Project Esrange, 2007
Project Esrange, 2007. Lens-based performance, digital video, 5:37 mins.
Predominantly shot in first-person POV, with one cameo of the artist, this video chronicles Raskin's research trip to the Swedish Space Corporation's Esrange launch site. Stylistically akin to Raskin's other first-person, lens-based performances, the video foregrounds the artist's body as much as their sight: their breathing audible, their hands visible, their running experienced through shaky hand-held footage. Raskin opens with an excerpt from NASA footage of a Space Shuttle launch, using present-day research to connect with childhood experience: as a fifth grader, they had participated in a nationwide program in which schoolchildren voted for a teacher to join the shuttle mission, and watched the Challenger explode live on air with their class in 1986. The trip was made possible by a residency and project grant from IASPIS.