Dorothy R. Santos, Ph.D.

2021 / digital archive

Cosmic Propulsions is an archive of letters written and dedicated to an individual (friends, family, loved ones, strangers, etc.) that included thoughts, reflections, and observations based on nascent ideas and thought experiments related to art, culture, technology, and science. The work was inspired by a daily ritual of producing writing and work for every day in 2011. After ten years, I revived the practice as an epistolary way communicating with *individual(s)* that have deeply influenced my work and personal life in the past decade.

The following list entailed the parameters and constraints to engage in this daily ritual: 

1. Letters are between 750–1000 words (roughly, 4–5 minutes to read)
2. No personal information is divulged to the “recipient.”
3. An image is posted as both a header for the letter.
4. I do not plan ahead of time. There is no editorial schedule. What you read are my thoughts to the recipient as the words and thoughts come to me, much like an old fashioned letter.
5. I do not take requests or suggestions.
6. “Citations” are included in some posts as a way for people to understand my thread of thinking (with direct quotes).
7. Each missive contains a link to a matching post from 2011.
8. They are always published before 11:59 PM PST (at the very latest).
9. Depending on my schedule, they might be written and published any time of the day.
10. Although a letter is written to a specific person, my hope is that readers might find themselves or that ideas might resonate or pique a reader’s curiosity.

The title of the work is inspired and named after Filipino artist David Medalla’s work Cosmic Propulsions.