McCabe Week 9: Space + Art
This week's lectures, guest speaker, and readings were all about space and its relation to art. I already find space very fascinating so this week was a lot of fun to learn more about the subject and how art is involved. Space is a very complicated topic since everything that we study in it is so far away. I found the "Powers of Ten" video very engrossing because it demonstrates how far away things like planets and stars actually are to us humans on Earth. It is hard to wrap my head around how most of the things we know are from assumptions or calculations based off of assumptions, but many of our theories cannot be proved until we further explore outer space.
I also love the idea behind space being portrayed in science fiction movies and books. The lectures mention that many ideas that have potential are often brought about in stories, and later on other scientists adopt these ideas. One example of this is the space elevator that Arthur C. Clark writes about in his novel The Fountains of Paradise. Clark describes the space elevator as a faster way of transportation to space, and that idea has been taken into account fairly recently; NASA's scientist, David Smith Herman, now has actual plans for this space elevator. It is awesome what someone's creativity can lead to in technological advancements regarding space.
Along with movies and books, space is used in a variety of ways for art. One project that I found interesting was the Cosmic Dancer art piece. The Cosmic Dancer was a painted three-dimensional sculpture that was brought into space in 1993. The purpose of this piece was to explore the weightlessness of objects in outer space. The results were that the Cosmic Dancer floated and spun freely while scientists could explore the sculpture from all different angles. This project seemed very unique because it helped continue space exploration and was a start to incorporating actual art into outer space.
“Cosmic Dancer - a Space Art Intervention by Arthur Woods.” The Cosmic Dancer Sculpture - a Spaceart Intervention on the Mir Space Station by Arthur Woods, www.cosmicdancer.com/index.php.
EamesOffice, director. Powers of Ten™ (1977). YouTube, YouTube, 26 Aug. 2010, www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0.
Loff, Sarah. “Humans in Space.” NASA, NASA, 21 June 2018, www.nasa.gov/topics/humans-in-space.
Matignon, Louis de Gouyon. “Space Elevator Transportation System: Legal Aspects.” Space Legal Issues, 18 June 2019, www.spacelegalissues.com/space-law-legal-aspects-of-the-space-elevator-transportation-system/.
I was also kind of mind blown by the power of 10 video, to us everything may seem proportioned to size but in reality where very tiny in terms of the universe and very large in terms of atoms. It's cool when scientists make ground breaking work based off of others creativity, it really shows the power art has towards science. I didn't know astronauts paint in space, thats actually really cool. Imagine if big time artists painted or sculpted something in zero gravity.
ReplyDeleteI was also kind of mind blown by the power of 10 video, to us everything may seem proportioned to size but in reality where very tiny in terms of the universe and very large in terms of atoms. It's cool when scientists make ground breaking work based off of others creativity, it really shows the power art has towards science. I didn't know astronauts paint in space, thats actually really cool. Imagine if big time artists painted or sculpted something in zero gravity.
ReplyDelete(I made the comment above on my other gmail lol)
The power of 10 movie is very impressive and given that it was created by one of the most prominent designers - Eames - shows the inter relation between our world as a whole and how art can the power to translate it and distribute it.
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