Arts Out There: On the Moon and Beyond

Dean Lowry Burgess

Artist, Leads the "Moon Arts Group" in the Studio for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon

Abstract

In 2008, Carnegie Mellon was invited by Astrobotics Inc. to join in the robotic "Google Lunar X Prize" competition with legendary roboticist Red Whittaker and his team at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon. Lowry Burgess, Space Art pioneer, was asked to form the Carnegie Mellon artistic team, the "Moon Arts Group".

Our presentation at ISDC will present a summary of the exciting projects that are being developed by students in the Space Arts Studio as well as faculty and Fellows at Carnegie Mellon.

This Moon Arts project became the subject of the "Space Arts Studio" with Professor Lowry Burgess in collaboration with the "Moon Arts Group" of the Studio for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon envisioning ways of establishing links between the Earth an Moon that embody the Earth to the Moon and the Moon to the Earth. Our intention is to advance the presence of the arts and culture in outer space and the new ethos of outer space here on Earth in never before realized opportunities for the arts.

The Moon Arts Group and the Space Arts Studio students desire to reawaken the sense of sublime wonder that is fundamental to our sense of the cosmos that surrounds us. Through collaborations between artists, scientists, and engineers we seek to overcome the separate languages, logics and methodologies of our isolated disciplines. We seek to open free and inclusive dialogues about human presence in outer space and at the same time open new and inclusive artistic and cultural relationships here on Earth - through all the arts, and all the senses - through artworks from the smallest to galactic scale - from instantaneous moments to hundreds of millions of years.

In conclusion, what will be outlined at ISDC is a set of complexly different modes of artistic address to deep space/time, innately including those deep space/time constructs with us. Moon Arts believes that these are inextricably interwoven and that their disclosure will make what is now impalpable, palpable to the Earth through a wide variety of public venues: exhibitions, concerts, print, radio, television and internet broadcast media.

Presented at ISDC 2011 - Huntsville. Paper and presentation charts are not available.