Who in the sky
owns space?

Throughout history, human curiosity has driven us towards new horizons, from the first seafaring explorers to today’s astronauts orbiting the Earth. We are capable of
visionary thinking, collaboration, gathering knowledge, and passing it on to future generations. We learn from the past and dream about the future. With this exhibition, we
aim to push your limits and open your mind to the possibilities space holds for the future. We also hope to give you the knowledge to better understand the world and what it means to be human.

This perspective has inspired the entire exhibition’s narrative about the human ability to explore, be curious, and create. You’ll encounter technology developed
for the extreme conditions of space that now benefits us here on Earth.
 

In the exhibition, you’ll experience everything from the dizzying dimensions of time and space to the fundamental conditions of human life, the technological wonders
of everyday life, going to the toilet in space, testing your abilities as an astronaut, and not least, the largest moon rock outside the United States, generously on loan from NASA.

You also have the opportunity to face important dilemmas. At ten different places in the exhibition, you can scan a chip to dive deeper into the ethical and practical challenges of space exploration. If you wish to do so, simply answer “yes” when purchasing your ticket.

To Space and Back was created in close collaboration with Danish universities, the space industry, experts, and the world-renowned artist Tomás Saraceno. His spectacular work, Cosmic Threads, is a 25-meter-high, 42-meter-long installation that floats in Planetarium’s Stair Gallery, uniting science, art, and technology in one poetic gesture.

Guests can now experience a new, transgressive fusion of art, science and technology when Tomás Saraceno's presents COSMIC THREADS in Knud Munk's iconic Planetarium at Skt. Jørgens Sø.

The installation marks Saraceno's first permanent work in Denmark and his first collaboration with a planetarium worldwide. In Planetarium's newly renovated Stair Gallery, aesthetics and technology are combined in a unique experience that provokes reflection and curiosity.

Argentine Tomás Saraceno, world-renowned for his spectacular works, has created a complex mega-installation - unique to Planetarium. With COSMIC THREADS, he invites the audience to reflect on the mysteries of the universe and human responsibility for the future of our shared planet. The installation stretches the full height of the Stair Gallery at 25 metres and the full length of 42 metres. The mega installation captures light in a complex network of threads where planets and air pockets float like galaxies - a visual metaphor for the connections between cosmic and earthly structures.

For Saraceno, the opportunity to create a piece for a planetarium has been a lifelong dream:

‘Since my childhood, planetariums all over the world have fascinated me. Their job is to arouse curiosity and wonder about the great cosmic questions. It has been a dream to create a work that not only reinforces this fascination, but also opens up new ways of understanding our place in the universe. COSMIC THREADS is one of my most complex works, inviting the audience to explore the connections between science, art, and our shared future - a future that must be rethought in light of the climate crisis. In the iconic space of Planetarium, the dream has become reality.’

With COSMIC THREADS, Planetarium becomes not only a place where children, young people and adults learn about astronomy and space travel, but also a place for reflection on our common future on Earth. The work creates a ‘space’ for reflection and invites the audience to explore the challenges we face at a time when the climate crisis requires us to rethink our relationship with nature, energy consumption and the countless species we share the planet with.

Everything you are comes from the universe.

The building blocks of your body - the atoms - come from space, and on a cosmic journey we find out exactly where the different elements are formed.

The hydrogen in the water in your cells comes from the beginning of it all - from the Big Bang. Life is made up of DNA, which is made up of the element carbon, which is formed in stars. The stars in the universe act as large element factories, and this is also where the iron in your blood is formed. The element zinc is important for your immune system and comes from large stellar explosions - supernovae.

The exhibition is an explosion of visual impressions. It was created in collaboration with London-based exhibition and design company ‘59 Productions’ with the idea of putting the viewer at the centre. We use the latest technology, and the entire exhibition is designed from the ground up based on professionalism.

In 2018, the exhibition, ‘Cosmos’, won an Ecsite Award in the ‘Sustainable Success’ category for its inclusive and engaging exhibition on astrophysics.