OBSERVATORY, by smudge studio (Belfast, ME)

SMUDGE STUDIO’S GEO | COSMO FIELD STATION, WORKSHOP + TEA HUT 茶舎
158 High Street, Ste. 101, Belfast, ME + Brooklyn + Japan

002023 HOURS:
MOST SATURDAYS 1-4 pm in JULY
+ BY CHANCE & APPOINTMENT

SUMMER 0020023 EXHIBITIONS:

PROOF OF THE TURNING PLANET, OPENING JUNE 30TH (see open call)

WAYSTOP ALONG THE PATH OF PLANETARY TRANSFORMATION, ONGOING, OPENING JUNE 30TH

COSMOS DAILY window installations open 24/7 @observatorybelfast

Located at 158 High Street, smudge studio’s geo | cosmo field station, OBSERVATORY, rides upon Belfast ledge bedrock within the thin crust of planet Earth. Here, we experiment with aesthetic experience as a means for expanding human senses of place and time to include the vastness and generative power of the cosmos and our planet.

In 002023, for OBSERVATORY’s second year in Belfast, we will activate OBSERVATORY as a waystop along the path of planetary transformation.  As a waystop, OBSERVATORY will offer evolving contexts for our visitors to pause within the realities of a continuously transforming planet. Like waystops along hiking trails, highways, and pilgrimages, OBSERVATORY will stage occasions for respite, nourishment, appreciation, learning, corroboration, recombobulation, and adjusting course. Through OBSERVATORY’s tea hut, we will explore tea’s capacity to provide both vehicle and instruction for how we humans might creatively adapt, moment to moment, to the changing planetary conditions we live within.

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During the 002023 season, OBSERVATORY will host a continuously updated group exhibition of public-generated field notes received through the open call: PROOF OF THE TURNING PLANET. A portion of OBSERVATORY's interior space will be dedicated to displaying postcard observations solicited from around the world.

OBSERVATORY’s DISPATCH STATION will also provide visitors with pre-stamped postcards that they can use to creatively record their own field note observations. Visitors can send their postcards to near or distant destinations by mailing them directly from OBSERVATORY.