Did you know the distance from Earth to the Moon and back is about 768,944,563 meters? Numbers that out scale human bodies and experiences are nearly impossible to connect with, and difficult to conceptualize. Art that visualizes data helps humans understand the vastness of the world we inhabit. As a data visualization project, LabSynthE compares a distance measured in the campus environment by a scale that approximates 106 the distance to the moon and back. First made for International Love Data Week in 2025, Comets Love You to the Moon and Back * 106 is a massive accordion-style Valentine’s card that visualizes this epic distance to the Moon and back, stretching along the campus mall from the Visitor’s Center to the Administration Building. In its first iteration, the card included stunning imagery provided by NASA, photographs lab members took of the moon from their backyards, song lyrics from local radio station KXT’s anti-love song playlist, and love letters and break-up notes written by students, faculty, and staff at UT Dallas. We called on the UTD community to come together and be a part of this extraordinary project, and had more than two hundred participants write notes in our card starting February 1, 2025. This first version of the project was successful, it stretched the full distance we had projected on more than 2,000 sheets of folded and glued legal-sized (8.5 by 14 inch) paper. xtine was interviewed on local station Fox 4 News, and footage of the project appeared three times on the station broadcast over the course of Friday February 14 – Saturday February 15, 2025.
The installation day team included burrough with Hadi Asgharpour, Caroline Rogers, Strayer Russell, Shaghayegh Ashouri, and Olga Johnson
Project Credits: Comets Love You to the Moon and Back * 106
February 14, 2025
LabSynthE is directed by xtine burrough
Caroline Rodgers is our Research Assistant who folded and glued and led others in the making of this project
Liz Trosper is a faculty member who consistently participates in the lab’s intellectual and creative workings
Hadi Asgharpour is our MFA Artist in Residence this year who folded and glued ad nauseam; and who led the installation of the project outside and inside on 2/14/25
Christi Nielsen and Brynn Higgins-Stirrup are faculty members who helped fold and glue this project
Maryam Ashkaboosi, Vajihe Zamaniderkani, Rebecca Xiu Han, Strayer Russell, Vicki Kuhn, Grace Kang, Olga Johnson, Santi Alvarez, Parul Bhatia, and Shaghayegh Ashouri were all crucial to the making of this project
Tony Carmoega folded, glued, and made dinners. We couldn’t have crossed the finish line without him!