Constellations of Stars: echoes across the stars
Interactive installation, motion tracking & data visualisation
A commission by Milton Keynes Islamic Arts & Culture (MKIAC)
Constellations of Stars: Echoes Across the Sky is an interactive installation that explores the deep-rooted connections between astronomy, cultural legacy and remote presence through the lens of Islamic astronomical heritage. The installation invites visitors both in-person and remote to engage with a shared sky. One that transcends borders, time, and language. It speaks to longing for connection and for a sense of place within the cosmos.
Through real-time interactivity, we ask: What happens when we look up together? Can the stars still guide us; not only across oceans, but through histories?
Inspired by the celestial globes, astrolabes, and star charts once crafted by polymaths like Ali Qushji and Taqi al-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf in Türkiye, as well as Persian scientists al-Sufi and al-Biruni, this work reimagines those instruments not as relics, but as vessels of wonder that once mapped the heavens and our place within them.
The installation draws on postcolonial and decolonial frameworks, particularly those that seek to reclaim non-Western scientific narratives from the margins of modern discourse. By centering the Islamic contribution to astronomy, the installation challenges Eurocentric chronologies of discovery and invites a polyphonic view of scientific history.
The installation uses motion reactive digital star maps, light and to create a sensory environment in which visitors can trace constellations with their presence.
Through mobile phone interactions, remote participants can send "celestial message" that appears in the installation's night sky, forging an ephemeral connection between in-person and remote participants.
Role: Lead Artist, Lead Creative Technologist, Producer
The installation has been showcased as part of the Festival of Codes and Lights in MK:Centre in Milton Keynes (UK)
OCT 2025
Created by Clemence Debaig
Contributions by Selen Lun (Türkiye)
Produced by Unwired Dance Theatre
Commissioned by Milton Keynes Islamic Arts and Culture
The installation has been showcased as part of the Festival of Codes and Lights in MK:Centre in Milton Keynes (UK) in October 2025