Who
Apolune: Systems Normal is a collaborative project led by interdisciplinary artists Peyvand Sadeghian and Matthew Robinson. As neurodivergent practitioners, we bring unique perspectives to performance and visual art, challenging conventional approaches to storytelling and audience engagement.
What
We transform NASA's Apollo 11 archives into immersive performance-installations, melding them together with our own personal archives and artefacts. Through projection mapping, theremin-controlled visuals, multi-sensory design, and live activations, we create environments where audiences can experience this collective history through different minds and bodies.
Why
Apollo 11 represents a universal cultural touchpoint—a moment when declared "for all mankind." We insert ourselves into this collective narrative, claiming our rightful place within a history that belongs to all of us and continues to shape our collective future trajectory.
By interweaving personal artefacts with NASA's official archives, we explore how individual experiences of isolation, overwhelm, and connection mirror the vastness of space exploration. These themes resonate particularly with mental health experiences—the disorientation of floating untethered, the weight of unseen effort behind mundane tasks, the oscillation between transcendence and terror.
Through centring marginalised perspectives and accessibility as creative drivers, we demonstrate how difference enriches our understanding of human achievement and vulnerability.
How We Work
Our practice combines:
- Dual Archives: Mining both NASA's public materials and our personal collections for resonant moments
- Technical Innovation: Developing responsive systems where gesture, memory, and technology converge
- Community Collaboration: Working with neurodivergent and disabled creatives to shape collective meaning
- Embodied Research: Using our own experiences to illuminate universal themes of belonging and displacement
This work integrates:
- Live performance blending institutional archives with personal memory
- Interactive technology responding to performer movement and presence
- Embedded accessibility features including tactile elements, creative captions, and audio description
- Multiple entry points for diverse audiences to find themselves within the narrative
The result is a scalable model for performance that adapts to galleries, theatres, museums, and non-traditional spaces—proving that neurodivergent-led work can reclaim and reshape cultural narratives for all.