MIR in Orbit
- Paper number
IAC-05-E5.2.03
- Author
Ms. Nicola Triscott, The Arts Catalyst, United Kingdom
- Coauthor
Mr. Rob La Frenais, The Arts Catalyst, United Kingdom
- Year
2005
- Abstract
MIR in Orbit is a pan-European cultural programme that seeks to develop a fresh vision of space exploration for a new global space age. It is being developed by the MIR network, a group of European and international arts organisations that seek to promote artists’ engagement with space activities. The MIR network comprises: The Arts Catalyst (UK) Projekt Atol (SLO) V2 Institute for the Unstable Media (NL) Leonardo-Olats (FR/US) Transmediale (DE) Mom (ESP) Multimedia Complex of Actual Arts (RU) 50 years after the launch of Sputnik, it is clear that the transnational nature of space has to be used for the benefit of humankind in its totality. Space is our common heritage. We are citizens of the whole Earth – there are no borders visible from space. It is time to develop and realise an alternative vision of space that leaves behind the imagery of colonialism, empire-building and alien contact, rather building on the rich body of European thought and artistic engagement with space. A vision that understands that space is not just the preserve of the West, but is rooted historically in cultures across the globe. A vision that perceives space not simply as a resource for spin-off techno-science benefits. This is where the artistic imagination comes in, inventing new ways of continuing the conversation between outer space and inner space, macrocosm and microcosm, and taking to heart the philosophical insights of space thinkers such as Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Nikolai Fyodorov, Herman Potocnik Noordung, and the writings of French philosopher Gaston Bachelard, who developed a poetics of space on the basis of identifying a correspondence between the immensity of outer space and the inner intensity of human feeling. MIR in Orbit will be a Europe-wide artists’ space programme looking very broadly at the activities of space exploration and its global cultural heritage. The programme will focus on new artists’ commissions from a range of disciplines - particularly utilising new media and interacting with contemporary space activities - to reengage the European public in the cultural dimension of space, which has been the preserve of specialised government-funded space agencies for the last 50 years. This paper is new and original. It has not been presented at a previous meeting. Financing and attendance of an author at the IAC at Fukuoka to present the paper is assured.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-05-E5.2.03.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.