ALT The artwork ‘Impossible Object’ was launched to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the first private mission to the ISS (AX-1), where it was activated and documented by astronaut Eitan Stibbe, as part of Rakia Art Mission.

ALT Impossible Object is one of the few contemporary artworks ever made and sent to Outer Space. It is a sculpture made of liquid water. The liquid’s three-dimensional form does not get its shape from any vessel and as such cannot exist on Earth, but only in Outer Space in the absence of gravity. The sculpture is built as a composition of brass rods and tubes, through which water flows. With no gravitation to direct the water downwards, the water clings to the sculpture’s metal structure, forming a dynamic three-dimensional liquid composition, shaped by the water’s surface tension and adhesion forces. The sculpture’s composition of rods and tubes resembles a wavy staircase that has no directionality. The work questions shape and form. In the absence of gravitation, what is the shape of a piece of sea or a handful of a wave?