The Conquest of Arts in Space

Art has conquered outer space. A range of organisations worldwide have embraced the arts and the humanities for enriching outer space activities. Before there were space programmes, artists throughout history fuelled the imagination for space travelling. Today artists are still creating new poetical and critical work about our role in space.

In the last years we have witnessed how space organisations and the industry are collaborating with the arts and humanities for producing work. At the same time we can see the birth of new independent groups and institutions that explore space from cultural perspectives.

This edition of KOSMICA in Paris will present the work of various members of the Committee for the Cultural Utilisation of Space (ITACCUS) of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF). Members of this committee have advocated for the importance of artists in their organisations and others have independently founded their own. KOSMICA will present a series of projects with an evening of performances, video, talks and music at La Colonie to celebrate the rise of the arts in space.

PROGRAMME

EXHIBITION

Lumen Studios

By Melanie King, Louise Beer and Rebecca Huxley

Lumen is an art collective, focused on themes of astronomy and light, regularly exhibiting in churches as well as galleries. Through art, exhibitions and seminars they aim to raise a dialogue about how humanity understands existence.

EVENING PROGRAMME

Roger Malina
University of Texas at Dallas & Leonardo

Roger F. Malina is a space scientist and astronomer. He served as director of the Observatoire Astronomique de Marseille Provence and was NASA Principal Investigator for the Extreme Ultraviolet Satellite project. Since 1982 he has served as Executive Editor of the Leonardo Publications at MIT Press.

Bernard Foing
ESA (European Space Agency)

Bernard Foing is the Chief Scientist at the European Space Agency (ESA), Executive Director of the International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG), and was Principal Project Scientist for SMART-1, the first European mission to the Moon. Foing is also an organic chemist for Mars Express, and a co-investigator of the Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) for the Mars Express orbiter. 

Chris Welch
International Space University

A longstanding supporter of space education and outreach activities he currently directs the Masters Programs at the International Space University in Strasbourg France. In 2015 he was the recipient of the International Astronautical Federation Distinguished Service Award. Also he’s the Vice-President, Council Member and Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society and a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Ewen Chardronnet
with Magali Sanheira & Gaël Angelis (Carbon Sink)
Author of Mojave Epiphanie

Ewen Chardronnet is an author, journalist, curator and artist from France active in the field of space culture since 1995. He’s co-founder of The Laboratory Planet journal and write regularly on art & science and maker & hacker cultures in Makery.info magazine. In 2016 he has set a new art & science residency program with ArtLabo.org at the Roscoff Marine Station in Brittany, France. He recently co-founded the « Aliens in Green » artists group, a highlight of the Transmediale 2017 in Berlin.

Manuel Díaz
Visual artist and producer in Mexico of KOSMICA festival.

The relation of the human being with the Universe, the supernatural and the quest of the being in its most divine and extraordinary dimension, are the foundations of Manuel Diaz’s production. His work seeks to be an instrument of reflexion upon what exceeds our natural experience of the world.

Dunja Zupančič, Miha Turšič & Dragan Živadinov (Performance)
Cultural Centre of European Space Technologies (KSEVT)

Theater director Dragan Živadinov, visual artist Dunja Zupančič, and designer of zero-gravity environments Miha Turšič are engaged in research into postgravity art. Postgravity art is, as Zupančič explains, an evolutionary art, ontologically conceptual and processual at its base, only possible in zero-gravity conditions where our sense of orientation is lost. The artists’ practice aims at the culturalization of the cosmos, adding the cultural to the scientific, commercial, and military logic which controls space exploration and research.

DJ Selector
Association of Autonomous Astronauts