Week 9: Space + Art

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This course has introduced me to various intersecting topics of art + science/tech and has generally broadened my understanding of the different meanings of art in our world. For this reason it is fitting that our last module covers beyond that scope, focusing on the intersections between space and art. It would be remiss not to talk about Star Wars, my favorite movie franchise growing up. I remember being so enthralled with the idea of different planets, intermingling with different alien species, and particularly light-speed space travel. Sadly, according to Einstein's theory of special relativity, traveling at light-speed is physically impossible especially for anything with mass, let alone the mass of a spaceship/humans (Petruzello). 

Binary sunset - Star Wars: A New Hope

We might not live to see it in our lifetime, but I believe that we could see some semblance of Star Wars-esque space technologies in the future. As mentioned in lecture, Jules Vernes' 1865 novel From the Earth to the Moon was produced when the mere idea of space travel was written off as impossible. As our technology rapidly progresses, we have companies like NASA and SpaceX envisioning the future of spaceflight and detailing the things that may be possible, such as humans on mars or orbiting space hotels (Drake). 

"Evolving Mars"

Another space-related phenomena that intrigues me are black holes. Black holes were predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity, citing a black hole to be the remnant of a massive star death (Bolles). What drew me into the topic are their fear-inducing mystique; such has prompted thousands of artists to depict their interpretations of what a black hole may actually look like. It wasn't until very recently in 2019 that we were finally able to witness a picture of a black hole - unsurprisingly, it wasn't far off from past artists' depictions of it. We've witnessed a common trend in these space-related discoveries: life imitates art (or vice versa)! 

Computer-Simulated Image of a Supermassive Blackhole



References:

"Binary Sunset." Star Wars IV: A New Hope. 1977.

Bolles, Dana. “Black Holes.” NASA, NASA, 2022, https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/black-holes.

D. Coe, J. Anderson, and R. van der Marel (STScI). "Computer-Simulated Image of a Supermassive Blackhole." Nasa. 2017. https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/computer-simulated-image-of-a-supermassive-black-hole 

Drake, Nadia. “The Future of Spaceflight-from Orbital Vacations to Humans on Mars.” Science, National Geographic, 3 May 2021, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/future-spaceflight.

Freeman, Owen. "Evolving Mars." 2017. http://www.owenfreeman.com/

Griggs, Mary Beth. “This Is How the Real Photo of a Black Hole Stacks up to Artists' Impressions.” The Verge, The Verge, 10 Apr. 2019, https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/10/18303734/photo-black-hole-artist-impressions-m87-sagittarius-horizon-telescope.

Petruzzello, Melissa. "Will Light-Speed Space Travel Ever Be Possible?". Encyclopedia Britannica, 2020, https://www.britannica.com/story/will-light-speed-space-travel-ever-be-possible. 

Vesna, Victoria. “8 Space pt1 1280x720.” YouTube, UConline, 29 July 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZIqTR332l8.


Comments

  1. Matt Wang - DESMA 9May 29, 2022 at 12:31 AM

    Love that you brought up Star Wars - also one of my favourite franchises! Their mechanism to have faster-than-light speed travel - hyperspace jumps - is something that I've seen in lots of science fiction, including Isaac Asimov's Foundation series (which I'm reading right now!) as well as other popular franchises like Star Trek. It seems like there are some physics-based theories around how this could be possible, including taking advantages of folds in spacetime generated by black holes - which fits in neatly with your later comment on them!

    Another alternative is provided by Cixin Liu's "The Three Body Problem" trilogy, and I'd recommend you check it out if you haven't already!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMay 29, 2022 at 1:18 PM

    Hey! I really liked your post! The Star Wars reference was awesome! It made me think a lot about how we incorporate space into not only art exhibitions, but it also creeps into people's creative imaginations. From there, we see how it turns into things like videos, short films, and even movies! I wonder if maybe you think that space art has had any affect on other Sci-Fi films in the same way?

    ReplyDelete

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