Space + Art

I cannot believe it's already the last lecture and the last assignment. For this week, professor Vesna talked about the space and the art. "Powers of Ten" video shows how much we and the earth are tiny from the space. I knew the universe is so huge, but I realized again that the solar system or the milky way galaxy we know is just a little part of the while universe. The camera zooms out and zooms in by exploring the skin cells and galaxy with using the powers of ten. This video was a good start to introduce how the universe is so far away from us and about its amazingly unending distance.

We are familiar to the solar system and its planets' name through the science class, medias, and so on. Specifically, these planets got the name from the myth characters, for example, Venus, the second planet from the Sun is named after the Roman goddess of beauty and love. This fact tells how humans connect their ideas and thoughts to their discoveries on space.


I would like to focus on the part where human challenge their limit. One example is shown from the video called "The sputnik moment". It talks about how every American had a very normal life fifty years ago. The scientist and engineers tried something very new which was to shoot the space craft to the sky. the tension between soviet union and america was built regarding the issue of satellite. They rebuilt, put more money, and required better and more education to satisfy their job. Through this video we can tell how people drew attention of great accomplishment of sending the satellite to the space and brought competition between countries. The space became the way how people compete and show who was the better nation. It was the magical issue that nobody could not own. It is a great example how human challenges their limit.
The picture on the right is the first spacecraft made by Soviet. <http://thisdayintechhistory.com/04/03/first-spacecraft-to-orbit-moon/>

Moreover, human were fascinated by the gravity. Gravity is something that holds every substance in Earth. Kathleen Forde wrote an article called "Dancing on the ceiling: art a& zero gravity". With the idea of Italo Calvino, artists represented the works to explore the weightless status on Earth which is impossible in reality. I was interested by their idea of performing zero gravity or similar to it. In reality, it is not possible for us to live without thee gravity. However, the idea represented by the artists tried to define this uncontrollable force that they can never control. I would like to mention about Kulbi who spent time floating in the tank Xu Zhen who held her position upright in the air to look like the person who is in the actual space. These brilliant ideas showed how humans really do appreciate the chance to explore the unexplored space and explain through art.

 
Example of what Xu Zhen performed regarding gravity. <http://zerogravity.empac.rpi.edu/zhen/>




Citations
“Dancing on the Ceiling: Art & Zero Gravity at EMPAC.” Art & Education. N.p.. Web. 30 Nov 2012. <http://www.artandeducation.net/announcement/dancing-on-the-ceiling-art-zero-gravity-at-empac/>.

"Powers of Ten (1977)". Web. 26 Aug 2010. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0>.

"Powers of Ten" Web. 2010. <http://powersof10.com/>.

"8 Space Intro" Web. 29 Jul 2013. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dPAmpBiVHY>

"8 Space Part 1" Web. 29 Jul 2013. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZIqTR332l8>

"8 Space Part 2" Web. 29 Jul 2013. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLZMDpoP-u0>