Art after Sputnik - Live panel discussion

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Mar 29

2013

by Thilina Heenatigala

Contemporary Arts Practice and Outer Space

Published: Friday, March 29 2013 13:44

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Panel of astro-artisits; Roger Malina, Richard Clar, and Daniela de Paulis will discuss how art changed after the launch of Sputnik, by presenting and examining works by contemporary artists. The live panel is on 21 April 18:00 - 19:00 UT at Cosmoquest.

History changed on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik, thus marking the dawn of the Space Age. With humankind gaining access into outer space for the first time in history, the launch of Sputnik changed the way we see our planet and we see ourselves in relation to the universe.

This event is endorsed by International Astronautical Federation Technical Activities Committee for the Cultural Utilisation of Space (ITACCUS).

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Artists bio:

Roger Malina:
Roger Malina is a physicist, astronomer, executive editor of Leonardo Publications at MIT Press, distinguished professor at UT Dallas and Associate Director of Arts and Technology. His work focuses on connections among digital technology, science and art. Malina obtained his BS in physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972, and his PhD in Astronomy from the University of California, Berkeley in 1979. He was Principal Investigator for the NASA Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer Satellite at the University of California, Berkeley.

He is former director of the Observatoire Astronomique de Marseille Provence (OAMP) in Marseille, and member of its observational cosmology group, which performs on investigations on the nature of dark matter and dark energy. Malina is president of the Association Leonardo in France, which fosters connections between the arts, sciences and technology, and has been the editor-in-chief of Leonardo magazine at MIT Press since 1982. He is a member of the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Study (Institut Méditerranéen de Recherches Avancées, IMERA), an institute he helped set up. IMERA aims at contributing to interdisciplinarity and places emphasis on the human dimensions of the sciences. He is a
CNRS Directeur of Recherche at Aix Marseille University.

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Richard Clar:
Richard Clar is a Los Angeles new media interdisciplinary artist who now resides in Paris. Clar, who studied at the Chouinard Art Institute (now Cal-Arts), is an early pioneer of art-in-space and began work in this field in 1982 with a NASA approved concept for an art-payload for the U.S. Space Shuttle. Philosophical in nature, themes for Richard Clar's art-in-space projects include: space environment issues, such as orbital debris; war and peace; the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), and water management on Earth. The work of Richard Clar has been exhibited in museums, galleries, and universities in the United States and Europe and may be found in corporate collections such as JBL Sound and the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas.

Clar is the Director of Art Technologies, Paris; a Member of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA); a Member of the IAA SETI Permanent Committee, and a member of the Leonardo Space Art Working Group. Clar was the Secretary of the former Art and Literature Subcommittee of the International Academy of Astronautics, and a past Member of the Executive Board, Graphic Arts Council, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

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Daniela de Paulis:
Daniela de Paulis is a visual artist and lecturer living and working between Italy and The Netherlands. She works with video, installation, performance and has been an active practitioner since 2001, often collaborating with other artists, scientists and radio amateurs. She holds a BA from the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome, Italy, and a Master Degree in Fine Arts from Plymouth University, UK.

Since October 2009 she has been the first artist in residence at Dwingeloo radio telescope (NL) where she developed, together with the CAMRAS and ASTRON team, a technology called Visual Moonbounce, which allows sending images to the Moon and back as radio signals. She is currently a PhD student at Leiden University, developing her research on Visual Moonbounce and its links to Visionary Architecture and Space Research. Since 2010 she has been collaborating with the international collective Astronomers Without Borders (AWB), as the Project Chair for the AstroArt programme.

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The Committee for the Cultural Utilisation of Space (ITACCUS):
ITACCUS seeks to promote and facilitate the innovative utilisation of space (data, systems, applications) by organisations in the cultural sectors of society internationally, including all areas of the arts and humanities, including the fine arts, entertainment, popular culture and tourism.

In a cultural context, it may include cultural production, cultural preservation, cultural representation, cultural education and cultural development.

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