Space + Art

UCLA's image of magnetic fields

Any interest in space (and we all have one, there’s no use denying that three-hour argument over whether aliens exist) comes with a sprinkling of science and a healthy dose of imagination. As a neuroscience major, poking through the Basic Plasma Science Facility at UCLA’s website seems like a derailment into Star Trek-like jargon, accompanied by the requisite alien shapes and swathes of color. A “colliding laser plasma experiment” seems to be more a product of scientists drunk on their own power than anything else, and yet there are years of physics and mathematics behind the project. The explanations on the website make about as much sense to me as multivariable calculus ever did, but there’s no denying the usefulness of science when attempting to go where no one has gone before.

Chesley Bonestell's 1944 painting of Saturn

Perhaps the earliest exploration of putting art in space came in 1993, when Arthur Woods created a sculpture entitled Cosmic Dancer and blasted it off to the Russian Mir space station, in the hopes of understand art’s place in space. It provided amusement to the astronauts, who watched it tumble about in the weightlessness of the deep dark, proving that there is indeed a space for art in space. In a similar vein, the MARS PATENT is “an interplanetarian project” that uses a “high reality machine” that lets users “send” their artwork into space, to admire the juxtaposition of Mars’ environment with the art they selected.  Interestingly, the zero-gravity exhibition Dancing on the Ceiling showcased the work of several artists who took advantage of recently developed technology (or swimming pools) to experience weightlessness for themselves before replicating that same sensation in their art. Traditional mediums have been used to produce space-related art, of course. Chesley Bonestell, who died in 1986, painted arresting landscapes of space, many of which were used as cover art for space-themed magazines or novels, such as War of the Worlds, published in 1953.

An insightful quote from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

In their turn, novels, television, and films have embraced the vast opportunities offered by man’s exploration of space with open arms. In my favorite space-related novel, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams seized the day and rattled off line after line of out-of-this-world humor while making pointed statements about the human condition – and humanity’s place in the world – after aliens dropped by and blew up Earth. (“Would it save you a lot of time if I just gave up and went mad now?”) In Lilo and Stitch, our planet is revealed to be a breeding ground for the universe’s study of mosquito populations, with poignant truths about family and kindness neatly slipped in sideways. Whether it’s to examine our humanity more closely or just search for some laughs, the galaxies above, below, and around us may in fact hold the answer.

Sources:

1)   “Basic Plasma Science Facility at UCLA.” University of California, Los Angeles. Web.

2)   Woods, Arthur. “Cosmic Dancer.” Cosmicdancer.com. Web.

3)   “The Mars Patent.” Mars-patent.org. Web.

4)   Bonestell, Chesley. “Chesley Bonestell.” Bonestell.org. Web.

5)   Forde, Kathleen. “Dancing on the Ceiling.” Zerogravity.empac.rpi.edu. Web.

Images:

1)   Phillips, Tom and Kelly Oakes. “’Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ Quotes as Motivational Posters.” Buzzfeed, 2014. Web.

2)   “Basic Plasma Science Facility at UCLA.” University of California, Los Angeles. Web.

3)   Bonestell, Chesley. “Chesley Bonestell.” Bonestell.org. Web.