From the first man in space, former art student Alexei Leonov, to Kitsou Dubois’ choreographies in weightlessness.
1965
Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, former art student at the Kharkov Higher School of Pilots, becomes the first man, and arguably the first artist, to walk in space. Leonov is now a member of the USSR Artists Union and its Cosmic Group and has taken part in numerous exhibitions both in the former Soviet Union and abroad, including the U.S., Germany and France. He has been published in seven books, often in collaboration with his friend Andrei Sokolov.
1969
Apollo 12 is launched and counts amongst its crew Alan Bean, who becomes the fourth man to set foot on the moon and, as an accomplished painter, the first American artist in space.
“The Moon Museum”, a small ceramic tile, is carried on Apollo 12, on which American artists Robert Rauschenberg drew a straight line; Andy Warhol drew a penis; Claus Oldenberg drew the image of Mickey Mouse; and John Chamberlain, Forrest Myers and David Novros all drew geometric designs. (Hoban, 1985)
1971
The Fallen Astronaut – a small figurine by Dutch Artist Paul Van Hoeydonk was sent and left on the Moon on Apollo 15 as a part of an astronaut’s personal effects. (Hoban, 1985)
1975
Alexei Leonov is launched into space in July as the Soviet commander of Apollo-Soyuz. He carries coloured pencils and paper with him in order to make the first eyewitness sketches of the Earth from space.
1977
Salyut 6 launched on Sept. 29, 1977 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Tyuratam, U.S.S.R. In order to check the accuracy of his work, renowned “space artist” Andrei Sokolov sent preparatory drawings into space with cosmonauts V. Lyakhov and V. Ryumin. The cosmonauts were able to compare the sketch with what they actually saw from the spacecraft and later submitted their comments to Sokolov.
1978
Vladmir Dzhanibekov, former art student, cosmonaut and a major-general in the Russian Air Force, spends an aggregate of 146 days in space between 1978 and 1985. Dzhanibekov studied art at the V. Komarov Higher Air Force School at Eisk and is now a member of the USSR Artists Union and has held numerous exhibitions in the former Soviet Union, the United States, Saudi Arabia and other countries.
1984
Joeseph McShane’s Get Away Special (GAS) (G-308) which contained a system of spheres used as a materials coating experiment, originally conceived of and viewed as artworks upon return to Earth. (NASA, 1994)
1989
Lowry Burgess’s “Boundless Cubic Lunar Aperture” flew on the Space Shuttle as a self contained “non-scientific payload”. This conceptual artwork included holograms and cubes made from all of the elements known to science and water samples from all the world’s rivers. The spaceflight was part of the realization of his “Quiet Axis” artwork. (Malina, 1990)
1990
Kitsou Dubois begins with zero gravity in diving to create new choreographies for weightlessness, as well as working with astronauts on problems of adaptation to this new environment. She developed, during 12 parabolic flights with the French Space Agency, new protocols for dancing in zero gravity.
1992
The West cigarette company commissioned German artist Andora to paint the outside surface of a Russian Proton rocket with examples of his art and an advertisement for the cigarette company. (Bunte, 1992)
Austrian artist Richard Kriesche transmitted an interactive video performance called ARTSAT to the cosmonaut crew on board the Mir who return the altered signals after one orbit which then interacted with various devices. This was carried out in the context of the AustroMir mission. (Kriesche, 1993)
A painting by artist Pamela Lee and Alexei Leonov were reported to have been carried on the U. S. Space Shuttle. (Roix, 1992)
Erik Viktor’s Painting “Nord-Deutschland” is taken on board Space Station MIR.
1993
Arthur Woods’ “Cosmic Dancer Sculpture”. Launched to the Mir space , this artwork was designed to investigate both the properties of sculpture in weightlessness and the advantages of integrating art into the living and working environment of the cosmonauts. A video and photographic were made and returned to Earth for viewing. As of this writing the sculpture is still on board the Mir station. (Woods, 1994)
1994
In August, Spacearc – a digital archive of messages and artworks collected by the Rochester N.Y. University and originally planned for the International Space Year (ISY) – was attached to a communications satellite launched on an Atlas rocket.
1995
Ars Ad Astra: The 1st Art Exhibition in Earth Orbit was organized by Woods and The OURS Foundation in cooperation with the European Space Agency during their EUROMIR’95 mission. 20 original artworks and a Laptop computer with 81 digitized art works accompanied German cosmonaut Reiter on his 6 month mission.
1999
Kitsou Dubois undertakes a new series of flights with the European Space Agency in a science- art initiative with scientists from Imperial College, London, organised by the UK science-art agency, the Arts Catalyst.
Slovenian director Dragan Zivadinov’s Noordung Zero Gravity Biomechanical theater become the first artists to stage a performance in front of an audience in micro gravity. The project took place on a parabolic flight which left from the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training facility, in Star City.
Bibliography
A Brief History of Space Art On and Off Earth by Arthur Woods.
http://www.spaceart.net/information/index.shtml
Russian Space Art
http://www.aerospaced.org/tempex/spaceart/
History Of Space Exploration
http://www.nauts.com/
HobbySpace : Space Art
http://www.hobbyspace.com/Art/
Kitsou Dubois – Gravity 0
http://www.artscatalyst.org/htm/grav0.htm
Apollo 12
http://www.space.com/news/apollo_12_surveyor_112099/
Russia House – Soviet / Russian Space Program memorabilia and hardware
http://www.neosoft.com/Russia_House/