Week 9: Space + Art

    For most of us, outer space is an abstract concept that we don't get to experience firsthand. Since the space age, when we made huge strides (and went to the moon!), the public's curiosity about space has piqued. Subsequently, space in pop culture and art has become more prevalent (Kennedy). That piques our curiosity, which explains the prevalence of space in pop culture and art. In the past decade, there have been several movies about space, including Christopher Nolan's Interstellar and Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity. Interstellar in particular delved into the possibilities of traveling through time and space, as well as other forms of life and other dimensions. To keep the film (mostly) scientifically accurate, producers and special effect artists relied on physicist Kip Thorne's input and calculations (Tate).

The graphic above depicts the timeline of Interstellar (Gundogdo).

    Many artists have been inspired by outer space. One notable example is the late Robert Rauschenberg, who witnessed the Apollo 11 launch. Having been invited by NASA to commemorate the occasion, Rauschenberg also enjoyed access to official NASA buildings, documents, and personnel, all of which inspired his artwork for years. His famed portfolio Stoned Moon, which consists of 34 lithographs, contrasted the warm landscape of Florida with the industrial feel of NASA's astronauts, machinery, and buildings (SFMOMA).

Stoned Moon Drawing (Rauschenberg)

    Another interesting artist I found is Nahum, a Mexico City native who is currently based in London. He describes himself as "an artist, musician, and curator" who "explores outer space and conjuring" (Nahum). His work and performances seek to explore the magical feel that is associated with outer space. In one particularly intriguing performance, he hypnotized 15 people and sent them to the moon, at least in their minds. He came up with the idea for the performance when realizing that only a tiny fraction of the world really has the privilege to explore outer space. In another work, he and some other artists brought several cameras onboard zero-gravity parabolic flights to experience  creativity in a simulation of outer space (Maldonado).

Nahum's Lunatic performance, in which he hypnotized audience members and convinced them they were on the moon (Lunatic_Nahum).

Works Cited

Gundogdo, Dogan Can. Interstellar Timeline. Digital image. IGN. Ziff Davis, LLC, 11 Nov. 2014. Web. 26 May 2015.

Kennedy, Randy. "When the Space Age Blasted Off, Pop Culture Followed."The New York Times. The New York Times, 24 Sept. 2007. Web. 26 May 2015.

Lunatic_Nahum. Digital image. Hyperallergic RSS. Hyperallergic Media, Inc, 12 Mar. 2015. Web. 26 May 2015.

Maldonado, Devon Van Houten. "Conjuring Art Between Magic and Outer Space." Hyperallergic RSS. Hyperallergic Media, Inc, 12 Mar. 2015. Web. 26 May 2015.

Nahum. "Nahum - Artist, Musician & Curator." Nahum - Artist, Musician & Curator. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 May 2015.

Rauschenberg, Robert. Stoned Moon. Digital image. Rauschenberg. Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, n.d. Web. 26 May 2015.

"SFMOMA | SFMOMA | Explore Modern Art | Our Collection | Robert Rauschenberg | Brake (Stoned Moon)." San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, n.d. Web. 26 May 2015.

Tate, Karl. "The Science of Interstellar Explained (Infographic)." Space. Purch, 7 Nov. 2014. Web. 26 May 2015.