Life without art; Art in space.

 

 ”Where man goes, art should go” said artist Ellery Kurtz, according to this article in the New York Times in 1985 ahead of the experiment that would send four of his paintings into the earth's orbit. Would the old-world medium of oil painting survive the environment of zero gravity?

Apparently, the art supplies as well as the art, came back safely.

The idea was originally sparked by Vertical Horizons founded by Ellery Kurtz and environmental psychologist Howard Wishnow.

One of their conversations leading into this adventure had been about what it would be like to travel through space and to live in space without art. What impact would the lack of manmade beauty have on the human psyche?

Is it even possible for humans to exist without art of some kind? Visual art (the only kind we still have evidence of) has been around since the beginning of our species; how does one even imagine a world without it? I wonder if people would start drawing on the walls the way prisoners often have throughout history.

Oh, that went dark.

But the reason I'm looking into this whole art in space thing now is next year's "dearMoon" SpaceX mission. Entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa has invited along eight creators to orbit the Moon, with the hope that the experience will spark inspiration. So rather than taking artworks into space, he's giving the artists themselves an opportunity to get first-hand inspiration. 

I'm excited to see the result!

Speaking of paints, I wonder if we'll be able to produce paint pigments from matter found in space?

Maybe we'll be able to paint our kitchens in shades of Terracotta Mars.