The Collaborative Process in Space Art – March 2002

Participants : C. Bangs I Annick Bureaud I Richard Clar I Karl Doetsch I Kitsou Dubois I Paola Favata I Christophe Guignard I Patrick J. Gyger I Muller Hitoshi I Hiroyuki Iwamoto I Julien Knebusch I Rob La Frenais I Roger Malina I Gregory Matloff I Anne Nigten I Takuro Osaka I Andrea Polli I Dinis Ribeiro I Robert Schroter I Nicola Triscott I Douglas Vakoch I Dan Werthimer I Arthur Woods I Alexander Zaitsev

During Spring and Summer 2001, C Bangs and G. Matloff worked at NASA Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, AL on a prototype white-light holographic message plaque for a forthcoming interstellar probe.
White-light holography is an excellent medium for this application because of its resistance to space radiation and its enormous information-storage capability. A very wide variety of multiplexed images could be incorporated in a single thin-film holographic message plaque.
C. Bangs has, in conjunction with the New York gallery Art Resources Transfer Inc., set up a Call for Art on the gallery web site (www.artretran.com). Work of the many artists who have participated in previous “Messages from Earth” shows curated by C Bangs demonstrate the wide variety of possible message plaque images.
Images in a holographic message plaque might demonstrate to hypothetical space-faring extraterrestrials how humans interact with the Earth, our biological and conscious environment. Such images are typified by C Bangs’ figurative pieces.
Alternatively, message-plaque images may relate to our astronomical knowledge of the universe as a self-organizing entity. This concept is demonstrated by the Hubble-derived work of S. Diehl and the Chaos-theory inspired work of J. Feldschuh.

Biography: C. Bangs has a BFA from Philadelphia College of Art and an MFA from Pratt Institute in painting and sculpture. She has been exhibiting her work professionally since 1977 in the United States, Europe and Australia. Her work is included in the permanent collections of museums in the United States and Italy. She has received several commissions throughout her career, most recently a grant to construct a rainbow holographic message plaque for NASA’s Marshall Spaceflight Center. Her work has been featured in books authored by Dr. Gregory Matloff. As well her work has been included in The Journal of the British Interplanetary Society. Her work is currently represented by Art Resources Transfer, Inc., 210 11th Ave. New York, New York.

Gregory l. Matloff has an MS degree in Astronautical engineering and a Ph.D. in Planetary atmospheres, both from New York University. He has more than 70 scientific and technical publications in fields including atmospheric pollution, spacecraft navigation, space astronomy and advanced spacecraft design. Dr. Matloff is a Fellow of the British interplanetary Society and a Member of the Space and Society Committee of the International Academy of Astronautics. His five books include two on interstellar travel–The Starflight Handbook (Wiley, NY, 1989) and Deep-Space Probes (praxis-springer, Chichester, UX, 2000). He served as guest professor at University of Siena, Italy, during summer 1995 and teaches physics & astronomy at the City University of New York and New School University. Dr. Matloff has served as faculty fellow at NASA Marshall Spaceflight Center, Huntsville, AL during the summers of 1999, 2000, and 2001.

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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.

Biography:Specialist of art and technology. Coordinator of OLATS/Leonardo Observatory for the Arts and the Techno-Sciences. Executive director of CHAOS, non-profit organization which publishes the IDEA online/International Directory of Electronic Arts (http://nunc.com). Eletronic art critic. Lecturer at the art school of Aix-en-Provence.

Arthur Wood is a space Artist, President of the OURS Foundation, Chairman of the Art and Literature Sub-Committee of the International Academy of Astronautics. Currently, CEO of Swissart GmbH which developed and manages the Swissart Network – the Swiss Art Portal as well as other Internet projects for industry and the European Space Agency. Originator of various art-in-space projects including the Cosmic Dancer Sculpture (1993) and Ars Ad Astra: the 1st Art Exhibition in Earth Orbit (1995) both projects realized on the Mir Space Station.

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Biography: Richard Clar is a Southern California Space Artist now based in Paris. He is the Director of Art Technologies, Los Angeles/Paris. An early pioneer of art-in-space, Richard began interdisciplinary projects in 1982 with the design of a NASA approved art payload for the U.S. Space Shuttle. In 1995, in collaboration with the Naval Research Laboratory, he created a constellation sculpture in sun-synchronous orbit using 297 orbital debris objects. His focus on the creation of art-in-space utilizes data and processes related to the various facets of space. Subjects include the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI), Orbital Debris, issues of War, and aspects related to Water. Richard’s work seeks to engage a broad audience from varied cultural backgrounds. Currently, he is the Secretary of the International Academy of Astronautics Subcommittee on Art and Literature. He has served on the Graphic Arts Council Executive Board of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

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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.

Biography: Dr. Karl Doetsch, President. International Space University
Ph.D in Aerodynamics from Imperial College, University of London. Formerly Chairman of the Canadian Task Force on Space Vision and Plans of the Canadian Space Agency. Past President of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF). During his career with the Canadian Space Agency, Dr. Doetsch served in various capacities including: Vice President – Programs, Acting President, Vice President – Human Space Flight, and Director General of the Space Station Program. Also former Assistant and Associate Director of the National Aeronautical Establishment of the National Research Council of Canada. Recipient of awards by the International Astronautical Federation, the Royal Society of Canada and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute and Member of the International Academy of Astronautics.

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Biography: Chorégraphe, pédagogue et chercheuse en danse, Kitsou Dubois s’intéresse particulièrement à la relation Art/Science. Elle travaille depuis 10 ans avec la recherché spatiale sur la gestuelle et les processus d’orientation et de perception en apesanteur. Elle a expérimenté l’apesanteur à bord de 9 vols paraboliques proposés par la recherche spatiale française (CNES) entre 1990 et 1994, un vol à la Cité des Etoiles en Russie en septembre 2000, et sont actuellement prévus 3 vols avec l’Agence Spatiale Européenne en mars 2001. Lauréate de la “Villa Medicis Hors-les-murs” en 1989 pour un séjour à la NASA, Kitsou Dubois a travaillé avec le CNES et proposé un entraînement des astronautes à partir des techniques de danse. Elle a pu ainsi participer à une dizaine de vols paraboliques et experimenter l’apesanteur. C’est la première artiste chorégraphique au monde qui travaille avec la recherche spatiale sur la gestuelle en apesanteur. Docteur en Esthétique, Sciences et Technologie des arts, elle est artiste en résidence à l’Imperial College à Londres (grâce au programme mis en place par Arts Catalyst) en collaboration avec un groupe de scientifiques (neurophysiologue et bioméchaniciens) le biodynamic groupe.
En juillet 2001, elle a entraîné et préparé au vol en apesanteur, 40 étudiants chercheurs européens dont les expériences ont été sélectionnées par l’ESA pour voler à bord de l’Airbus A300 lors de la 4ième Campagne Etudiant de vols paraboliques
Après avoir créé ” Gravité zéro ” une pièce sur les premières emotions inoubliables du vol en apesanteur, à Bagnolet , à la Grande Halle de la Villette à Paris et au théâtre Garonne à Toulouse, Kitsou Dubois cherche à créer un autre espace de représentation pour offrir et faire partager au spectateur sur terre les enjeux du corps sans poids et surtout la trajectoire qui existe entre le corps avec poids et le corps sans poids. C’est la deuxième étape : ” Trajectoire fluide “. Le public sera invité à voir cette création à La Grande Halle de la Villette en décembre 2002 à travers un ” parcours-immersion” dans l’univers de l’apesanteur.

English version

Choreographer, teacher and researcher in dance, Kitsou Dubois is particularly interested in the art/science relationship. She has been working for 10 years in collaboration with Space Research about gestures, movements, orientation processes and perception in weightlessness. Between 19990 and 1994, she experimented weightlessness during 9 parabolic flights with the French Space Research (CNES), a flight in collaboration with the Russian Space Research (Star City) in September 2000, and now three flights are planed with ESA in march 2002.
Fellow of the “Villa Medicis Hors-les-murs” programme in 1989, Kitsou Dubois worked with the CNES and proposed a training protocol for the astronauts based on dance techniques. She has been the first choreographer and artist to work in collaboration with Space Research to experiment movements in weightlessness. Kitsou Dubois has a Ph.D in Aesthetics, Sciences and Technology in the Arts. She is currently artist in residence at the Imperial College, London (in a programme put together by Arts Catalyst) and collaborates with a group of scientists (neurophysiologists and biomecanics), the biodynamic group. In july 2001 she has trained 40 european scientific students from whom researchers have been selected ESA to fly in the 4 th Student Parabolic Flight Campaign.
After her first choreography on this theme of weightlessness “Gravité Zéro”, performed at Bagnolet and the Grande Halle de la Villette in Paris, and at the Garonne Theater in Toulouse, Kitsou Dubois is now working on a new project. “Trajectoire Fluide” (Fluid Trajectory).The trajectory between gravity between a body with weight to a body without weight. Public will be invited to see a performance at the Grande Halle de La Villette in Paris in december 2002, through an “immersion course”in the weightlessness field.

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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.

Biography: Paola Favatà is an Italian Architect who specialized in space architecture at the University of Florence and is licensed at the Order of Architects of Florence.
She is currently completing a Masters in Space Studies at the International Space University with a scholarship from European Space Agency.
Previously she worked for IACSA (International Advanced Center for Space Architecture) on space habitation module and pneumatic structures projects commissioned by ASI (Italian Space Agency) in agreement with NASA.
Her work has been published in both Europe and the United States and she has participated in numerous international space conferences such as the annual meeting of the Space Transportation Association and International Astronautical Congress.

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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.

Biography: Born, 08.03.69
Bachelor in Architecture (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, 1993)
Master in Computer Graphics (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, 1995)
Researches in History and Theory of Architecture (Mc Gill University, Canada, 1997)
Co-founder of fabric | ch (since 1997)
Professor of New Media, School of Art of Lausanne (since 2000)

Within fabric | ch, Christophe Guignard is in charge of projects related to electronic architecture, new urban territories and cognitive digital spaces. He is also involved in digital events combining physical and digital action and in creating virtual architectures.

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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.

Biography: Patrick J. Gyger is an historian and historian of art who has published “L’épée et la corde: Criminalité et justice à Fribourg (1475-1505)” in 1998. He is currently the director of the Maison d’Ailleurs, museum of Science Fiction, Utopia and Extraordinary Journeys (Yverdon, Switzerland), where he creates several exhibitons a year.
He has recently co-ordinated the publication of “Innovative Technologies from Science Fiction for Space Application” for ESA and has just co-directed “De beaux lendemains? Histoire, société et politique dans la science-fiction” (University of Lausanne), a collection of studies about Science Fiction and its grip with the real world. Patrick J. Gyger is also artistic director of the Utopiales, International Science Fiction Festival in Nantes (France).

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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.

Biography: Dr. Muller ( MIURA), Hitoshi has worked on Computer Graphics, especially Scientific Visualization field.
His recent interest is in artificial organic objects by using computer graphics method.
He studied physics and astronomy at Kyoto University and Kobe University.
From 1995 to 1999, he worked at Riken (The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research) as a Special postdoctoral researcher.
Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Dep. of Imaging Arts and Sciences
Musashino Art University

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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.

Biography: Deputy Director, NASDA (National Space Development Agency of Japan), Paris Office

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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.

Biography: Julien Knebusch has a Master’s degree in cultural management from the University Paris-IX-Dauphine and is currently preparing a PhD for history at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris on ” Poetical and ontological uses of the Earth by French and German writers at the beginning of the 20th century. He is also project leader at Leonardo/OLATS for the editorial program “Cultural Foundations of Globalization”.

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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.

Biography: Roger Malina is a space astronomer and works as Director of the Laboratoire d’Astronomie Spatiale, Marseille and the NASA EUVE Observatory at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the Chairman of the Board of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology and Editor of its journal Leonardo. He is a member of the OLATS coordination team.

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Biography: Gregory l. Matloff has an MS degree in Astronautical engineering and a Ph.D. in Planetary atmospheres, both from New York University. He has more than 70 scientific and technical publications in fields including atmospheric pollution, spacecraft navigation, space astronomy and advanced spacecraft design. Dr. Matloff is a Fellow of the British interplanetary Society and a Member of the Space and Society Committee of the International Academy of Astronautics. His five books include two on interstellar travel–The Starflight Handbook (Wiley, NY, 1989) and Deep-Space Probes (praxis-springer, Chichester, UX, 2000). He served as guest professor at University of Siena, Italy, during summer 1995 and teaches physics & astronomy at the City University of New York and New School University. Dr. Matloff has served as faculty fellow at NASA Marshall Spaceflight Center, Huntsville, AL during the summers of 1999, 2000, and 2001.

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Biography: Anne Nigten is manager of the V2 Lab, staff member of V2 Organization in Rotterdam and content manager of EncART (European Network for cyber ART). Over the last 13 years, she has been working as an independent media artist, and simultaneously fulfilled several management jobs for the media art sector in the Netherlands. Besides this Anne has practised several more technical oriented functions.
Anne has worked a.o. as chair lady for the Association of media artists Amsterdam, co initiator of flying desk Amsterdam, co initiator of the Free Media Kafe Amsterdam, project coordinator Utrecht School of the arts dept. interaction design, creative director desk.nl (part time).

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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.”

Biography: Artist
1948 Born in Tokyo, Japan
1975 MFA from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music

ACTIVITIES
A few years after graduation he started to make works of art utilizing electric discharge. In 1983 he participated in the “Electra” exhibition at the Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and the “New Tools & New Images” exhibition at Museum Van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen in 1989. Collaborations with artists of various disciplines began around this time. He was invited to M.I.T. (Boston) as Exchange Professor of Visual Art Program in 1991.
Pioneer of Light Art in Japan.
Director of STUDIO PHOTON a Light Art studio in Tokyo.
Professor at Musashino Art University,Tokyo.
AWARDS
’96 Display Design Excellent Work Prize (Japan Display Design Association)
’96 The Minister of international Trade and industry Prize
’98 Display Design Excellent Work Prize and Special Prize (Japan Display Design Association)
’98 The Minister of International Trade and Industry Grand Prize
’98 L’OREAL Prize (L’OREAL Art and Science Foundation)

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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.

Biography: Andrea Polli is a digital media artist living in New York City. She received a Master of Fine Arts in Time Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is currently an Associate Professor of Film and Media at Hunter College.
She has exhibited and lectured nationally and internationally. In 2001, Polli presented her performance work, Intuitive Ocusonics, a system for performing using eye movements, at V2 in Rotterdam, Holland; at the N-Space Art Gallery of SIGGRAPH ’01 in Los Angeles, CA; at the Subtle Technologies Conference at the University of Toronto, Canada; and at Immedia, at the University of Michigan.
Other recent performances and presentations include: The Monaco Danses Dances Forum, Monaco; ISEA, Paris France; Invencao,Sao Paolo; Imagina, Monaco; and Minds, and Machines, and Electronic Culture at Connecticut College. To support this work and the production of an Audio CD, Active Vision, she was awarded a 1999 artist’s residency at The iEAR Institute at Rensellaer Polytechnic, a Harvestworks Recording Production Grant in New York, an Artist’s Residency at The Center for Research in the Computing Arts at The University of California at San Diego, and a residency at Franklin Furnace in New York.
She has also shown work in venues throughout New York City, Chicago and the Midwest; in San Francisco, and in Finland, Iceland, Germany, Sweden, Greece, and the Phillipines. This performance work and research is documented in the article Active Vision in the October 1999 issue of The Leonardo Journal. A retrospective article about her work from 1991-1998, Virtual Space and the Construction of Memory, is published in the Spring 98 issue of The Leonardo Journal.

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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.

Biography: Dinis Ribeiro is an entrepreneur and consultant currently involved with a viability study for the constitution of a public private partnership to be named AEPOR SA. This new entity is being envisaged to become a chaordic organization. Since 1989 he has been involved with private space business initiatives as the manager of Companhia Espacial Portuguesa Limitada, currently the voting member from Portugal of the International Astronautical Federation. He has a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin in Political Science, and he has completed various technical courses in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. He has worked in paramedical services since 1991 in close cooperation with neurologists and anthropologists, assisting Computerized Dynamic Posturography research since 1997. The dehumanisation of space programs has been one of his major concerns and the ongoing collaboration with Richard Clar on the “Alma da Agua” Space awareness initiative seeks to address these issues.

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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.

Biography: Professor of Biological Mechanics
Prof Schroter, who graduated originally as a chemical engineer, holds the personal Chair of Biological Mechanics in the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College in London. He has worked throughout his career on multidisciplinary problems in biofluid mechanics and comparative biological mechanics. Research has focused mainly on blending engineering science and physiology to investigate respiratory and cardiovascular mechanics in humans, in both health and disease, and problems of exercise and thermal stress in large animals. Studies have involved both laboratory and field work in hostile environments. He has published extensively in the area of biomechanics.
Prof Schroter also steers the inter-departmental, interdisciplinary Biodynamics Group, bringing together researchers and clinicians to investigate the biomechanics of sporting performance to improve safety and welfare in athletes from novice to elite and the general population of all ages.

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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

Biography: Nicola Triscott is the director and founder of the Arts Catalyst, the UK’s science-art agency, which has been organising collaborative projects between scientists and artists since 1993. Its work in space art is principally concerned with issues of access to specialist environments. Arts Catalyst set up a collaboration between choreographer Kitsou Dubois and the Biodynamics Group at Imperial College, led by Prof. Robert Schroter, and made a successful proposal to the European Space Agency for an experiment, currently scheduled to take place on the ESA parabolic campaign in October 2001. With Rob La Frenais and Marko Peljhan, she organised – and was a participant on – a parabolic flight in September 2000 with the Yuri Gagarin Centre, Star City, which carried Kitsou Dubois and a 5-person team, as well as other artists and scientists. The Arts Catalyst’s 2nd UK Space-Art Forum in November 2000 in London took the specific theme of art in altered gravity to encourage more artists to consider working in this environment.

Rob La Frenais is the curator of the Arts Catalyst. He has been organizing visual art projects on an international level since 1987, curating major projects with artists such as James Turrell, Marina Abramovic, Stelarc and Orlan. From 1979 to 1987 he was the editor of Performance Magazine, a UK-based European cross-artform journal. He joined the Arts Catalyst in 1997
and with Nicola Triscott organized shows such as ‘Atomic’, featuring the nuclear artist James Acord, and the major international conferences ‘Eye of the Storm’ and ‘Cosmic Chances’ at the Royal Institution, London, as well as setting up and chairing the UK Space Art Forum, taking place in 1999 and 2000. In August 1999 he took part in the first dedicated artists’ parabolic flight to take place in Russia with the Yuri Gagarin Training Centre, organized by Marko Peljhan for Dragan Zivadinov’s Noordung company. He describes himself as a reluctant conscript to the artist cosmonaut corps.

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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.

Biography: As the SETI Institute’s Interstellar Message Group Leader, Douglas Vakoch studies approaches to constructing interstellar messages. He is particularly interested in how we might compose interstellar messages that would begin to express what it’s like to be human. His current project in interstellar message composition focuses on communicating concepts about the evolution of altruism, as seen from sociobiological and philosophical perspectives. In 2001, he chaired the Toulouse Workshop on Interstellar Message Composition.

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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.

Biography: Dan Werthimer is chief scientist of the SETI@home and SERENDIP Seti programs at the University of California, Berkeley. He was associate professor in the engineering and physics departments of San Francisco State University and has been a visiting professor at Beijing Normal University, Eotvos University in Budapest, and taught at universities in Peru, Egypt, Ghana, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Kenya. Werthimer has published numerous papers in the fields of SETI, radio astronomy, instrumentation and science education; he is co-author of “SETI 2020” and editor of “Astronomical and Biochemical Origins and the Search for Life in the Universe”.

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The original website of the conference
http://archive.olats.org/space/13avril/2002/mono_index.php