Skip to main content

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.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 8 - Nanotechnology + Art

With the usage of nanoparticles, I believe fashion will undergo drastic transformations. As explained in this week's lecture videos, when we manipulate on the nanoscale, we can change the properties of the molecules. In particular, I was intrigued by the creation of self-cleaning fabrics. Speaking as a college student, laundry is very time consuming. When done in a rush, our clothes can even become damaged through shrinking or stains. Researchers at RMIT University have been developing a cheap nanostructure that degrades organic matter when exposed to light using "hot electrons". If this is integrated into textiles, we can merely use some sunlight to clean our clothes, saving our money and time. Not to mention, this material would also be environmentally friendly, since our clothes would be preserved longer and we won't need to waste as much water. Nanostructures grown on cotton textiles (RMIT University) < https://phys.org/news/2016-03-nano-enhanced-textiles...
1 comment
Read more

Week 7 - Neuroscience + Art

Aristotle, the father of psychology, had believed that the brain was merely an organ built to cool down the blood in the heart and lungs. With developed technology, science can now confirm with microscopes and electricity that the brain is the conductor of thought and emotion. In a lot of literary works and art, the heart seems to always be romanticized as the driver of human passion while the mind is always portrayed as the rational counterpart. Artists and even scientists have challenged this notion through beautiful depictions of neuroscience. Split Santiago Ramon y Cajal is considered to be the father of modern neuroscience, as he has won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in medicine and physiology. However, according the Vesna's lecture, he referred to neurons as "mysterious butterflies of the souls" and their dendrites as the wings. He obtained his artistic fulfillment within science, as he spent hours drawing natural scenes that would be later used in textboo...
2 comments
Read more

Event 1: Linda Weintraub Lecture

I went to Linda Weintraub's Lecture at the Broad Art Center on April 18th. Throughout her presentation, Weintraub explored various contemporary arts dealing with eco-materialism. One particular project that stood out to me was Daniel Steegmann Mangrane's "Phantom". Using Oculus Rift technology, he was able to create a virtual reality environment of, what I later found out, the Brazilian Mata Atlántica rain forest. With his collaboration with ScanLAB Projects, there was an effective communication between "literary intellectuals" and the "scientists", a real life example of the third culture forming that Snow theorized and Vesna elaborated upon in her article. Oculus headset in use in empty room Snapshot of the wearer perspective With this technology, Weintraub explained that there was no orthodox "frame" to separate the artwork from the surroundings. This harmonized with her lecture's overarching theme of connecting one'...
1 comment
Read more