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Week 9 - Space + Art

In this week's lecture, we focused on space exploration and how our endeavors has inspired works of fiction and various art. Contemporary space-age development really started after WW2 during the Cold War. When the Spudnik satellite was hurled into orbit by the Russians in 1957, the famous "space race" was kicked off between the US and the Soviet Union. NASA was even created in effort to invest more research in a competing military space program, along with more funding towards scientific education (uconlineprogram). This tense competition resulted in a stream of scientific achievements, leading up to placing a man on the moon in 1969. (NASA)

Neil Armstrong during the moonwalk, working at an equipment storage area (NASA)

From the 50s on during this time, many science-fiction TV shows were released that influence pop culture on space, such as Planet Stories, Jetsons, and Star Trek (uconlineprogram). The creators of these shows popularized scientific concepts such as time-traveling and cryogenic sleep in an entertaining medium. These two plot devices are still frequently used in today's science-fiction media, like in Futurama and Passenger. The film Interstellar even explores intensive physic concepts such as time dilation (where time passes by more slowly when you're near a black hole) and worm holes (a pathway to travel across two far-apart location) (Tate).




Most of space is empty (Eames Office). However, this hasn't stopped artists from being entranced by the idea of an endless ocean of cosmos. Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirror Room explores a "cosmic meditation on life and death", using hundreds of color-changing LED lights in a dark, mirrored room to represent our universe. (Natasi)

Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Room Exhibit

The mystery and potential of what's beyond our planet is both enchanting and exciting, since there is so much ground left to explore within our universe. This very idea has ignited the imagination in not only scientists, but also our artists and filmmakers.

Sources

"8 space pt2 1280x720" Youtube, uploaded by uconlineprogram, 29 Jul. 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLZMDpoP-u0.

"Interstellar - The Science of Interstellar (Bonus Feature)." Youtube, uploaded by Guitarfollower22, 11 Jul. 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv9WzXekSiw.

Kusama, Yayoi. Infinity Mirror Room, 18 Mar. 2013. The Broad, http://www.thebroad.org/art/yayoi-kusama/infinity-mirrored-room-souls-millions-light-years-away. Accessed 31 May 2017.

NASA. "July 20, 1969: One Giant Leap For Mankind." NASA, 14 Jul. 2014, https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/apollo11.html. Accessed 31 May 2017.

Natasi, Alison. "Cosmic Art Installations Inspired by Space." Flavor Wire, 5 Apr. 2014, http://flavorwire.com/449482/cosmic-art-installations-inspired-by-space. Accessed 31 May 2017.

"Powers of Ten™ (1977)" Youtube, uploaded by Eames Office, 26 Aug. 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0.

"Space pt6 1280x720" Youtube, uploaded by uconlineprogram, 30 May. 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYmOtFjIj0M.

Tate, Karl. "The Science of 'Interstellar' Explained (Infographic)." Space.com, 7 Nov. 2014, http://www.space.com/27692-science-of-interstellar-infographic.html. Accessed 31 May 2017.


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