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  • Special Section Introduction:Less Remote
  • Annick Bureaud (bio)

Fifty years after the launch of the first human-made object to escape earthbound gravity, how do culture and the arts reflect our presence and activities in space? Cultural perceptions of space exploration have varied greatly over the years [1], but even if the notion of epic triumphalist conquest of a distant territory and space romanticism remain in today's discourses, new perceptions are proposed and dealt with by artists and theoreticians alongside scientific research and daily applications of space technology. Outer space is less remote.

The Less Remote Conference was a one-day symposium organized by Flis Holland in collaboration with Arts Catalyst [2] and Leonardo/Olats [3] and co-sponsored by the International Academy of Astronautics Commission VI, the British Interplanetary Society and the International Astronautical Federation ITACCUS committee at the International Astronautical Congress, which took place in Glasgow 30 September-1 October 2008.

The conference was structured around four topics: "The Introspective Urge," focusing on humanity's self-image and the impact of ubiquitous global communication, surveillance and remote sensing; "Extending Our Reach," looking at the search for life and its origins; "Cultural Concerns," relating to intercultural and interdisciplinary ideas of the cosmos and the nature of space exploration; and "Inhabiting Space," debating the needs of humans on Earth and the possible demands of future "spacefarers" in hostile environments.

The three articles selected for publication by Leonardo look at the alien environment for humans that outer space still is; the forgotten cultural, social, political and ideological history behind our current activities in space; and how banal some space-based activities have become in our daily life.

Laura Cinti and Howard Boland grounded their art project The Martian Rose [4] in references to this highly culturally significant flower to confront what inhabiting another planet, both physically and culturally, actually means.

Hans-Arthur Marsiske opens up a more complex reading of "The Legacy of Columbus" than "exploration" (heavily used as a symbol in space culture) and brings in the trans-Atlantic slave trade that was also part of 15th- and 16th-century territorial "discoveries," proposing that some new monument or symbol be added specifically to the European Columbus module of the International Space Station.

In "Looking for the Planet in Google Earth: The Overview Effect and Locative Media," Chris Speed discusses the evolution of images from space from the iconic Earthrise and Blue Marble images of the Earth taken by the Apollo missions [5] to the off-my-screen images of Google Earth in relation to our perception of "being on a planet."

Are we aware that so many of our daily activities rely on space activities? That taking care of the Earth (by monitoring climate change, building alerts for natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis) is also based on satellites? The outbound and inbound visions, more necessary than ever, must be merged into one single vision.

Annick Bureaud

Annick Bureaud Director, Leonardo/Olats Member, Space Arts Working Group Leonardo/ISAST International Advisory Board E-mail: <abureaud@gmail.com>

References and Notes

Unedited references as provided by author.

1. See the recently published book by Stephen Petersen, Space-Age Aesthetics. Lucio Fontana, Yves Klein, and the Postwar European Avant-Garde, Penn State Press, 2009. [End Page 167]

2. <www.artscatalyst.org/>

3. <www.olats.org>

4. Previously published in Laura Cinti and Howard Boland, "The Martian Rose," Leonardo, 42, No. 2, pp. 178-179, 2009.

5. See Earthrise: How Man First Saw the Earth by Robert Poole, Yale University Press, 2008.

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