A few houses, a service station, a post office, a couple of diners… and a mysterious scientific research base. Gakona, a small village in the center of Alaska, is home to the American H.A.A.R.P. research program (High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program). Inspired by the works of the inventor Nikola Tesla, it is believed that researchers there are studying the transmission of electricity in the high strata of the atmosphere. But because of its military funding and the fears associated with electromagnetism, H.A.A.R.P. has also become an inexhaustible source of rumors. From climatic disruption to influence over human behavior, this forest of antennas has been credited with powers worthy of science fiction. Made up of four solo exhibitions (Micol Assaël, Ceal Floyer, Laurent Grasso and Roman Signer), the GAKONA session lies at the intersection of fact and rumor, reality and phantasm, science and imagination. Presenting works that elude any suggestion of a fixed interpretation, it thus pursues the Palais de Tokyo’s intention of promoting a dynamics of looking and thinking, based on a permanent oscillation between opposite poles. This issue of the magazine PALAIS / is edited and designed around the GAKONA exhibition, a Nikola Tesla short story by Cory Doctorow, an interview of Laurent Grasso by Marc-Olivier Wahler, two portfolios (Ceal Floyer, Roman Signer), archive documents about Alexander Chizhevsky (selected by Micol Assaël), unexpected experiments with high-voltage current, and also a guide section.
 

CONTENTS 
High voltage experiments CORY DOCTOROW
Excerpts from “Home Again, Home Again” Portfolio by CEAL FLOYER ROMAN SIGNER. REISEFOTOS Travel notebooks GHOSTS AND SPECTRUMS OF AN ELASTICAL REALITY  Laurent Grasso in conversation with Marc-Olivier Wahler
Micol Assaël proposes SOLAR ACTIVITY AND SOCIAL PHENOMENA PALAIS / GUIDE
Exhibitions guide and a selection of books, music, movies, and events around GAKONA