El sexo de los planetas (The Sex of the Planets) started with a diagram: seven planets, seven days of the week, and the materials, colors, life stages, plants, and animals linked to each of them since antiquity, drawn from a thousand-year-old astrological manuscript by Al-Biruni. From this diagram grew a cycle of seven long poems, one for each day and its planet, along with drawings, collages, and musical adaptations performed live with voice, violin, and guitar.

Tomás Cohen is alumnus of the MPIWG’s Artist-in-Residence program. During his residency, from September to December 2025, he accompanied researchers from the Department on Artifacts, Action, Knowledge in their work. He used the Institute’s library, its rare book collection, and open-access image archives to develop the material for his book. He also exchanged ideas with researchers working on the history of astrology and astral magic. In this short documentary, Tomás looks back on that process in conversation with Research Scholar Jeffrey Kotyk—from the diagram that started it all to the drawings, collages, and songs that grew from it.

Established in 2012, the Artist-in-Residence program invites artists to develop their projects within a scholarly context and brings them into contact with researchers at the Institute.