Paul Dolan

Paul Dolan is an artist working and living in the North East of England. His work critically examines the connections between image production, data, infrastructure and political ideologies. Dolan works across photography and moving images using a range of CGI, game engines, visual scripting and customised software. His work has been shown at The Photographer’s Gallery, London, Post Territory, South Korea, The Laing Art Gallery and Newcastle Upon Tyne.

ARTWORK

Soft Launch (Animation)
Multichannel real time video Soft Launch (2026) uses computer simulation techniques to inflate 3D models of contemporary rocket launch infrastructure into mylar balloons, drawing parallels with NASA’s launch of the Echo 1 satellite in 1960 – a 100ft spherical balloon used to connect the east and west coast of America via radar signals. It was originally presented in front of a red curtain that recreates the TV monitor in Spaceport America’s mission control room through which launches are viewed.

One of the first messages transmitted using Echo 1 was President Eisenhower’s speech that characterised an open and generous approach to space science innovation. Soft Launch (2026) draws comparisons to the present by inviting audiences to consider the ideological drivers of contemporary NewSpace industries. It consists of computer simulated mylar balloons created from photographic reference of rocket launch facilities in the US, accompanied by a speculative policy statement generated by an AI model trained on accelerationist texts. The result is a computer-generated video in which audiences can watch mylar balloon versions of contemporary NewSpace technologies and structures be blown by the wind across a digitally recreated American landscape, whilst reading contemporary accelerationist versions of the messages initially sent on Echo 1.