DESMA 9 U9- Emilie Wouters

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 U9: Space + Art

    When I saw that this week’s theme was space and art, I immediately thought of astrophotography. I thought that was what the lecture was going to be about. Boy, was I wrong. What I love about this week is the variety of ways an art piece can interact with space. The guest speaker, Richelle Gribble, sent her work into space. Chelsey Bonestell does work depicting sci fi versions of space. Arthur Woods takes pictures of people dancing in space. Many photographers (including myself, though astrophotography isn’t exactly my main domain) and astrologists take pictures of space. 


   
Elena Soterakis Yoko Shimizu Richelle Gribble

    I want to come back to Richelle Gribble, because we cannot just glaze over the fact that she sent a work of art she made into outer space. The furthest my work has gone is out of the country, and even then it was just to send to an acquaintance of my family. It does raise a few ethical questions, of course, about what we as humans can leave in space. We have already absolutely trashed this planet, there’s no question about that. We have started leaving some trash out in space too. Then again, this artwork is as far from trash as you can get. I mean, just look at it, and its perfect representation of overpopulation. I love how Richelle Gribble and Elena Soterakis’s works show the side of Earth that humans have touched, whereas Yoko Shimizu’s work contrasts the two, and shows a more delicate, natural side of earth, with much more negative space than Gribble’s work. I didn’t get a chance to talk much about the specifics of Gribble’s piece, nor any of the other amazing things she’s done, but I will say that I’m glad it’s her work out there with Soterakis and Shimizu’s. Art can be made of space, or in space, or on earth and sent into space.



References

“Bonestell - Home.” Chesley Bonestell, www.bonestell.org/.

“Cosmic Dancer - a Space Art Intervention by Arthur Woods.” Cosmic Dancer Photos: Mir Space Station : Arthur Woods, www.cosmicdancer.com/cosmic_dancer_photos.php.

Vesna, Victoria, and Richelle Gribble. “DESMA 9 Week 9 Lecture.” 2021. 

Gribble, Richelle. To Space, From Earth.

Soterakis, Elena. To Space, From Earth.


Shimizu, Yoko. To Space, From Earth.


Comments

  1. Hope PhamMay 30, 2021 at 9:11 PM

    You wrote about a term I never heard of before: astrophotography. I think it’s fascinating how humans can capture images of space and translate that into artwork. In your discussion of ethics and waste, I also questioned the use of space as an extraterrestrial “landfill”. I wonder if sending trash into space in large volumes would ever be cost effective enough to persuade entrepreneurs to seriously pursue this venture. I guess the possibility of space elevators might make some businesses consider it! However, I hope we figure out our waste problem on Earth soon without resorting to polluting space.

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