Opens: Tuesday October 13, 2026
Closes: Friday November 6, 2026
The Ministry of Cosmic Affairs invites proposals for a body-scale device that places a person in relation with something larger than themselves.
For much of human history, the cosmos was encountered through instruments, architectures, calendars, paintings, rituals, and cultural narratives. These shaped attention and helped people orient themselves toward realities that exceeded any single individual. Many still exist, although their place in everyday life - and the ways we understand and engage with them - have changed.
For our contemporary condition, we are asking:
What kind of cosmological device does our moment need?
For much of human history, the cosmos was encountered through instruments, architectures, calendars, paintings, rituals, and cultural narratives. These shaped attention and helped people orient themselves toward realities that exceeded any single individual. Many still exist, although their place in everyday life - and the ways we understand and engage with them - have changed.
For our contemporary condition, we are asking:
What kind of cosmological device does our moment need?
We are seeking proposals for a speculative object or instrument that a body can hold, wear, enter, operate, or stand within, and through which an otherwise overlooked, inaccessible, or unfamiliar relationship with a larger reality becomes perceptible, legible, or felt.
That reality may be physical, environmental, technological, social, temporal, or otherwise exceed the scale of the individual.
Successful proposals will not simply explain or represent the cosmos. They will arrange the conditions for an encounter with it.
That reality may be physical, environmental, technological, social, temporal, or otherwise exceed the scale of the individual.
Successful proposals will not simply explain or represent the cosmos. They will arrange the conditions for an encounter with it.