Annick Bureaud – Visibility – Legibility of Space Art. Art and Zero G. The Reasons for a Symposium – 2003

Visibility – Legibility of Space Art. Art and Zero Gravity (1): The Experience of Parabolic Flights. This title, way too long for a symposium or an article, is intended to be programmatic. It aims at raising a series of questions about art, Space Art in this case, by defining and delimitating an apprehensible object. We will examine all aspects of its components in order to determine the « reasons for a symposium. »

Space, whether it is in the scientific, commercial, military or artistic realm, shows extremely diverse practices. In the field of art, the 2003 edition of the @rt Outsiders International Festival is here to prove it. The common bond between the works is probably more their theme than their specific nature, aesthetic, form or approach to the subject at hand.

Many articles (2) have been published by the artists on their works; for six years, Leonardo/Olats organized workshops (3) where artists, scientists and engineers challenged their process, their research and their experiences; organizations such as Arts Catalyst (4) in London or V2 (5) in Rotterdam organized symposiums and hosted gatherings; a few exhibitions were planned, @rt Outsiders is the first of its kind here in France. However, a critical and analytical discourse has yet to be established. It is the primary objective of this symposium to make it emerge. Rather than attempting to embrace the totality of the Space Art field, focusing on one object, one coherent sub-group, appeared to be more fruitfull to allow us to draw a set of guiding principles. Art and zero gravity, and more specifically within the context of parabolic flight campaigns, offered a favorable terrain for this line of inquiry.

Space Art is often perceived as something strange and marginal. A short list (6) of artists and works suffice to prove that this topic has inspired and continue to influence the work of many artists from a variety of disciplines within the field of art (visual, sound/music, performing arts…). Parabolic flight, on the other hand, oscillates between ignorance, fantasy and fascination. Therefore, the second objective of this symposium is to remove these artistic practices and the parabolic flight from the realm of the spectacular, (7) to question them within the framework of art and creation and, simply, to inscribe them within the field of contemporary art. Parabolic flight remains extra-ordinary; the enthusiasm, the desire and the dream are integral parts of the space adventure, whether it is in the human conquest of space or in astronomy. Our goal here is not to try to re-evaluate these aspects, rather we hope to expose the realities and the issues at hand in order to take the necessary distance required for proper analysis.

Escaping gravity is one of humanity’s oldest dream and one that appears in many of our terrestrial activities. It is at the heart of dance, whether it is a fight « against » gravitational effects —in the aerial and suspended choreographies of a Philippe Decouflé for example—, or, on the contrary, in the accentuation of its principles (ie: dancers who « fall » to the ground), or, simply, in the classical ballet equilibrium on one foot. Circus art, trampoline, evolving in an aquatic milieu (synchronized swimming), or free flight in parachuting are many examples of a challenge to « free » movement in three dimensions. On another level, certain meditation practices or experiences of an altered state of consciousness through drugs or trances explore another perceptive state of the body, « liberated » from the weight of terrestrial gravity.

Escaping gravity, being weightless, « floating, » « flying » in three dimensions, « holding still » without support or fear of falling, knowing « how it is » or « what it feels like » is certainly one of the reasons that urge human beings to venture outside of their native planet.

Since the day in 1961 when Yuri Gagarine radioed the Earth to say that everything was allright, this seemingly unattainable dream has become reality.

We cannot ignore this new environment of human presence within extra-terrestrial space. Although their numbers are small, men and women live and work daily in weightlessness throughout the year. Art cannot be excluded from this life experience.

For many artists, creating artwork in, with, for, or about this « zero gravity » represents an artistic re-evaluation that extends far beyond the dream.

If we exclude those cosmonauts or astronauts who are also painters, such as the Russian Alexei Leonov (8) or the American Alan Bean, (9) to this day no artist has been in space nor experienced weightlessness for a prolonged period of time. On Earth, the sole means of experiencing this condition is through parabolic flight. (10)

We have selected the experience of parabolic flight for this symposium because it presents interesting elements of coherence for an aesthetic and artistic analysis:

• It constitutes an identical unit of time, place and environment for all artists.

Indeed, although the aircrafts and the context may vary slightly (the « historic » weight and unique context of Russia’s Star City certainly has a special influence on the apprehension of the flight), the reality of the flight, the physical constraints on the body, the alternation of short periods of 2 G.- 0 G. – 2 G. – 1 G., the pilot announcements, the crowding of artists and experiments and the presence of instructors aboard the plane always remains the same.

• The body of artworks is sufficiently important.

To this day, 22 artists of different cultures (France, Japan, Spain, Russia, the United States, Great Britain) and diverse artistic horizons (dance, performance, sculpture, painting, sound/music, video, etc…) have experienced parabolic flights. (11)

However, it is imperative to keep these three thoughts in mind:

• The nature of the artworks is extremely varie
• Some works have been completed, while others are still in the design phase or work-in-progress;
• The artists have different « levels of experience. » Between Kitsou Dubois who has completed 14 flights, Frank Pietronigro and Takuro Osaka who have each participated in two flight campaigns, and the others who have experienced just one, the message expressed by the artist, the nature of the works, the « maturation » of experience and perception, the work cannot be the same.

I have made a distinction between permanent Zero Gravity (in a space station or aboard the Shuttle) and parabolic flight and, consequently, between art in zero gravity and art and zero gravity, the latter being a more general term. And this because:

• Parabolic flight is a very particular environment where the experience of weightlessness is « framed » by moments of 2 G. As we will see, it presents different characteristics and contexts for creation;
• Many of the works created in parabolic flights are designed to be viewed in terrestrial spaces;
• To my knowledge only two works were designed with the intention of being placed aboard space stations. They are: the Cosmic Dancer by Arthur Woods (MIR Space Station) and Prisma by Pierre Comte (12) (ISS (13);
• To this day, the « audience » of the works in zero gravity (in extraterrestrial space) consists of the astronauts and cosmonauts. The « Earthians » only have an indirect experience of the work through the medium of documentary videos. This does not exclude critical analysis « from earth ». However, I believe the « exhibition » context of these works should be taken into account. Which implies that the art critic should make the effort to seek information and understanding of the unique nature of a space station (architecture, space, living and work conditions, etc…).

Parabolic flight is generally perceived as the place of exhibition and presentation of the work. Actually, it is slightly more complicated.

The parabolic flight can indeed be the space for performance and exhibition, but it is also, depending on the projects, a research and creation studio, material for creation, a « technique, » an « environment » and, often enough, a mix of the above.

Parabolic Flight as the Place of Presentation, Exhibition and Performance for the Artwork.

Concerning performing arts, the best example is Cosmokinetic Cabinet Noordung. Created by Slovenian artist Dragan Zivadinov, the theatrical performance entitled Biomechanical Noordung, was created aboard the Russian 0g plane in 1999. The aircraft was converted into a « theatre, » complete with set décor. During the performance, the instructors remained off « stage » (as much as was possible under the circumstances), hidden behind pieces of the décor, for example. For the first (and only?) time, an « audience » was present aboard the aircraft. In this remarkable project, what is most surprising to witness on the videotape, is the persistence of « terrestrial habits, » and the overwhelming presence of gravity in our apprehensive « reflexes » and our conception of things. Zivadinov maintains the stage/audience separation throughout the performance (except for the end): the audience is seated, strapped to their chairs, watching the performance from a classic frontal view. Alternative positions for the audience in relation to the actors, utilizing the volume of the plane, were not taken into account. Furthermore, the terrestrial verticality is maintained: the décor is organized in relationship to the floor of the plane, there is a « top » and a « bottom, » rendered that much more powerful by Zivadinov’s constructivist-inspired aesthetic which employs the triangle as the primary geometric form. Finally, if the actors move in rotation, it is often in reference to the floor of the plane; in the same manner, their positions relative to one another do not take advantage of the possibilities of microgravity for three-dimensional movement nor the fact that there are as many verticals as people aboard the plane.

In the case of the Dédalo project by Marcel.li Antúnez Roca, Zero Genie by Jem Finer and Ansuman Biswas or Research Project Number 33 by Frank Pietronigro, the parabolic flight is the space of exhibition and the studio of creation. Antúnez Roca thus created 20-second long micro-performances that produced enough material for an installation and a meta-performance. The audience for the micro-performances consisted of the people aboard the plane, while the final creations will be done here on Earth.

The other domain in which the parabolic flight becomes the primary space of exhibition is sculpture. Let us mention the following works: Cosmic Spiral Top, Cosmic Wind Bell, Sound Wave Sculpture and Cosmic Sound Sculpture by Takuro Osaka and Kapelgraf 0g by Vadim Fishkin. On earth, these works simply do not « exist. »

Parabolic Flight as Studio for Research and Creation

Just as in its scientific use, parabolic flight is first and foremost a research laboratory; in its artistic use, it is above all a studio for research and creation, a « workshop », but the artworks are created and shown « elsewhere, » on Earth, in gravity 1.

For Kitsou Dubois, the first artist to board a parabolic flight in 1990, her work with weightlessness is a continuation of her research on dance in unusual places, outside of the studio and classic stages: building facades, aquatic environment, factories, all dealing with issues of movement, of gestures, of trajectories. Space is the territory of dance: the performance space (usually the stage), spaces created by the movement of the dancers, space between bodies and the space of the dancer’s body. The space of weightlessness is a « complete » space, perfect, limitless. The fundamentals of dance are the movement and its energy, the equilibrium (conditioned by gravity) and the trajectory. Working on facades or in the water puts the body in imbalance, in another load-bearing capacity and forces it to find another logic of movement of which it must gain profound comprehension. In weightlessness, no support to « hold » onto, but no gravity to constrain the movement either, it is fluid and infinite and the trajectory is continuous; no muscular force is required to move, but where to find the « impulse point » from which to initiate and stop movement? Over the course of her many flights, Kitsou Dubois tested several hypotheses. She constructed « sequences of gestures » which she worked and « rehearsed » with her dancers as though in a studio, ending with notions of vertical and subjective referentials, of the danced movement organized around a spiral and of the body as a group of volumes (both interior and exterior), of the void as « point of support. » She writes: 14

« It is the experience of weightlessness that transformed the state of mind of my dance. I « know » – in my state of mind – that my center of gravity is a point and not a line. I « know » that it is subjective, that it is not material, that it depends on my intentions and tensions, that it can move, and yet I know that it is a point of support. So I « know » that my subjectivity can be a support for my movement. In taking into account this subjectivity I can structure my own movement in weightlessness as well as on Earth. »

In microgravity, it seems as though we partly lose the memory of gestures and movements. In other words: we find ourselves in such or such a position, without knowing the why or how. We no longer have the « recollection » of all of the gestures and trajectories that we have performed. Thus, video becomes a tool of great importance. A look at oneself from the exterior becomes indispensable to the total comprehension of the lived experience. Marcel.li Antúnez Roca states: 15

« There is one more thing that is also important and that I understood after the flight. One cannot understand the experience of the parabolic flight or the experience in microgravity until one watches the images and representation on video. This is extremely important and means that representation is not only symbolic mythology that exists beyond reality; we always speak of representation as something virtual… In my opinion, the representation of floatability completes the experience. […] This is important because this creates the bridge between reality and virtuality. The projection, this virtual element, integrates the final perception as reality. »

It is not by chance that Kitsou Dubois includes images in scenic devices or video installations in her choreographic work. The image and the representation are elements of the cognitive and perceptive reality.

The most overt example where parabolic flight is used as a studio for the creation of a work to be show on Earth is in videos and films. In Otolith by Kodwo Eshun, Anjalika Sagar and Richard Couzins, the flight is used to film sequences written into the screenplay for the project, borrowing from documentary and fictional film techniques, in a sort of « archeology of the future, » to use the term coined by artists.

We find the same thing, with different artistic and aesthetic approaches in the following videos: Zero by Mike Stubbs, 2 G. to 0 G. by Andrew Kotting and Universal Substitute by Andrey and Julia Velikanov.

Parabolic Flight as Material for Creation

One of the more striking features of the flight is the sonic environment and the precise rhythmic « tempo » of the parabolas, somewhat like a musical score. Sound detection is the only non-perturbed element that we can trust. In this context, it is particularly interesting to highlight the work of Flow Motion who recorded sounds aboard the plane – noise made by the reactors, diverse vibrations, pilot announcements, commentaries – in order to remix them for Kosmos in Blue. In the end, to the artists these sounds are similar to the industrial and technological sounds that they ordinarily work with.

Parabolic Flight as an Environment

The experience of weightlessness is the attractive component of the parabolic flight. Everyone speaks of little else, only of what one felt, euphoria, disorientation, the feeling of foreignness, and, at the same time, of a familiarity that nobody knows exactly how to name. It is as though the rest did not exist, as though the plane was simply a negligible shell, as though 2 G. was only an unpleasant obliged passage.

Takuo Osaka used the context of the parabolic flight for his sculpture Sound Wave, whose behavior changes based on the gravitation pull, this alternating between 0 G. and 2 G. being possible only in parabolic flight.

The flight is fascinating, rich, overwhelming, exciting. We have just specified its context and conditions for creation. But what about the artworks themselves? What implications does the flight have on their form, content and aesthetic? How do they relate to contemporary art? What do they « say » and how can we « read » them?

Let us recall a basic distinction: these works do not have the same « destination ». The majority are meant for classic terrestrial exhibition and performance venues (dance, performing arts, video, music and sound, etc…) (16), others for environments in weightlessness, and others, finally, for the parabolic flight itself. To our knowledge, Takuro Osaka is the only artist to have explored this direction with Sound Wave Sculpture. He is the only one to have used the 2 G. periods in his work and to have translated the physical, sensorial and mental perception of the brutal changes between gravities during the flight.

The last two categories raise an interesting question regarding the « direct » audience, who in most cases are either the astronauts and the cosmonauts or the other participants aboard the parabolic flight. What is the nature of these works created for a select group of people? Are we not in an ultimate state of elitism here? Unless… Unless we compare these works to other artistic practices. Is this any different from « Land Art, » seen by most through traces of documentaries, which are most likely photographs? But having the photo and seeing the work is not exactly the same thing. If we know and understand this, then the critical discourse can take place, for Land Art as much as for these projects based on microgravity.

Furthermore, extra-terrestrial space has become an increasingly human territory with political, economic and military interests at stake. Inscribing also artistic demands is a strong cultural (in the general sense of the word) act and a political move as well, in regards to the future that we want, and the appropriation of this new environment. Art has always been present in human exploration, whether it is the first carved stones or inscriptions in the countryside, halfway between reference point and symbolic act, or the artists who accompanied the « conquest of the west » and the exploration of the American territory, and, since 1957, space conquest.

From a formal point of view, these works have not invented a new « genre. » They have inscribed themselves into well-established disciplines such as dance, video, theatre, sculpture, music and sound, literature and poetry. Therefore, they can, and must be analyzed within these contexts. However, these disciplines have undergone changes. Every period, every artist, every evolution of knowledge has modified them, bringing about a new language. Microgravity is no exception. And furthermore, these works possess a unique feature. If they build on what we know – danced movement, kinetic sculpture (T. Osaka), painting without canvass or support (F. Pietronigro) – they raise them to another level precisely because they incorporate this new weightless environment which is now a part of our reality.

At this point in our study, we have retained the following points regarding this first analysis of the works:

Transmission of perception and emotion provoked by weightlessness

To be in weightlessness is a unique sensation for which we have no prior reference, few words, something truly and profoundly unheard of. To translate, transmit, this physical and mental state, to convey it to an audience that hasn’t experienced it, is generally the artist’s first action upon his/her return from the initial flight. In Zero Gravity, Kitsou Dubois played upon the natural empathy of the dancer body/spectator body dialectic, for instance through the use of mirrors.

The dancers were on the ground, hidden from the spectators, while the mirrors reflected their image back to the audience. They appeared to float freely above the stage. The dancers’ movements reflected the condition of microgravity, the points of support seemed to have disappeared, the movement appeared fluid, continuous, unending.

Slow-motion, as well as the « blurred » image, are processes often used in videos to translate this sensation of slower movement, of calm, of the dilation of body and time.

Modification of the Artist’s Grammar

There is a « before » and an « after » in the experience of weightlessness. The body movements of Mathurin Bolze (dancer and acrobat, trampolinist, who flew with Kitsou Dubois) were subtly altered after the flight: the movement of his body in space, his balistic, had a different quality. Richard Couzins indicated that this subtle change modified the way in which he filmed.

This process is necessarily slower, as it requires a maturation, a learning process (17) of the environment and of what appears to be a « technique » before being inscribed into the artworks.

Artworks « Informed » by Microgravity

Here, it is no longer a question of literally translating the lived perception of weightlessness but to « incorporate » it into the creations. Kitsou Dubois’ installation Upside/Down provides a good example. Gravity regulates everything, biological lives (the structure of the body, the way in which a plant grows, etc…) as well as our symbolic representations (the hierarchy of chefs at the « top » and executors at the « bottom, » the distribution between heaven and hell, etc..), the communication relationship (when we communicate, it is assumed that we speak « face to face, » …but in the same direction!), etc… Weightlessness breaks all of these reference points. The images of Upside/Down were filmed in a pool. The installation is presented in such a way that we can no longer tell the bottom of the pool from the surface of the water. Little by little, we begin to question our own position, which becomes just one among many. Our relationship to the Other – the spectator beside us – is slowly modified.

« Integration » of the Conditions of the New Environment

Kodwho Eshun, Anjalika Sagar and Richard Couzins had defined five simple, banal, everyday actions that Sagar was supposed to perform during the flight. (18) After the first series of parabolas, the experience of weightlessness urged them to add a sixth one: sleeping.

In his first version of the sound sculpture Cosmic Wind Bell, takuro Osaka chose a cylindrical form that he transformed into a sphere after the flight.

These elements may seem somewhat anecdotal. However, they can attest to a new apprehension of the world and of what it means to live in space, in weightlessness. The direction of movement is performed in the same way in all directions, the sphere then becomes the most adequate volume. (19)

What would be the aesthetic of an art in space? Spherical, with flexible and fluid materials able to deform according to the movement of the inhabitants? Or instead would it be angular, like A. Wood’s Cosmic Dancer, which stands in contrast to the rotundity of the environment? What colors would there be when vision is altered? Today, the answers remain partial, but what the existing artworks tell us can only reinforce the conviction that artists must pursue this path and be more and more present in the flights as well as in space.

Artworks Influenced by the Context of the Flight

Is it to counterbalance the military context of the flight, the apprehension of getting involved in this adventure, the serious and rigid side of the protocols (which are completely legitimate in terms of safety and rigor), the solemnity resulting from the awareness of living an exceptional and unique experience? Whatever the answer, humor, an apparent derision, filters into the work of Frank Pietronigro and serves as the point of departure in Zero Genie by Jem Finer and Ansuman Biswas. In this project, the artists, dressed up as characters from A Thousand and One Nights, play the flute on an oriental rug, reinterpreting, literally, the fabulous history of flying carpets. But this humor is a pretext to some more serious issues. We cannot only view this as a pleasant joke, or the reenactment of a mythical story. Instead we can discover a reflection on the Western domination of space, on multiculturalism, on aspects that are much more political than they appear.

What strikes us in video works is a certain violence that one does not find in the other projects. For example, in Universal Substitute, Velikanov mixes images of war, of aerial catastrophes, of the September 11th attacks in the United States, with his images of the flight and iconography of the space conquest.

One must note that all of the artists that worked on videos participated in a flight campaign organized and held in Russia. Is it for this reason, is the « weight of history » so present in Star City, that the artists all blend historical images with the images filmed during the flight and on location? Or is it the dream of « going further, » of going to the conclusion of the parabolic flight: into space? What is interesting to observe is the variety of treatment for the materials: closer to a music video for Andrew Kotting, to a narration of violence and a sort of sufferening for Velikanov and something more evanescent, with images in black and white, sometimes blurry, for Mike Stubbs.

A « Dialog » About Gravity

Alltogether, weightlessness … allows us to see the Earth differently and to re-consider that which we have known since birth: gravity. All of the artists « of the body » have mentioned this, Kitsou Dubois, Morag Wightman, Marcel.li Antúnez Roca.

A New Relationship to the Body and Identity

In weightlessness, we loose the awareness of the external limits of our body. It’s as though the skin, released from « pressure, » stopped playing the role of sensor between the « interior » and the « exterior, » between « me » and « what is not me. » (20) On the other hand, we acquire an unique perception of the interior of the body. The self dissolves and centers itself at the same time.

Psychoanalysis states that the skin is the boundary of the self and is part of its structure. (21) How is this idea challenged by weightlessness when, at least in the beginning, we do not really know exactly where we « end » anymore? How does the self re-structure itself? Where is identity and how does it (re)define itself?

Here, art and microgravity connect with the virtual, telepresence, and Internet technologies, where, in another way, the body is amplified, prostheticized, stretched beyond its direct tactile and perceptive abilities. What is this body that can be here and elsewhere at the same time? Is it the same body? Is it the same presence? The Internet is also a space without verticality, without stable reference points. The success of the rhizome metaphor, borrowed from G. Deleuze, is there to testify of this other spatial structuration, like the research in data visualization and in cartography on the Web. (22)

It does not appear to me to be a coincidence that the artists of the « body » take this dimension into account, whether it is Kitsou Dubois with her installations and her use of « sequences » of images or Marcel.li Antúnez Roca who declares: (23)

« I chose the exoskeleton because it does not require space when you do a performance. But the other way of addressing the movement of the body is motion capture. After the first flight, I told myself that we needed a motion capture interface. » (24)

The digital and robotic technologies gave way to a critical discourse and very detailed research on the issues of the body and identity. Space technologies have produced much research on perception, if only to imagine methods of adaptation to weightlessness, to compensate for the effect of disorientation. To make the two communities cross, share knowledge, especially on the artistic side, seems indispensable to me. V2 conducted a seminar held in June 2003 that paved the way. It gathered specialists and artists from the virtual reality and microgravity fields. (25)

The cult book of the digital culture and more specifically of cyberspace is Neuromancer (26) by William Gibson. (27) At the same time, Bruce Sterling published Schismatrix, (28) in which he develops a vision of the future in space, with human beings in weightlessness in gigantic stations, or on the contrary, on planets with greater gravity than ours. To adapt oneself, human beings have chosen two options: the « Mechanists » turned toward cybernetics and the more or less computerized prosthesis, internal or external; the « Shapers » opted for biotechnologies. Although Sterling wrote remarkably gripping pages on microgravity, this book did not enjoy the same success as Gibson’s text. However, bringing together, in the same story, space and weightlessness, biotechnologies and digital technologies, it is certainly the science fiction novel of our actual imaginary.

Another aspect of microgravity is the one of a certain « familiarity » of sensation, expressed by several artists. It was sometimes linked to other forms of perception (meditation), and to other philosophies and outlooks, especially of the Oriental culture or « primitive » societies (levitation, Buddhism, Shamanism, for example); sometimes the reference was the fetus. This remains largely virgin territory. Scientific and artistic research on conscioussness, open to other cultures and approaches than those of the Western world, are beginning to find a place in critical discourse, (29) but maybe we should consider sending a few psychoanalysts in a parabolic flight.

In the special section on Ircam, in Art Press n°288 from March 2003, Bernard Stiegler argues for an understanding of contemporary music from the « interior » (including technique) as much on behalf of the musicologist as on behalf of the public in order to gain an intimate knowledge of the works. This remark can be applied to art and weightlessness. That being said, must the art critic embark on a parabolic flight in order to write knowledgeably? Let us admit the practical impossibility of this proposal (although…). But just as for the digital arts, net art and new media arts in general, completely ignoring the context, especially technical, of the creation of the artwork and in certain cases of its presentation space, seems inconceivable to me. Christo’s choice for the color of his Umbrellas, blue in Japan, yellow in California, and of the density of implantation in the two different regions, had a profound meaning in the work. It made reference to two geographical situations, to their climate, to the different types of economic and agricultural structures, to landscapes and habitat. The critic must integrate this information, learn it. This is true for all arts in situ or inscribed in an unusual cultural context for the Western art critic or in a new technique. There is no reason for the works designed in microgravity to be the exception.

We say of artists that they « lead us to see in a different way the familiar, » Cezanne and the Sainte-Victoire or Mondrian and his blue dunes. There is no familiarity with weightlessness for the majority of us. In the beginning, the audience of digital and net art had only a vague knowledge of computers. But contrary to new media arts, the probability that a larger public will appropriate the techniques and the environment of microgravity is particularly weak. The artists here are opening a new territory. It is up to us to accompany them, to listen to them. Sharing is possible. It is also the reason for this symposium.

Some links from the original article are no longer valid, some other references
are no longer availalbe. This text has been revised in this respect by the editor in 2023.

(1) – The term « zero gravity » is incorrect. In a space station or, a fortiori, in a plane during a parabolic flight, we still succumb to the effect of gravity, that is to say, terrestrial attraction. Only the physical conditions of orbit of the station around the Earth, just like the physical condition of the flight of the plane, create the effect of weightlessness. The terminology « microgravity » or « zero gravity » are the most commonly used outside of scientific communication. For a more precise description of the parabolic flight and the conditions of microgravity, see the text by Denis Thierion entitled « Weightlessness Through Parabolic Flights  » in this same issue.

(2) – For instance, since 1971, in the journal Leonardo.

(3) –

(4) –

(5) –  http://www.v2.nl

(6) – Leonardo/Olats and the Ours Foundation joined forces in order to develop « SpaceartS, » a database on space art. This database is no longer available.

(7) – To stop reading the following headlines « Artists Get Off on Space » for example…

(8) –

(9) – Lunar Mission Apollo. http://www.alanbeangallery.com/

(10) – See the text by Denis Thierion, op cit.

(11) – This total does not include the dancers that flew with Kitsou Dubois, nor Dragan Zivadinov’s actors and audience.

(12) – Documents on these two artworks are presented in the exhibition « @rt Outsiders: Space and the Arts »

(13) – ISS stands for International Space Station.

(14) – In her Ph.D. thesis.

(15) – Interview with Annick Bureaud, June 22, 2003.

(16) – We are refering here only of those works completed or in progress. It is obvious that we can imagine choreographies, music, etc. for weightlessness and, for example, an extra-terrestrial habitat such as the International Space Station, which is the dream objective of many artists.

(17) – And thus the necessity of several flight campaigns for artists.

(18) – See their text « Initial Report 3.0 On The Pilot Study On The Minimal Behavioural Preconditions For The Partial Demilitarization Of Permanent Habitation In Microgravity ».

(19) – It is interesting to note that Pierre Comte proposed spherical modules, rather than cylindrical ones, for the construction of space stations.

(20) – This distinction is obviously perceptible through vision. However, what I don’t see from my body has no « limit, » nor « place ». We must therefore redefine and obtain a perception of oneself and ones body from another means.

(21) – Didier Anzieu, Le Moi-peau, Paris, Dunod, 1995, Bordas, 1985 for the first edition

(22) – Matt Woolman, Digital Information Graphics, London, Thames & Hudson, 2002.

(23) – Interview with Annick Bureaud, op cit.

(24) – See the excellent article « The dimension of Data Space. A Report of the Workshop ‘Sharing The Body' » by Scott DeLahunta in the third issue of Anomalie entitled « Interfaces« .

(25) – http://lab.v2.nl/projects/mir.html

(26) – William Gibson, Neuromancer, New York, Ace Science Fiction, 1984.

(27) – The term « cyberspace » was coined by Gibson in this science fiction novel.

(28) – Bruce Sterling Schismatrix, Arbor House Publishing Co, 1985.

(29) – See the journal Technoetic Arts,founded by Roy Ascott.

* Ars Astronautica: http://www.spaceart.net

* V2: http://www.v2.nl

* Tate in Space: http://www.tate.org.uk/space/

* Marcel.li Antúnez Roca: http://www.marceliAntúnez.com/

* Frank Pietronigro: http://www.pietronigro.com

* Takuro Osaka: http://www.takuro-osaka.com