The Cultural Dimension of Space Exploration

EDITORIAL THE CULTURAL DIMENSION OF SPACE EXPLORATION t,century has seen the birth nf the 'pace age, a new age of exploration. In the night sky we see not only the stars and planets familiar to the ancients, but also objects that we ourselves have placed in space. There are, today, some half-dozen space-faring nations-while the community ofall nations is joined through satellite-eommunications networks. Specific plans for permanent settlements both on the Earth's Moon and on Mars are being implemented. Space activities result in numerous, more direct benefits for those of us on Earthranging from the monitoring ofour global environment, to the development of coordination systems for disaster relief, to remote sensing of natural resources. Some of the dreams and visions of artists and writers throughout history are being realised: Human culture now extends beyond the surface ofour home planet. The year of 1992 has been designated the International Space Year by the United Nations with the theme 'Mission to Planet Earth'. In a series ofarticles this year, Leonardo will seek to explore what space means for art and culture by addressing questions such as: How are artists involved in space activities and exploration? What are the cultural effects of this new age of discovery? How can artists and composers influence and participate in the development of human culture in space? How can we prepare for possible contact with extraterrestrial intelligence? THE NEW LANDSCAPE Space photography is now an art form in its own right. The photographs of the first human on the moon and of our planet seen as a whole are among the most important images of this century. The very ideas of 'spaceship earth' and 'global house' are not mere abstractions but actual descriptions ofour own landscape seen through the eyes ofartists, filmmakers and writers who create works that allow us to imagine the places we have yet to visit ourselves. just as the drawings and descriptions of early European visitors to China and the Americas served to entice the next explorers, images from space (whether created by humans or robotic instruments) serve to incorporate this new landscape into our culture and language. A NEW VIEW OF OURSELVES The reality of space travel forever changes our concepts ofourselves and our systems of thought. Artists, from the architects ofStonehenge to contemporary artists such as Nancy Holt, james Turrell andjanet Saad-Cooke, have created artworks that seek to make plain our connections to the sky. Projects have been designed to send and receive messages from other civilisations in space: perhaps in our lifetime 'first contact' will be made. Artists such as Lowry Burgess launch artworks into space, making gigantic drawings that reach out into orbit. Astronauts and cosmonauts have described an 'overview effect' from their space travel, an experience that radically changed how they view themselves and the Earth. 1992ISAST Pergamon Press pic.Printed inGreat Brttain. 0961·1215/92$3.00+0.00 LEONARDO, Vol. 25, No.1, pp. 1-2, 1992 1 2 Editorial ART IN SPACE, VIEWED FROM EARTH Sculptors are creating vast artworks that are designed to be visible from the surface of the earth. This most public of all public arts challenges our vision of how we choose to design our global house. Do we want artworks in the night sky? Should we exclude artmaking from the celestial canvas and allow only military and commercial users to crowd the night sky?Who should decide? ART ON EARTH, VIEWED FROM SPACE For thousands ofyears artists have created drawings and earthworks that could only be viewed in their entirety from a distance above Earth. This artmaking continues, from Jose Wagners Garcia's drawings in the fields ofBrazil to Pierre Comte's earthworks in the South of France.Jean-Marc Phillipe has sent vast messages into space using radio telescopes, and Ezra Orion points laser beams into the celestial void. THE ARTS FOR SPACE TRAVELLERS AND SETTLERS The first monuments in space have been left on the surface of the moon; others are now leaving the solar system on the Pioneer spacecraft. The Voyager spacecraft included a compact disc ofearth music. Music has been played in space, and drawings and paintings have been...