Samstag Gallery 1

Artistic collaborative duo and Samstag Scholars Sean Cordeiro and Claire Healy’s practice reflects a preoccupation with the dynamics of global mobility — the networks, standards and financial systems that enable and restrict the movement of people and goods in the modern era.

In this ambitious new work, Healy and Cordeiro premiere Psychopomp, a cacophonous and vibrant moving image work. Exploring the porous relationship between science and mysticism, the pair turn their attention to rocket technology and its link to spirituality.

From the way in which NASA’s Apollo, Mercury and Gemini mission names are directly inspired by gods of antiquity, to pioneer rocket scientist Jack Parson’s conversion to Aleister Crowley’s occult Thelema movement, Cordeiro and Healy identify a strong spiritual thread in the history of rocket and space exploration. Melding Crowley’s poem Hymn to Pan, a significant historical text, with footage of farming fertility festivals in Thailand and Laos, Psychopomp explores the expressive potential of motion, technology and pagan rituals.

Alongside the new commission, Samstag will present a concise selection of significant earlier works by the artists. 

Psychopomp is the outcome of the 2024 UniSA Jeffrey Smart Commission.