Aula aberta DAP com Joël Vacheron
Planetary Imagination, CGI and the “Science Boom”
Aula Magna da FBAUP
18 de Março 2026, às 17h

The Voyager program played a key role in shaping modern space imagery and planetary imagination. The vast production of images, popularized by Carl Sagan during the 1970s–80s “Science Boom”, translated complex science into emotionally powerful narratives accessible to a mass audience. Through innovative storytelling and early CGI, NASA renewed public interest in space exploration while promoting a unifying vision of the future that nonetheless reflected an ancient promethean and Western-centric imagination of the cosmos.

Joël Vacheron is a sociologist and writer based in Lisbon. He is a senior lecturer and research fellow at the ECAL/HES-SO in Lausanne where he teaches visual and media studies. He is co-founder of the Centre Culturel Afropea and the author of “Cosmovisions : une étude visuelle de l’exploration spatiale” (Métis Presses, 2025).
https://joelvacheron.net/