Week 9 | Space + Art: Inspired by Stardust

    Though I am a pre-Cognitive Science major here at UCLA, from ever since I could remember up until sophomore year of high school, I wanted to be an astrophysicist. I remember coming back from school everyday and putting on my DVD box set of The Cosmos with Carl Sagan, and following it up with the new revamped version with Neil deGrasse Tyson, always looking up to them as inspiration for what I wanted to be when I grew up. I found such beauty in the unknown as many before me others have and will, and with such beauty, comes the desire for artistic interpretation

American astronomer and planetary scientist Carl Sagan

American astrophysicist and writer Neil deGrasse Tyson

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    With such an inspiration as the vastness of the cosmos, there is bound to be an artistic interpretation of it. The Makrolab project, founded by Slovenian artist Marko Peljhan, does this very thing. It allows for collaboration of artists and scientists alike who specialize in different artistic mediums as well as scientific disciplines. This project's goal is to bring people together in a sustainably synergistic lab environment and focus on creating one-of-a-kind works that highlight a sustainable relationship between humans and space exploration. This project has expanded to multiple labs open worldwide and has remained the same creative utopia since it was founded. 

Slovenian artist Marko Peljhan's Makrolab

    Another such example of bridging the intersections between space exploration and art is the Leonardo Space Art Project, whose goal is to take aerospace professionals and artists and foster a space that revolves around artistic expression backed by extensive knowledge and/or passion for the cosmos. One such collaborator by the name of Arthur Woods, is an artist whose “Cosmic Dancer Sculpture” piece I found to be fascinating (see Woods and with the sculpture below), considering it was the first art exhibition to be put in orbit around the Earth.

Arthur Woods' "Cosmic Dancer Structure"

 

    In conclusion, there are countless other artists, projects, and exhibits that highlight space exploration as a central topic of interest. With minimal effort anyone can see the beauty that some of these artists have put into the world. I truly believe that you all will find their work as fascinating as I do. I included some pictures of space that hopefully touch you as much as they've touched these artists and scientists :)

The Twin Jet Nebula as captured by NASA's Hubble Telescope

The Large Magellanic Cloud captured by NASA's Hubble Telescope

Sources:

“Coded Utopia.” Continental Drift, 18 May 2009, brianholmes.wordpress.com/2007/03/27/coded-utopia/. Accessed 08 June 2024. 

Leonardo Space Art Project Visioneers, spaceart.org/leonardo/vision.html. Accessed 08 June 2024. 

Greenberg, Gary. Cosmic Dancer, www.outer-space-art-gallery.com/cosmic-dancer.html. Accessed 10 June 2024. 

Ulrich, Bert. “NASA and Art.” NASA, 6 May 2024, www.nasa.gov/history/nasa-and-art/. Accessed 10 June 2024. 

Spadoni, Aldo. “Space Art Celebrates the Past and Future of Cosmic Exploration.” Astronomy Magazine, 18 May 2023, www.astronomy.com/science/space-art-celebrates-the-past-and-future-of-cosmic-exploration/. Accessed 10 June 2024.