ABSTRACT
The Observatory Observed was one of seven CO-OPs projects – cooperation between artists and scientists or scholars – that took place over the year of 2007. As the name of the project suggests, its aim was to investigate observatories, places where astronomers observe heavenly bodies. We were the artist and scholar involved. Jeroen Werner came to the project because of his previous artwork, which consists of optical installations creating spaces of light beams and image projections that explore the geometry of seeing. Geert Somsen was involved as a historian of science interested in the shifting cultural meanings and social functions of observational practices. These intersecting interests were brought together in a common workplace: the nineteenth-century observatory “De Sonnenborgh” in Utrecht, whose scientific staff more or less acted as a third party in the project. 1
