Leonardo Space Art Working Group

The Leonardo Space Art Working Group is a group of individuals who are working together to investigate and promote the cultural dimensions of space activities.

See http://www.olats.org/setF3.html for more information on Leonardo Space Art Projects

Keep up to date with Leonardo Space and the Arts activities. Subscribe to our dedicated mailing list at:http://www.olats.org/mailman/listinfo/spaceart

Activities of the Leonardo Space Art Working Group include:

• The Leonardo Space Art WWW Site
• Ars Astronautica (formerly Space Art News), a Web and E-mail publication edited by Arthur Woods
• Collaboration with the International Academy of Astronautics.
• The Space Art Workshops, held annually in Paris, France
• Involvement in the Space Arts Database
• Publishing of Space Arts articles in Leonardo publications.
  
  

• Annick Bureaud lives and works in Paris, France, as a writer, art educator and curator in the field of art, science and technology. She is editor of the on-line International Directory of the Electronic Arts (IDEA), which includes resources on the space arts. Bureaud is also a collaborator of the Leonardo Observatory for the Arts and Techno-Sciences (OLATS) and president of the Art, Science, Technology Network (ASTN), which publishes the electronic journal and WWW site FineArt Forum. Email: bureaud@altern.org


• Richard Clar, (Organizing Committee Chairperson) Director of Art Technologies, Los Angeles/Paris. His focus on the creation of art-in-space utilizes data and processes related to the various facets of space. Subjects include the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI), Orbital Debris, issues of War, and aspects related to Water. Currently, he is the Secretary of the International Academy of Astronautics Subcommittee on Art and Literature. He has served on the Graphic Arts Council Executive Board of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
  E-mail: rclar@arttechnologies.com


• Nina Czegledy is an independent media artist, curator and writer who has been involved in collaborative international projects for the last decade. Czegledy has been involved in producing digital works, leading and participating in international workshops, forums and festivals, and has curated more than 20 international media art/video programs and touring exhibitions presented internationally. Czegledy has published widely both in Europe and North America. Email: czegledy@interlog.com


• Roger Malina, astronomer, Laboratoire d'Astronomie Spatiale in Marseille, France, and University of California, Berkeley, California. He is the co-chairman of the Committee on Space Activities and Society of the International Academy of Astronautics. Email: rmalina@alum.mit.edu


• Jean-Luc Soret, Directeur artistique of the @rt Outsiders International Festival. Email: soret@art-outsiders.com


• Arthur Woods, an artist whose Cosmic Dancer Sculpture was flown to the Russian Mir space station in 1993. He was the initiator and organizer of Ars ad Astra: the first art exhibition in Earth orbit and is the founder and president of the OURS Foundation, a nonprofit cultural and astronautical organization. He is also a corresponding member of the International Academy of Astronautics. Woods is Editor of Ars Astronautica (formerly Leonardo Space Art News). Email: awoods@spaceart.net

• Garry L. Harwood
• Anne Nigten
• Kara Szathmary
• Nicola Triscott
• Doug Vakoch

The space age was possible because for centuries the cultural imagination was fed by artists, writers and musicians who dreamed of human activities in space. Now, with the end of the Cold War, the role of artists and writers is again crucial in defining our future vision of space -- and will once again be instrumental in incorporating the facts and discoveries of the space age into the cultural imagination.

Will the Space Age now come to an end and return to the province of mythology ? Or has the space age led to an irreversible cultural change so that space exploration will continue to be part of our civilization's activities?

Statement from Arthur Woods:
The Next Millennium: A Space Age or a Stone Age?

Human destiny on Earth is irrevocably linked to human destiny in space. The continued exploration and exploitation of the space environment are essential to the future survival and prosperity of the human species. Using space resources to meet the growing needs of humanity on Earth is by far the most optimistic solution to many of the problems facing humanity as it enters the new millennium.

The key to this solution is not in technology alone because most of the necessary technology already exists, but rather in manifesting a deep and global understanding of the human situation vis-a-vis the dimensions of the Universe. Thus the cultural reasons for exploring space may prove to be even more compelling than the political and scientific reasons that have been responsible for humanity's astronautical activities up until now.

The future of space activities, the future of humanity and perhaps even the future all life on Earth is in need of skilled communicators possessing the knowledge and understanding of the scientist combined with the intuition and sensitivity of the artist.

Statement from Annick Bureaud:
I was born in 1958 at the very beginning of the Space Age; I grew up with the striking images that came periodically from various space missions. Outer space is as natural to me as is the garden of my mother, but it was not until my confrontation with space art that I realized what space really meant for me.

It is artists and their work that reveal to me the essence of space for human beings in the twentieth century, as well as my place in the cosmos. Since then, space art works and images have continued to have a powerful effect upon me: they make me dream and move me deeply.

While learning and discovering the history of space art, I came to understand that artists have been the fuel of space exploration, embodying in their art the dreams of humankind, making these dreams desirable for engineers to achieve.

Space art is the only field I know of that depends on strong relations, cooperation and exchange between artists and scientists. Space art is one of the very few fields that gathers disciplines so apparently different as visual arts, music, dance, literature. At the end of the twentieth century, space may not seem to be as much an issue as it used to be, but it is still an important issue for humanity. I strongly believe that only artists can provide the vision that will bring humankind to other planets.