Week 9: Space and Art

Ever since the space race began around the time of the Cold War, space has been increasingly common as a subject of art and movies. Due to the United State’s efforts to compete with the Soviet Union for dominance in space, an emphasis was put on math and science in schools and space travel was a huge focus at the time. The entire country was a captive audience for anything involving the previously out of reach realms of the universe. Huge amounts of publicity were given to each new attempt to reach the new frontier. Both the Soviet Union and the US sent animals into space and publicized each step of the journey. 

The Cosmic Dancer is a sculpture made by Arthur Woods that was taken into space to study the  effects of weightlessness on it. It was left to float around the living quarters in the Russian Mir space station and was photographed and videoed. This is an interesting example of space art because a simple sculpture taken into space became mesmerizing due to the way it reacted to the absence of gravity. The cosmonauts in the space station were able to experience a typically immobile sculpture moving and dancing in the air. 

Our advancements in space allow for new types of creativity in art and scientific design because of the recent accessibility of a new environment. Without the restraint of gravity, and the creative limits of the earth, possibilities for future inventions and creations are limitless.

First Animals in Space. N.d. Photograph. Amy Shira Teitel. 2012. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. <http://vintagespace.files.wordpress.com/>.

First Dog in Space. N.d. Photograph. Rocket City Space Pioneers. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. <http://www.rocketcityspacepioneers.com/>.
Garlick, Mark. "Space Art." Mark A. Garlick's Space Art. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.
Woods, Arthur. "Cosmic Dancer - a Space Art Intervention by Arthur Woods." The Cosmic Dancer Project : Cosmic Dancer Introduction : Arthur Woods. N.p., 1993. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. <http://www.cosmicdancer.com/cosmic_dancer_introduction.php>.