What role do the visual arts play in the emerging commercial spaceflight industry, and vice versa? This book considers the relationship between art practice and space science, presenting new methodologies for art-sci collaboration informed by non-terrestrial contexts.
Regarded widely as an irreverent luxury accessible to only a select few, commercial space exploration seems an unlikely setting for contemporary art practice. However, faced with the inevitability of this developing industry and the new environments it presents, a new field of creative practice is emerging. In Art in Orbit design theorist Barbara Brownie argues that these new environments offer novel opportunities that are yet to be fully recognized by the creative industries.
Throughout the book, Brownie explores the contexts, questions, challenges and opportunities for creative exploration of form, materials, and the body, in space. Drawing on original research in the STEAM subjects, the book highlights how artists, engineers, and theorists have begun working in close collaboration to reconsider practices that have been taken for granted throughout the history of art practice, demonstrating how ideas about orientation, weight, balance, and the familiar behaviours of art and craft materials are all radically altered in the microgravity of orbital space.
The research presented is supplemented by 9 original case studies from sculpture, craft, performance, and land art, together with exclusive interviews with artists who have produced work for space. Taking an original, critical approach to the spaceflight sector, Art in Orbit sets out to define a new field of artistic practice and the real-world impact of art-sci collaboration. It provides a template for developing new narrative strategies for space projects which will engage artists, scientists, and collaborative teams from across disciplines.
List of Figures Introduction: Art in Orbit Chapter 1: Art in the Commercial Space Age From astroart to space art Humankind in the era of commercial spaceflight Towards a new definition of space art Case Study 1: Trevor Paglen, Orbital Reflector, 2018 Case Study 2: Yasmine Meroz and Liat Segal, Impossible Object, 2022 Chapter 2: Science First, Art Later Art in the space sector Why is space art important? Barriers to success in art/space collaborations Case study 3: Max Baraitser Smith, Lunar Bureau of Weights and Measures, 2021 Chapter 3: Post-gravity Thinking: How weightlessness changes everything “Entirely different foundations”: Normogravity is not normal in the universe The arts in microgravity Representing microgravity on Earth Case Study 4: Lisa Pettibone, Verdant, 2022 Chapter 4: New Horizons The view from above “There is no upright in space”: Abandoning what we know about orientation New approaches to orientation Case Study 5: Eyal Gever, #Laugh, 2017 Case Study 6: Eduardo Kac, Télescope Intérieur (2017) and Ágora (1986-2024) Chapter 5: Touching the Void Performing weightlessness The void: Infinite and intimate spaces Making contact Case Study 7: Jeanne Morel, Art in Space, 2016-present Chapter 6: Making Space for Experiments Space and craft “The magic of things going where no mathematics model has gone before” Experiments for future generations Case Study 8: Alexis Hope, Space/Craft, 2019 Case Study 9: Sana Sharma, Fluid Expressions, 2020-2022 Conclusion: Finding Space for Artists Appendix: Timeline of Spaceworks References Index
Barbara Brownie is Assistant Dean of the School of Communication at the Royal College of Art, UK. She investigates the potential for space as a site for creative practice through research and collaborations within the arts and spaceflight industries. Her last book, Spacewear (Bloomsbury, 2019) explored the effects of microgravity on the dressed body.
