classes of people.
The art world frequently bridges diverse fields, such as art and science or art and sport, to challenge audiences and offer alternative perspectives. Cordeiro and Healy suggest, “Maybe our pursuit of the nexus between rocketry and spirituality is our immature reaction to this.”
Installation view: Claire Healy & Sean Cordeiro, Psychopomp, Samstag Museum of Art. Photo: Sia Duff / Samstag Museum of Art / Supplied
Psychopomp draws on our understanding of rocket science and its place in the modern psyche. We often hear the phrase ‘It’s not Rocket Science’ which indicates that everything else is simple when compared to this complicated field.
“Rocket science is perceived to be a very ‘buttoned-down’ pursuit: all slide rules and short-sleeved shirts with skinny black ties.”
This engaging presentation, which features a combination of video and installation work, was made possible through support from the University of South Australia’s Jeffrey Smart Commission.
The Commission played a crucial role in developing this work, allowing the artists to pursue ambitious ideas.
“Without the financial support, we would not have been able to devote the time and resources necessary to research and produce our multimedia installation, which was created between Thailand and Australia,” Cordeiro and Healy explain.
A significant outcome of the support was the artists’ residency in Bangkok at MATDOT, where they connected with their cinematographer and explored various research avenues.
Claire Healy & Sean Cordeiro, Psychopomp production still. Photo: Supplied
Each year, in Thailand and Laos, the Isan Rocket Festival, Prapheni Bun Bang Fai, takes place. During this festival, homemade rockets are launched into the sky to encourage the sky god, Phaya Than, to bring rain ahead of the monsoon season to enhance crop growth. Healy and Corderio’s video work captures footage of parades and rocket launches in the towns of Kutwa and Yasothon in northeast Thailand.
The artists also cite the American rocket scientist and chemist Jack Parsons as influential. He was one of the co-founders of Jet Propulsion Laboratories (JPL), but at the same time was also experimenting with ‘sex magick’ and running a bohemian commune and an occult temple out of his home. This didn’t fit with the conservative ideals of the space program, and as a result Parsons was not recognised for his contributions until recently. He is now considered one of the most important figures in the history of the US space program.
Before each rocket test at JPL, Parsons would recite Aleister Crowley’s Hymn to Pan. This historical text has been incorporated into Cordeiro and Healy’s video presentation, further highlighting Parsons’s interest in the connection between religion and rocket technology.
Installation view: Claire Healy & Sean Cordeiro, Psychopomp, Samstag Museum of Art. Photo: Sia Duff / Samstag Museum of Art / Supplied
Alongside the video work is a mock mission control which combines Eastern and Western concepts of rocketry and sexual mysticism.
“Instead of space mission insignia decorating the walls, our mission control is festooned with a combination of symbols drawn from the Ordo Templi Orientis and contemporary food-based emojis which are used as visual metaphors for various acts of coitus; re-enforcing the life-affirming nature of the project.”
Psychopomp is a bold installation that merges science and mysticism to explore the spiritual connections throughout the history of space exploration. Cordeiro and Healy elevate everyday experiments in rocketry – reminding the audience that anything is possible.
Claire Healy & Sean Cordeiro: Psychopomp is showing at Samstag Museum of Art until December 5 2025
