Annick Bureaud, Arthur Woods

SpaceartS - The Space Art Database

Abstract: Leonardo/Olats and the OURS Foundation have begun a collaborative project to document the arts related to outer space since the beginning of the 20th century.

SpaceartS:

- is a broad and comprehensive database that focuses on the artists engaged with the themes of outer space exploration and development and documents their significant contributions.

- will be international in scope and multilingual in practice with English, French and German language versions developed simultaneously.

- will be curated - the database will be open to public submission and each record will be evaluated and edited before being accessible by the public

The co-project managers, Arthur Woods and Annick Bureaud, will present the project, describe the different steps of its development and report on its current status.

Karl Doetsch

Space Art as an Element of Space Education for Post-Graduate Students

Abstract: The International Space University provides an interdisciplinary, international and intercultural approach to graduate-level space education. This involves teaching students, with very varied backgrounds in education, work experience and culture, the many disciplines associated with space, such as engineering, science, management, finance, law and policy, and the importance of cultural differences in a field as international as that of space. Through an integration of this knowledge, students gain new insights based on much broader perspectives and are better prepared to meet the challenges presented by the global character of space activity.

The talk will address the pedagogy involved in this program and how space art could become an integral part of such a learning experience and broaden even further its scope and impact.

Paola Favata

Changing the Transhab : An Orbiting Space Hotel

Abstract: This project is an orbiting space hotel fitted to the TransHab inflatable module and able of hosting vacation in zero g gravity conditions.

The initial design stage required the study of the TransHab module, in testing phase at NASA JSC until 2000: technological and structural analysis were carried out under the supervision of mechanical specialists of the NASA Project.

The next step consisted in the investigation of the human factors and main basic human functions to increase psychological and physiological comfort of the guests. This analysis required the investigation of social and amusement activities for an innovative space vacation and coherent architectural choice, distribution and circulation. Professionals from various disciplines were consulted: doctors for the physiological conditions in microgravity; psychiatrists for the perception of interiors and psychological well-being; space architects for the habitat meaning and arrangement. Researches were conducted in the theory of colors and in the current compatible industrial space fabrics and materials, in particular on fabric textures and material densities.

One of the principal ideas of this project was to realize an enjoyable environment inspired by the toy world of children for a diverse and colorful space environment. This eccentric decision lead to a tour in toyshops and to sociology texts regarding childhood and adult needs and behaviors.

The main goal of the project was to enjoy a completely new "space cruiseship".

The hotel offers differentiated private rooms as well as broad common areas for social activities (entrance, restaurant, bar-fun zone-discoteque, healthcare room, gymnasium, and two lounges for relax, eating, reading, listening to music, communicate with Earth).

From a structural point of view, only the safe haven area has been modified (doubled) following the suggestion of mechanical engineers in order to respond to the new hosted activities and to maximize the strength of the central rigid core during the launch.

With the exception of the technical units, (toilets, racks, etc.) and a few furnishings, the whole interior is designed with inflatable furniture, which can be compacted, reduced to a minimum volume and weight and loaded into the Shuttle bay. The choice of inflatable units required a deep investigation on this technology, compatible materials and industrial production. This was possible thanks to the collaboration of engineers of two companies specialized in inflatable structures for marine and space products.

Once in orbit, the TransHab module would be unpacked, deployed to configure the structural frames and the inflation would configure the interiors. Two Shuttle launches are necessary to assemble the entire hotel, in the shortest time and with the lowest costs.

Finally, thanks must be given to my thesis advisor, at the University of Florence, and to the assistance of all members of the Department of Technology where this adventure started.

Christophe Guignard

Sometime between 395 and 509 nm

Abstract: i-weather.org is an international consortium that has set itself the goal of creating the world's first artificial climate to satisfy the metabolic and physiological requirements of a human being in an environment completely removed from all earthly influences. Accessible everywhere and to everybody thanks to the Internet,

i-weather.org makes it possible to live in a situation completely removed from natural locations by producing an artificial circadian rhythm synchronised to match the inner cycle of the human hormonal and endocrine system. For the moment i-weather.org operates solely on the basis of fluctuations in the rate of melatonin,

which is influenced by variations in the intensity of light received by the retina. Henceforth, any electronic display connected to i-weather.org can act as a kind of personalised artificial sun, its light oscillating over a 25-hour period between a maximum intensity of 509 nm and a minimum intensity close to that of ultra-violet (395 nm). This beta version of the first specifically human climate will be improved on a continuous basis as and when scientific knowledge of biological rhythms increases.

i-weather.org technology relies on a server that delivers regularly time synchronisation messages to all connected displays. This permanent network connection ensures that all devices emit in the same time the same electromagnetic waves. As this technology is open source anyone can download it and transforms its computer/pda/website in an artificial i-weather. This project is the conjunction of the work of architects, physicians specialized in light-therapy and computer scientists who developed the i-weather server.

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Patrick J. Gyger

The Maison d'Ailleurs: A Nexus for Science Fiction Art

Abstract: The Maison d'Ailleurs (House of Elsewhere), founded in 1976 in Yverdon-les-Bains (Switzerland) by French encyclopedist Pierre Versins, is the only public museum exclusively dedicated to Science Fiction, Utopia and Extraordinary Journeys and one of the only permanent places devoted to the genre.

The museum has an impressive collection of more than 60'000 pieces: a constantly growing research library, rich with 40'000 books in 40 languages, and a variety of objects related to Science Fiction and Utopia: original paintings, illustrations, posters, discs, movies, games and toys, etc.

The richness of the collection attracts specialists from all over the world. Publishers and artists often rely on its huge iconographic fund for their work. A collaboration with "L'Agence Martienne" (France), a specialised press agency, has lead to the creation of an important image database which provides illustrations for magazines, books, fairs, etc.

Each year the museum holds several temporary exhibitions, presenting the greatest artists in the SF field (H. R. Giger, Jean Fontaine, BillyBoy*, Plonk et Replonk, Moebius, among many others), promoting new talents from all over Europe and exploring the main themes of modern SF, like space travel, future urbanism, etc. An important Space Art exhibition was held at Maison d'Ailleurs in 1992 (International Space Year), with occidental as well as russian artists. The exhibits presented in the museum are also shown across Europe in libraries, festivals, etc. and help promote SF art.

Through all these activities and because of its close relations with several organisations in the space and art communities (ESA, art foundations, galleries, museums, etc.), as well as with individual artists, the Maison d'Ailleurs is now a well-recognised centre for Science Fiction art, constantly trying to go beyond the boundaries of the genre.

Muller Hitoshi

Space Art: From computer graphics

Abstract: In this presentation, some computer graphics clips will be shown. These years, Muller has made CG clips of scientific visualization ranging from an astronomical scale to a molecular scale. After moving to the art university, he started collaboration with artists.

"Luna Project", which was planned and produced by Osaka Takuro is one of them. The project was realized as a work in the "Echigo Tsumari Art Triennial 2000" held in Jul. to Sep. 2000 at Niigata prefecture in Japan. Although the "Luna project" was held in a traditional view of Japanese rice fields, the event was full of cosmic feelings. Some topics will be talked from the project.

Now Osaka and Muller are also proposing another "space art" projects to NASDA(National Space Development Agency of Japan) as one of a "Feasibility study" for the space resources like ISS.

Hiroyuki Iwamoto

NASDA's Activities related to Art and Culture

Abstract: NASDA (National Space Development Agency of Japan) has been investigating the following issues in cooperation with some universities and some institutes. (1) Investigation of the existence of relationship between space and culture in Japan. (2) Investigation of the possible utilizations of space activities from cultural and human-science aspects. (3) Promotion of the ISS utilization from human-science aspects. This is the reason why I would like to point out that space activities become more popular and familiar to our every day life and we have to consider space activities not only from technological (R&D) viewpoints but also from cultural and human-science's viewpoints. I will introduce our concrete activities related to art and culture. For example, (a) the study of microgravity and future expression of Arts, (b) Arts under new philosophy of nature, Mankind and Earth, (c) Feasibility Study for the various utilizations of JEM (Japanese Experimental Module for International Space Station), (d) Virtual Lunar Development Project, etc.

Julien Knebusch

Is Planet-Earth an object? Philosophical questions raised by some works of electronic art

Abstract: In this lecture we will deal with different works of electronic art related to space art (but not exclusively) taking the planet Earth as an "artistic material". We will analyze their common features and underline the contribution of theoreticians to this phenomena.

This first step corresponding to a "rereading" of some works of electronic art is accompanied by a questioning of these works in a philosophical perspective. How have these artists considered Earth to be a thing, an object? In this respect we will for example explore the words borrowed by these artists form space scientists for designating Earth.

These works will be contextualised in a contemporary philosophical debate on the ontological status of Planet Earth. By so doing we will try to find a special cultural and philosophical meaning for these works of art.

Roger Malina

EUVE: Collaboration on a Big Science Project

Abstract: In January of this year the NASA EUVE Observatory reentered the earth's atmosphere, somewhere over Egypt and the Persian Gulf. This brought to a conclusion a remarkable successful NASA project to make the first map of the sky in the extreme ultraviolet part of the spectrum. I worked on this project beginning in 1976 as a graduate student and served as Director of the Project during the construction phase and during the Observatory operations; this represents 25 years. The total cost of the EUVE observatory project was over 250 million US dollars. Several hundred scientists and engineers worked on the project, with a peak staffing of 120 personnel at the University of California, Berkeley. Over 250 students worked over the years in various aspects of the project, and 200 scientists internationally used the Observatory. Every phase of this project involved collaboration of every kind. Science is often viewed by the public and in media representations as the activity of lone individuals or small groups. In fact many parts of science today are carried out through very large international collaborations. I will try and identify successful and unsuccessful examples of collaboration on the EUVE project.

Takuro Osaka

The New Spirit Through Space Art

Abstract: I have felt something about space through my work: "Cosmic Ray Series" and "Lunar Project." "Cosmic Ray Series" is an installation that captures cosmic rays with a detecting device and transforms them instantaneously into blue LED's light. "Lunar Project" is an installation that captures the moonlight with 18 large mirrors on the ground. Some people have had new, strange experiences from my work. We cannot estimate the detectable timing of each cosmic ray. Space may be felt by the cosmic ray's signal. I was fascinated by the words of the Japanese astronauts who all said in their own words: "how beautiful and precious the earth is." These words reveal a sense of awe towards the overwhelming beauty and psychological impact of seeing the Earth from space. In the near future, many people will have the same experience as astronauts have had. And human's new spirit will be born from the relationship between space, Earth, and humans. My theme is: "What is the New Spirit for the Space Station Age?" I will introduce several plans from the NASDA Art Project. The NASDA Art Project team is composed of artists, musicians, scientists, NASDA engineers, and art college students. Based on the astronauts interview, I think people will make a new life style on "each ground". "Each ground" meaning the Earth, the Space Station, the Moon, and other planets. Art will be changed by this "ground" too, but I want to believe that the art will make a new spirit in any space, on any "ground."

Andrea Polli

Atmospherics/Weather Works: The Sonification of Meteorological Data

Abstract: Atmospherics/Weather Works is a system designed to create sound compositions based on various types of storms (cyclones, for example) and other meteorological events generated directly from historical data gathered on site or through remote sensing or produced by a highly detailed and physically accurate simulation of the weather.

The weather is almost always presented through static or animated visuals for interpretation and study. However, some if not most of the variables generated (variables like surface temperature, normalized pressure, cover layer moisture, etc.) rarely contain information that is visual. What if this highly detailed and physically accurate data was interpreted sonically? What kinds of patterns of sound are formed by the patterns of movement and flow of the atmosphere and the unpredictability of storms?

This presentation discusses a collaboration between artist Andrea Polli and Dr. Glenn Van Knowe a Senior Research Scientist at MESO (Mesoscale Environmental Simulations and Operations), a leading firm in the development and application of atmospheric and other geophysical models for research and real-time applications. Dr. Van Knowe and his colleagues use the Mesoscale Atmospheric Simulation System (MASS) to create a highly detailed simulation of the weather based on terrain, initial conditions, and other factors. Polli and Van Knowe have discovered that a system similar to one Polli created for sound performance with eye movements, the Intuitive Ocusonics system; could read the data of a weather model to create a sound composition.

Other sources of data include The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), which manages a unique source of environmental satellite data with over 260 terabytes of digital satellite information. The presentation will include a sample of data sonification experiments using data from the Canadian Ecodistrict Climate Normals from 1961-1990. The climate normals information originated from point-based weather station data obtained from Environment Canada (1994).

The collaboration is in it's beginning stages, but some of the challenges already encountered to be discussed in this presentation are: basic issues of data formatting, communication and data transfer, balancing time for art research projects with time for commercial projects, defining a 'storm' or significant meteorological event, interpreting and finding meaning in the data structure.

Dinis Ribeiro

Water Awareness: Growing the Missing "Corpus Callosum" through Space Art

Abstract:

What is the Alma da Agua Awareness Initiative?

The creation of the A.L.M.A computer network is to be heralded by the launch of a commemorative sounding rocket carrying a space art payload. A.L.M.A stands for Agrupamento Lusófono Multidisciplinar da Água, which means "Water-Related Multidisciplinary Network" in the Portuguese language. Alma da Água or "soul of the water" seeks to involve a very wide variety of institutions within the communities in the Portuguese speaking countries: Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guiné-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, S. Tomé & Príncipe and East Timor. The "Alma da Água" awareness initiative has already begun with the ongoing gathering of natural source water samples from all of the eight Portuguese-speaking countries that are to be carried into space aboard a Brazilian sounding rocket where the samples will be mixed in microgravity. There will be a multi-cultural arts & science festival taking place on the day of the launch to celebrate the activation of the network. The A.L.M.A computer network linking the eight countries will foster greater technical and artistic cooperation among Portuguese language users with water-related issues as a unifying theme.

Assessment of ongoing collaboration

Some of the strong points are:

- The concept in its deep simplicity has proven to be quite powerful in addressing simultaneously several aspects.
- Portugal and Brazil are developing their cooperation in information technology.
- Cooperation between ESA and Brazil is increasing.
- A Portuguese survey of African art is underway.
- The initiative can be addressed as a public private partnership.
- Viability study funded by ESA is nearly finished.

Some of the challenges are:

- A strong enough sponsor from the water industry has not yet been selected.
- Extending the computer network to some African countries is problematic.
- Completion of study is waiting for the results from Portuguese elections to be able to include a viable budget.

Is there a real need for this awareness initiative?

The collaboration between artists and engineers sometimes resembles the one that should occur between the two hemispheres of the healthy human brain. Is this just a coincidence? The "corpus callosum" consists of more than 200 million nerve fibres. Without this connection, each of the two hemispheres of the brain functions virtually independently, largely unaware of the other hemisphere. If we think of all the world's individuals as neurons belonging to some kind of huge "brain" made up by all of humankind, with the "rational engineers", acting as an analogue for the left hemisphere of the brain and the "visionary artists" as an analogue for the right hemisphere, we might become more deeply aware of the importance of the "bridge" between art and science. The proposed A.L.M.A. computer network is not made of neurons, but if it were, they would have to follow architectures similar to the anatomical and physiological reality of the corpus callosum.

Alma da Agua: A Space Awareness Initiative is a collaboration between Dinis Ribeiro and Richard Clar.

Robert Schroter

The control of movement - insight from experience of micro-gravity

Abstract: The project was initiated as the result of zero gravity experiences of dance by Kitsou Dubois. The concept of the "subjective vertical" has been developed by her to explain the way the human body will always try to right itself, even when there is no "up" or "down". She also believes that astronauts need a new dimension to their training that will enable them to develop their own mobility, identity and physical expression. The Biodynamics Group at Imperial College is keen to pioneer novel methods of investigating the control of movement, both in athletes and patients with spinal injuries. The opportunity to investigate the delicate control of voluntary movement of the dancer and other trained subjects in micro-gravity provides an exciting new avenue for research. Current micro-gravity studies focus on giving a small magnetic stimulus to nerves in the brain and monitoring the responses in the spinal cord and peripheral nerves supplying the muscles of the limbs.

It is hoped that the research will stimulate new ideas for movement patterns and body control in space that are of artistic interest to a dancer and of scientific value in helping elucidate the way the brain controls peripheral movement.

The collaborative process has been a long one with considerable effort being made by all parties to understand alien concepts and disciplines. It has required both scientists and artists to respect the other's approach in tackling ill-defined challenges that have required very detailed scrutiny. Furthermore, this international, close-working collaboration has had to cope with the difficulties introduced by language and geographical separation of the partners. The challenges to the creation of an integrated team have been considerable.

Nicola Triscott & Rob Lafrenais

M.I.R. Flight 001

Abstract: In October 2001, through its relationship with the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre, the Arts Catalyst with Projekt Atol enabled a group of UK and Russian artists and scientists to visit Star City in Russia, heart of the Russian space programme, and undertake projects on a parabolic 'zero gravity' flight. This was a test flight for the MIR (Microgravity Interdisciplinary Research) consortium, launched at the last Space Art Workshop.

The MIR consortium comprises The Arts Catalyst (UK), Leonardo/Olats (US/France), Projekt Atol (Slovenia), TV Gallery (Russia), V2 (Netherlands). The MIR initiative would like to open up space facilities by matching artistic processes and scientific research to give a new impulse to space art and space research. MIR's aims are:

· Promotion of arts and cultural activity as part of the international space programme

· Access to space facilities for artistic practice

· Interdisciplinary research: artists and scientists working with and alongside each other

· Sharing of knowledge, gained experience and expertise with other artists, scientists and the public

Douglas A. Vakoch

Preview of the Paris Workshop on the Art and Science of Interstellar Message Composition.

Abstract: On 18 March 2002, a one-day workshop will be held in Paris on the interaction between art, science, and the humanities in composing interstellar messages. The emphasis of the workshop is on composing messages that could be transmitted via electromagnetic radiation at radio or optical frequencies, reflecting the emphasis of current observational programs in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). Paper presenters come from a range of disciplines in the arts, humanities, and sciences. Contributing artists provide expertise in drawing, musical composition, new media, painting, sculpture, and space arts. Speakers from the humanities include scholars in history, law, literature, and philosophy. Scientific disciplines represented include astronomy, biology, computer science, engineering, mathematics, physics, and psychology. In many of the presentations, authors expand beyond their primary disciplinary backgrounds to engage alternative approaches to message composition. The workshop is sponsored by the SETI Institute; Leonardo/l'Observatoire Leonardo des Arts et des Techno-Sciences (OLATS); Leonardo/International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology (ISAST); the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) Permanent SETI Study Group; and the IAA SETI & Society Study Group.

Dan Werthimer

Searching for ET with Help from Three Million Volunteers: SETI@home, SERENDIP, Radio and Optical SETI

Abstract: Dan Werthimer, University of California, Berkeley

Werthimer will discuss the rationale behind the search for radio and laser signals from other civilizations and review current SETI programs around the world.

Werthimer will focus on the SETI@home search at the world's largest radio telescope. The SETI@home project uses desktop computers from more than three million volunteers in 226 countries. SETI@home participants have contributed 800,000 years of computer time and have formed our planet's most powerful supercomputer. Werthimer will briefly discuss what motivates the SETI@home volunteers and present some of the art, music and poetry they have contributed to the project.

More info at http://seti.berkeley.edu

Alexander Zaitsev

Design and Implementation of the 1^st Theremin Concert for Aliens

Abstract: The idea and project of the 1^st Theremin Concert for Aliens were stated on Arecibo Proposal "One-Dimensional Radio Message for Blind Aliens" (AP number Zaitsev000704074140) on July 4, 2000. Unfortunately, this Proposal was not accepted by Arecibo reviewers for realization because of their misgiving that such interstellar radio transmission may be a dangerous affair. Next, the ground and description of this Project were presented at the SPE-2000 Conference in Evpatoria on September 11, 2000, in order to try to transmit this Concert from the Evpatoria Planetary Radar (EPR) as a part of the SPE events. But only the third attempt to implement the Theremin Concert was successful - music for potential Extraterrestrials was first broadcast from the EPR to 6 nearby Sun-like stars on August-September, 2001, during transmission of the TAM (Teen-Age Message at http://ebe.allwebco.com/Science/index.shtml).

A review will be given of the theory of interstellar musical radio transmission, the collaborative processes between scientists, engineering, musicians, and amateurs of astronomy, as well as, the plans for future development.