Week 9: Space + Art

I was excited about this week’s module because I have always been fascinated by space. I studied physics at university in Scotland, and I was going to study astrophysics in Dublin, Ireland, before I decided to stay here in Los Angeles instead. The first video in this week’s series mentioned Nicolaus Copernicus who explained the observed motion of the heavens with a model of the solar system with the Sun slightly off center. I was not aware that a crater on the moon was named after him (1).

Copernicus’ Heliocentric Model of the Solar System from 1512 (1)

It was interesting to find out that NASA was formed in 1958 (the same year my mother was born!) I would have guessed that it had been around longer than that. It was also interesting to learn that it was formed as a result of failed U.S. attempts to catch up with Russia in the “space race.”


NASA founded in 1958 (2)

The materials that most influenced me this week were the videos of the animals being used in experiments for space travel. I was disgusted and dismayed not only that these animals were made suffer but that this suffering was not acknowledged in the video (3). The dog and the chimpanzees were cruelly constricted during “training” and the dog was fried alive when the spacecraft’s systems shut down– absolutely horrific! If we are still so unevolved as to be oblivious to this suffering, then we have a very long way to go as a species.


Laika, the poor dog used for insane space exploration experimentation (4)

There wasn’t very much discussion of art in this module. It was almost all about the history of space exploration itself. Almost all of the links to artist materials didn’t work but the link to the work of B.E. Johnson did, and that work is quite striking and beautiful (5)

B.E. Johnson’s Rocky Mountain High (5)

Works Cited

1. Vesna, V. (2013, July 29). 8 space pt1 1280x720. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZIqTR332l8

2. Vesna, V. (2013b, July 29). 8 space PT2 1280X720. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLZMDpoP-u0&t=2s

3. Vesna, V. (2013c, July 29). 8 space PT3 1280X720. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WOqt_C55Mk&t=3s

4. Wikimedia Foundation. (2024, April 21). Laika. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laika

5. Johnson, B. E. (n.d.). Space & astronomical art. Space & Astronomical Art of B.E.Johnson. https://imperialearth.com/pimaget.php?filename=rockymtnhigh600.jpg&title=Rocky+Mountian+High 



Comments

  1. Elise ZurJune 3, 2024 at 1:45 AM

    Hi Laura, I really enjoyed hearing your take on this week's material on space. It was really interesting to hear that you studied physics and almost went on to study astrophysics. These subjects are a little bit foreign to me as a cognitive science major however this week's lecture on space gave me a better understanding than I originally had. I also completely agree with you that the use of animals in space was horrible! I was extremely sad to see the innocent animals being used in tests, completely unethical.

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