On Daily at 4 PM
All the Stars We Cannot See
Megan Smith & Gao Yujie / December 12, 2025 - January 7, 2026
Urban Screens at Kelowna Community Theatre
All the Stars We Cannot See is an immersive and interactive installation that situates participants within a virtual sky activated by 25,500+ satellites orbiting Earth. Megan Smith & Gao Yujie are working to render visible the global impact of satellite density.
This artwork builds a space for discussion on Space colonization and brings awareness to growing mechanisms of surveillance and the political and economic driving forces for occupying Space. "All The Stars We Cannot See" opened to the public in April 2022 at the Visualization & Emerging Media Studio at UBC Okanagan and has been presented at EVA London 2021, and Technarte Bilbao 2022. It won an Honorary Mention at Ars Electronica in 2022, was exhibited at Kelowna Art Gallery (October 2023 – March 2024), York University (Fall 2024), Festival International de la Imagen, Columbia (May 2025), and Fotografiska Shanghai (November 2025 – March 2026).
The work is developed in node-based visual programming system, TouchDesigner, by pulling real-time data from N2YO using their Application Programming Interface (API). The satellite positional data (latitude, longitude and altitude) is stored to a lossless image where each pixel’s individual RGB values contain a specified position for a satellite, at a specific moment. This forms a unique method for mapping and visualizing satellite locations over time. The real-time data is updated every 15 seconds, enabling viewers to identify movement. As satellite numbers increase, this project applies quantitative data in an evocative way, where emotional reactions to the shared information are felt.
About the Artists
Dr. Gao Yujie
Dr. Gao Yujie is a media artist, performer, and researcher whose work explores time as an artistic material through generative systems, site-specific performances, and interactive installations. Her research investigates how computational and performative practices shape our taken-for-granted perceptions of time across physical, digital, and intercultural contexts.
She holds a PhD in Digital Arts and Humanities from the University of British Columbia and teaches Creative and Media Studies, where she fosters research-creation through experimental, process-based art making. Her work has been presented internationally, recognized with an Honorary Mention at Ars Electronica (2022) and a Lumen Prize longlisting (2017).
Dr. Megan Smith
Dr. Megan Smith is a new media artists and designer. She holds a PhD in Contemporary Art & Graphic Design from Leeds Beckett University, and she became a Killam Fellow in 2022. She is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Creative & Critical Studies at the University of British Columbia. Her art practice probes new systems for delivering syndicated data through narrative structure and she often works with geo-location, live-feed installation, and performance as methods for storytelling.
Exhibitions & Awards
2025
All the Stars We Cannot See, [immersive installation] Group exhibition ‘SPACE: Internal Illuminations’ Fotografiska Contemporary Museum of Photography, Art & Culture, Shanghai, China (Nov 12, 2025 – March 8, 2026).
All the Stars We Cannot See, [immersive installation] part of ‘Lumiere Festival’, Vancouver (Nov 13-16, 2025).
All the Stars We Cannot See, [immersive installation] Festival International de la Imagen, Columbia (May 2025).
2024
All the Stars We Cannot See, [immersive installation] York University, Markham Campus Opening Event (Fall 2024)
All the Stars We Cannot See, [immersive installation] ‘Unity in Flux: The Ones & The Zeros’, Ejaz Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan, July – August.
All the Stars We Cannot See, [print] Computer Arts Society Members Exhibition, British Computer Society, London, UK, July – September
All the Stars We Cannot See, [print] FCCS Banner Project, Artwalk, Kelowna, April
All the Stars We Cannot See, [video projection] Canada House Telefilm Canada, SXSW Conference, March
2023
All the Stars We Cannot See, [Immersive installation] Kelowna Art Gallery, October 28 – March 10, 2024. https://kelownaartgallery.com/all-the-stars-we-cannot-see/
2022 All the Stars We Cannot See, [Immersive installation] Visualization and Emerging Media Studio, University of British Columbia, Okanagan, April 23, 2022. https://fccs.ok.ubc.ca/2022/03/29/research-project-spotlight-all-the-stars-we-cannot-see/
2022
Prix Ars Electronica – Honorary Mention – Digital Communities
Speaker, Megan Smith, Yujie Gao, ‘All the Stars We Cannot See: a deep look into real-time satellite traffic’, Technarte conference, Bilbao, February 2022.
Speaker, ‘What is the Metaverse?’, CBC Kids.
2021 Speaker, ‘7th Annual Immersive Learning Research Conference: Online & in VR’, May.
Speaker with Gao Yujie, ‘All the Stars We Cannot See: a deep look into real-time satellite traffic’, Electronic and Visual Arts, British Computer Society, July.