ars astronautica texts and articles
The Definition of Space Art
Arthur Woods
2001
The term "Space Art" has many connotations and definitions even among the practitioners of this genre in the space community.
"Space art is a general term for art emerging from knowledge and ideas associated with outer space, both as a source of inspiration and as a means for visualizing and promoting space travel. Whatever the stylistic path, the artist is generally attempting to communicate ideas somehow related to space, often including appreciation of the infinite variety and vastness which surrounds us. In some cases, artists who consider themselves space artists use more than illustration and painting to communicate scientific discoveries or works depicting space; a new breed of space artists work directly with space flight technology and scientists as an opportunity to expand the arts, humanities and cultural expression relative to space exploration."
Wikipedia,2008
Roger F. Malina, the editor of "Leonardo: The Journal of Art, Science and Technology" has tracked its development over years.
He defines Space Art as:
"Contemporary art which relies on space activity for its implementation" and lists seven broad categories:
1. Fine art which exploits sensory experiences generated through space exploration. New landscapes become accessible through space photography and film. Space illustrators anticipated some of these. and make use of the photographic record from space exploration.
2. Art which expresses the new psychological and philosophical conceptions developed through the exploration of space. The primary example of this is the concept of the Earth as a whole system - a concept made concrete by the first views of the whole Earth seen from space.
3. Art in space, viewed from Earth.
4. Art on Earth, viewed from space.
5. Art in space, viewed in space.
6. The applied arts such as space architecture, interior design and furniture design.
7. Fine art which takes advantage of new technologies and materials created through space activities. The most important of these make use of satellite systems to create simultaneous global artworks.
Malina goes on to point out that the work of some of the most important illustrators, i.e. Chesley Bonestell, David Hardy, and Ludek Pesek, not only anticipated some of the results of space exploration, but in some senses made space exploration possible by generating public interest and support as well as by helping scientists to plan and illustrate their experiments.
Ludek Pesek, In Saturn's Rings
As to the ultimate relevance of space art to space activities Malina (1989) states:
"The creation of contemporary art is inextricably tied to the process of creating human civilization Within this perspective, art making will occur as a part of space exploration, and in fact art making must be encouraged in space as one of the ways without which, in the long run, human use of space will be incomplete and unsuccessful."
Space artist and planetary scientist William K. Hartmann (1990) cites four roles for space art:
1. Encouraging scientific exploration
2. Recording historical evolution planetary exploration
3. Promoting international cooperation
4. Synthesizing information to stimulate new ideas about the universe and our relationship to it.
Today, there is a growing number of artists who are dedicating their talents to some form of space art. The appreciation of this genre of art in all of its manifestations by the mainstream art community has been slow. However, like much of science fiction literature, space art is rarely considered to be "serious" art but rather anecdotal to main stream contemporary art. Consequently, space art is most often found in technical museums and planetariums.
On the other hand, films with space themes are widely popular and are financially successful. Recently major art institutions and museums have begun to look closer at art dealing with space. Space art is finally becoming recognized in the contemporary art world.
In 2002, the OURS Foundation and Leonardo/OLATS initiated a project called: SPACEARTS: The Space Art Database Project" with the goal to document both the history and the diversity of space art. Although the project is still under development, the organizers have identified the following categories of space art.
- Scientific Illustration
- Astronomical
- Science Fiction
- Space Fantasy
- Comics
- Conceptual
- Abstract
- Representational
- New Media / Electronic
- Electromagnetic Art (X-ray, Laser, Radio)
- On Earth seen from Space
- In Space seen from Earth
- In Space seen from Space
- Created in Space
- Designed for other Celestial Destinations
- Zero-G
- Designed for Space Habitats
- Architecture
- Land Art
- Utilizing Space Technology / Materials
- Inspired by Space
- Biological
- Games
- Other