Cosmic Dancer & Ars Ad Astra Projects

The Orbiting Unification Ring Satellite and the OUR-Space Peace Sculpture projects were the beginnings of the OURS Foundation’s “private space program” which began to unfold and develop in other and sometimes parallel directions. Below is the history and details of the spaceflights of the Cosmic Dancer sculpture and Ars Ad Astra: The 1st Art Exhibition in Earth Orbit realized on the Mir space station.

My interest in space and physics had a major influence on my art, especially on my approach to painting. I learned that gravity on Earth has to do with the force that the acceleration of Earth imparts to objects on or near its surface. Gravity, as a terrestrial environmental factor, may hardly be considered as essential to the creation of art, yet it has profoundly influenced and determined both the conception and the perception of art since its beginnings. Basically gravity gives us an “up and down” orientation to the environment in which we live. Therefore, paintings, particularly those with a rectangular shape usually have a “natural” top and bottom orientation because this reflects how the viewer and the artist perceive the world we live in.

I began to explore how gravity influenced my painting with a series of works that had a six-sided geometric shape. These two-dimensional works could then be mounted on a wall in any position as there was no natural “top or bottom” orientation. The shading of some the triangular areas created by the intersections of the lines, added a perceptual component to the works which created a three-dimensional effect. How the work was positioned imparted a specific uniqueness to its perception as seen in the images of the same painting below.

Because they are created in a terrestrial environment, all sculptures have a "resting point" - a point of contact in which their mass interacts with the gravity of the Earth. Sometimes sculptures are fixed to a base so that their appearance seems natural in our gravity dominated environment. Others stand, rest or are fixed to some supporting structure. Even "balloon" or air-filled sculptures that may float in the air are positioned by the force of gravity.

Consciously or unconsciously, artists conceive and carry out their sculptural creations with gravity determining the eventual resting point of the work, and, by so doing, they pre-determine how the sculpture will eventually be perceived and appreciated by the public. Thus the influence of gravity has much to do with our perception and appreciation of sculpture - as our response to its aesthetic "rightness" is based on our own experiences within the terrestrial environment.

I applied these ideas and my painting technique to a series of three-dimensional geometrically shaped objects I call Cosmic Dancers. The geometric form of these sculptures enabled them to be positioned in different ways. This aspect allowed the sculptures to be viewed from different perspectives and, in relation to their surroundings, the same sculpture could appear as a unique three dimensional form as a result of its varied positions. Depending on the geometric complexity, usually between four and eight resting positions could be found for each sculpture and its interaction with gravity i.e. - its resting point - being the ultimate determining factor.

When imagining human civilization extended into outer space, it seems obvious that the art of this civilization will take advantage of its new environment. Much like the influence of gravity has had on the evolution of terrestrial art , the qualities specific to the space environment will have a fundamental effect on both the conception and perception of the artworks designed and realized there. In the zero-gravity (zero-G) or microgravity environments of outer space, the influence of gravity disappears and artworks become weightless. As a consequence, the conception, perception and appreciation of an artwork will be altered. For example, a sculpture floating in a zero-G environment can be viewed from an infinite number of perspectives or angles – something that is not normally possible in a typical art setting on Earth.

As the uncertainties related to the Soviet space program settled, one of our previous partners on the OUR-SPS project, Kayser-Threde Gmbh in Munich, became a German agent for the Russian space program. From them we learned that the Russian space program was still open for business and they would welcome another project from the OURS Foundation. The geometric shapes of the Cosmic Dancer sculpture series seemed to be most appropriate for evaluating the idea of exploring the concept of sculpture in the microgravity environment of a space habitat such as on the US Space Shuttle or the Mir space station. From a technical standpoint, the Cosmic Dancer would be a much less complex project to realize than the previous projects. As the first three-dimensional artwork to be specifically conceived for and officially realized in a space habitat, the Cosmic Dancer project would also serve to ascertain the process, impact and value of integrating a cultural dimension into the human space program.

Taking a similar approach as was used with the OUR-SPS project, both the US and the Russian space agencies were contacted about possible launch opportunities. In September, 1992, a proposal for a spaceflight of a Cosmic Dancer on the US shuttle was sent to NASA which responded that their policy of not allowing "non-scientific payloads" on the orbiter was still in effect. Simultaneously, a similar proposal to launch a Cosmic Dancer sculpture to the Russian Mir space station was submitted to NPO Energia via Kayser-Threde GmbH which led to an offer and to signing a “Letter of Intent” in November. Negotiations for the launch date and the determination of the technical specifications commenced. In December, a contract between the OURS Foundation and Kayser-Threde was signed to launch the sculpture to the Mir space station on a Progress supply vehicle with launch opportunities available in March or May of 1993. The cost, based maximum payload weight of 1 kilogram, was set at approximately US $100,000 which included the launch, testing, the filming of the sculpture on the Mir station and the return of the documentation to Earth.

To meet the funding requirements in the short time available, an intense search was made to find a potential sponsor. However, the companies that responded were interested in “branding” the sculpture with their company’s name which was unacceptable as this would detract and compromise the purpose of the project. Consequently, I again took a “crowd funding” approach and created a limited edition of the Cosmic Dancer sculpture which was made available to space enthusiasts and art collectors. 99 versions of the Cosmic Dancer, the same exact size and material (square aluminum tubing) as the flight sculpture, were painted in my pointillistic technique. Each sculpture was finished in a different color scheme making each of the 99 versions a unique and original artwork. These sculptures were then offered to the public through various art galleries and through advertisements in the print media.

For its integration in the Mir station a Cosmic Dancer sculpture would have to be both compact and lightweight. The weight limit of 1 kg was set by the contract and the approximate dimensions of 35 x 35 x 40 cm enabled the Cosmic Dancer to easily pass through the air locks and module ports of the Mir station. Several prototype sculptures were constructed out of wood to these dimensions and painted in my pointillistic technique. One of these prototype sculptures was delivered to NPO Energia for cosmonaut training purposes. A training exercise with the sculpture was conducted by cosmonauts Gennadi Manakow and Alexander Polishchuk at the Mir station mock-up located at the cosmonaut training facility at Star City, Russia in December. The cosmonauts simulated the Cosmic Dancer in the Mir station by suspending the sculpture with a nylon monofilament line from the ceiling. A video recording and photographs of this exercise were made and delivered to the OURS Foundation. The two cosmonauts were launched to the Mir space station for a six-month tour of duty in January, 1993.

Standard water-based acrylic polymer artist paints (Lascaux Studio Acrylic Paints) were used for the surface finish. The paints to be used had to satisfy toxic out-gassing standards for the Mir environment and samples of each color were sent to NPO Energia in Moscow for testing and these were subsequently approved. In addition, the sculpture would have to be sterilized by submersion in an alcohol solution prior to launch. As acrylic paint reacts negatively to alcohol, a suitable varnish that could support the sterilization procedure and not affect the acrylic paint had to be utilized. A two-component epoxy varnish was found that satisfied this requirement.

To minimize flammability and to ensure structural stability during the launch phase, hollow 40 mm square aluminum tubing with a wall thickness of 2 mm was chosen as a suitable material and a contractor was selected for its construction. The material was cut to the exact dimensions of the wooden prototype sculpture. To meet the weight requirements of 1 kg, the original thickness of the aluminum tubes had to be reduced by magnetic sanding all of the sides. The pieces were then assembled by welding.

The color scheme selected for the flight sculpture was based on the following criteria: (1) The sculpture had to have sufficient contrast with the Mir environment in order to insure that good images could be obtained on film and video and, (2) it should offer an aesthetic contribution to the cosmonauts living quarters. With these two considerations as a guide, a dominant green color scheme for the flight sculpture was chosen.
This decision was reached after viewing photographs and video tapes of the Mir station interior which indicated a somewhat drab, technical environment crowded and cluttered with equipment and cables. In contrast, from the view portals, the cosmonauts could observe the blackness of space and the blue and white of the Earth. Green was also considered because of its association with terrestrial plants and the psychologically calming effects that associations with nature are reported to induce. In the photographs of the Mir interior, there appeared to be very little of this color in its brighter intensities in the Mir station environment.

The flight sculpture was thus painted in this color scheme, finished with the approved epoxy varnish and delivered to Kayser-Threde in March, 1993, which then carried out the sterilization procedures, dried the sculpture in an exhaust oven and vacuum-packed it for delivery to Russia. There, officials from NPO Energia prepared the Cosmic Dancer sculpture for spaceflight by attaching it to a specially manufactured aluminum base-plate and placing it into a sack. This package was integrated into the faring of a Progress rocket at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

On May 22, at 10:43 a.m. (Moscow time), the Progress rocket was launched to the Mir space station where the capsule carrying the Cosmic Dancer sculpture, supplies and other equipment arrived two days later. After its arrival at the Mir space station, cosmonauts Gennadi Manakov and Alexander Polishchuk unpacked the Cosmic Dancer and allowed it to freely float and spin in their living space. A 12 minute video transmission was broadcast from the Mir station to the ground control center in June and delivered to the OURS Foundation. As part of the mission, they were instructed to evaluate the impact of having art share their weightless environment and were given a questionnaire. A total of 26 photographs, 9 color slides, a 28 minute video film in Beta Broadcast quality plus a recorded commentary of their experience were made. This project documentation was returned to Earth in September 1993.

Due to the limited space available in the Soyuz crew return capsule, the cost to return the Cosmic Dancer to Earth was as high as the spaceflight and was not included in the original budget. As NASA had begun flights with the US orbiter to the Mir station in the meantime, this presented a possibility. The National Air & Space Museum in Washington D.C. was contacted and asked if they would be interested in obtaining the Cosmic Dancer for the Smithsonian collection on the condition that NASA would return the sculpture to Earth. The museum officials agreed to this proposal but NASA declined, again citing the restriction on not flying "non-scientific payloads” on the Space Shuttle. The Cosmic Dancer was never returned to Earth and it is assumed it was on-board when the Mir space station was de-orbited into the Pacific Ocean in March 2001.

It has been shown that gravity has played a subtle yet important role in the development of our art and culture. As human civilization is extended beyond the planet, its culture will be altered by the environment of outer space and we can expect art to take on new dimensions as it is created for and, eventually, in this environment. Since art and society are interdependent, art will play an important role in sensitizing human society to new environments in outer space. On a practical level, the Cosmic Dancer project demonstrated that it is possible for an individual or a private organization to conduct a small-scale experiment in space but more importantly, by adding a cultural dimension to outer space development it helps to bridge the terrestrial and extraterrestrial environments of human civilization.

Ars Ad Astra: The 1st Art Exhibition in Earth Orbit

Involving other artists in space has always been a goal of the OURS Foundation. In its negotiations with the Russian space company NPO Energia in 1990, the idea to organize an art exhibition on the Mir space station as part of the International Space Year (ISY) was introduced and discussed. While an initial agreement was reached, subsequent negotiations concerning the division of responsibilities continued throughout 1991 to the point where no satisfactory arrangement could be reached in time for the 1992 ISY. After the successful spaceflight of the Cosmic Dancer in 1993, the idea was re-introduced.

We then learned about the Euromir94 and Euromir95 missions being planned by the European Space Agency (ESA). As the OURS Foundation was a cultural and astronautical organization based in Switzerland, and Switzerland was a member of ESA, in July 1994, a proposal was submitted to ESA for a "cultural experiment" to be conducted in the framework of the Euromir95 mission. As proposed, the content of the Ars ad Astra payload would consist of up to 100 A4 (21 x 30 cm) artworks and a portable Kodak Photo CD player weighing a total of 3 kg. After consultation with the office responsible for the Euromir95 mission concerning the technical feasibility of our proposal, Mr. Jörg Feustel-Büechl, ESA Director for Manned Spaceflight & Microgravity, answered on September 2, 1994 informing the OURS Foundation that ESA was prepared to accept our proposal.

In his letter he stated:
"We also feel that the purpose of your project which is to make people more aware of the value and importance of space activities is a good one and merits support."

However as implementation activities commenced, the OURS Foundation was informed that ESA had only agreed to fly our "Ars ad Astra experiment" on the condition that this project would have no major financial impact for ESA. They pointed out that our experiment, as proposed, would add approximately 100,000 Accounting Units (AU) in additional costs to the Euromir95 budget. ESA officials indicated that, unless the Russian managers of the Mir station were willing to accept this additional weight at no charge, ESA could only agree to fly the electronic aspect of the project if this could conform to the suggestions made by the mission office, which was to replace the portable Photo-CD player concept by copying the images to a hard drive for the onboard ESA computer. This approach would result in essentially no additional weight or cost. In response to our request for a contribution from ESA to the project's communication budget, we were informed that "in face of mounting pressure by member delegations to find additional savings in the 1995 budget”, ESA would be unable to supply any additional financial support and suggested that the OURS Foundation find sponsors to assist with its communications activities.

At this point Ars ad Astra consisted of the possibility of just sending digitized art into space. This was not the art exhibition that we had originally proposed. Aware of the importance and value attached to the tangible quality of original art, the fact that up until now very few art works had ever been flown in space and that both the interest of the artists, the public and the media could only be stimulated and maintained if the original artworks were flown into space, the OURS Foundation insisted that for this experiment to effectively address its stated objectives, a quantity of original artworks had to be included in the payload.

Whereupon several months of negotiations ensued between the OURS Foundation and ESA with the result being that on February 14, 1995 we were given the approval to fly a minimum of 13 original artworks and the hard disk to the Mir station, and that all but one of the artworks would be returned to Earth. Our total payload was not to exceed 1 kg. Eventually, the Ars ad Astra payload was integrated into the mass budget of 10 kg that was allotted to ESA’s Public Relations department for the Euromir95 mission. As such, our experiment did not represent a significant additional cost to the agency.

With the final confirmation from ESA, an immediate effort was initiated to implement the experiment by reaching out to artists and, at the same time, looking for sponsors to assist the communications aspects. Before the ESA confirmation it was neither possible to solicit artists nor to contact potential sponsors. As the anticipated launch date at that time was set for the end of August, 1995, this left approximately five months to conduct an international competition, to jury and select the artworks, to prepare the communication materials for the media, to document the artworks and to deliver them in the prescribed manner to the mission officials in time for their integration into the Euromir95 payload.

We were able to recruit two Swiss firms as sponsors - the watch company OMEGA S.A. and Alois Diethelm A.G., the manufacturer of LASCAUX artists' materials to assist our communication efforts and to donate prizes to the artists whose works were selected for spaceflight. With the final go-ahead we assumed that, even though ESA could not contribute financially to our communications effort, as they had agreed to include Ars ad Astra in the Euromir95 mission, they would use whatever established means available to help us in our efforts to reach out to artists, especially in Europe. A "Call For Art" and an initial "Press Release" were prepared and submitted to ESA for their approval. To our surprise, we were immediately informed by the ESA communications office: that our cultural experiment could not be referred to as an "experiment" as this would confuse the perception of their process of selecting experiments, that our project could not be called "official" because that term was reserved for experiments, and furthermore, the use of the ESA logo or the Euromir95 logo on any of our own announcements was prohibited, and, as their Euromir95 communications effort was being prepared according to plan, they would not, or could not mention our project in any of their official public communications at that point.

Working under these restraints, and as Internet in 1995 was still in its early stages, the "Call for Art" went mainly to space organizations, art organizations and to space and art publications mostly via normal mailing and by advertisements. The theme chosen for the art exhibition was “Space & Humanity” and artists were instructed to create A4 sized artworks on paper (21 x 29.7cm) using “space qualified” materials such as the Lascaux acrylic paints which were previously tested and certified in conjunction with the 1993 spaceflight of the Cosmic Dancer sculpture on Mir. A sample set of Lascaux paints were sent to each registered artist. As a result, by June 31, 1995, 82 artists from 14 countries submitted a total of 171 artworks for consideration.

On July 7, 1995 a jury consisting of: space artist Ludek Pesek, Dr. Roger Malina, astrophysicist and editor of Leonardo - the Journal of the Society for Arts, Science and Technology , Dr. Karl Knott, the ESA official responsible for the technical implementation of the Ars Ad Astra project at ESTEC, Mr. Pierre-Dominique Cochard, Press Relations manager for OMEGA S.A., Dr. Marco C. Bernasconi, vice-president of the OURS Foundation and myself, met in Switzerland and evaluated the diverse selection of artworks interpreting the “Space & Humanity” theme.

The submitted artworks contained all types of artistic expression ranging from very abstract to very representative. Many of the artworks had significant symbolic elements. There was no attempt at geographical distribution and it was agreed that only one artwork from each participating artist would be selected. In the end, 20 artworks were chosen by the jury. As the artists had diligently followed the instructions, the total weight for the 20 artworks was only 246 grams. As this was substantially under our allotted weight budget, it was then proposed to ESA to accept all 20 of the selected artworks and they approved.

One artwork from each of the following artists was selected: Alessandro Bartolozzi (I), Peter Binz (CH), Werner Beyeler (CH) , Michael Böhme (D), Marcy Burt Butz (CH), Michael Carroll (USA), Chris Couvee (NL), Karl Draeger (D), Peter Eickmeyer (D), Marilynn Flynn (UAE), Rudolf Halaczinsky (D), Rudolf Hanke (D), Sarah Kernaghan (IRL), Mark Maxwell (USA), Edward Mendelsohn (GB), Elizabeth Smith (USA), Ruth Trapane (USA), Andrea Thüler (CH), Claudine Varesi (MEX) and Amy Zofko (USA).

The artworks were photographed and documented. A Photo-CD including one artwork from each submitting artist was produced for the electronic archive. This and the 20 selected artworks were then delivered to ESA mission officials at ESTEC at the end of July. The works were subsequently delivered to the Russian space officials who were responsible for their packaging and integration on the Soyuz TM-71 capsule. The electronic works were copied onto the mission hard disk so that these works would be displayed on the Payload and Crew support computer. On August 25, 1995, prior to the launch ESA issued Press Release 31-95 which mentioned the Ars ad Astra exhibition and the upcoming downlink scheduled for November.

On September 3, 1995, the Ars ad Astra exhibition accompanied ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter and his Russian cosmonaut colleagues Sergei Avdeev and Yuri Gudzenko on their successful launch to the Mir space station. This crew would serve as the final jury of Ars ad Astra and they were instructed to pick one of the 20 artworks to stay on the Mir station. The announcement of the winner was scheduled to take place during a live link-up with the Mir.

On November 30, 1995 a live video link-up was arranged between the Mir space station and the Euro Space Center - a space camp located near Transinne. Belgium. As this was one of ESA's four announced link-ups to be carried live by the media, approximately 100 journalists from various media covered the event. 13 of the 20 artists whose works were selected for the spaceflight were in attendance including several who had travelled from overseas (USA and Mexico). As the Mir station passed over Belgium, the link-up began in the late afternoon and lasted approximately 20 minutes. Cosmonaut Thomas Reiter and his two Russian colleagues described the pleasure they had to view the many artworks as well as the difficulty they had to choose one of them as the winning artwork.

Thomas Reiter made the following comments during the live link-up:
"It was quite a difficult task for us to select a favorite picture out of these because we liked them all. We took the task very seriously, in fact it took us more than a week. One evening we took 10 out of the 20, on the next evening we dropped three of the ten, so just seven were left. ........ The winner is the picture from Ms Carroll Smith ...”When Dreams are Born” ..... as second place we choose the picture from Mark Maxwell called “Promise” and third place is a picture called “Unforgettable Home” by Alessandro Bartolozzi …..we like to thank all the artists.........

.....and let me tell you that there are many things here on board which keep us alive, of course technical systems which produce oxygen to breathe, water to drink which clean the air from carbon dioxide, food and all these things which help to keep us alive, life support systems. But I can tell you that this kind of thing (he holds up a picture) are a part of what is necessary to keep us alive, to keep the memory to the Earth, to our families, to our friends, to the nature.

So we thank you all very much for these beautiful pictures, and for those who have not been selected ....... we can assure you that we like all of your pictures. Maybe it was a little unfair to force us to do a selection, so, thank you very much."

The winning artist, Elizabeth Carroll Smith, received a specially engraved OMEGA Speedmaster Professional Chronograph that was previously flown on the Mir station. This prize had a commercial value of $10,000. All the 20 artists received a selection of "space qualified" artists' paints donated by the Swiss Lascaux paint company. On February 29, 1996, after having spent 179 days in orbit, Thomas Reiter returned to Earth bringing with him the remaining 19 artworks. The winning artwork and the electronic archive remained on Mir space station for the enjoyment of future crews.

An international exhibition tour began at the 46th International Astronautical (IAF) Congress in Oslo, Norway - October 2-6, 1995. As the original works were still on the Mir station during this Congress, only high quality reproductions were on display. Other exhibitions took place at ESTEC in the Netherlands, the Swiss Transportation Museum in Lucerne, Switzerland in the summer of 1997, and at the 47th IAF Congress held in Turin, Italy in October 1997, and on the Internet.

Ars ad Astra: The 1st Art Exhibition in Earth Orbit was indeed a "cultural experiment" and like many experiments it yielded expected and unexpected results. Originally designed as an experiment to stimulate the public’s perception about space through a novel artistic intervention, it became more of an experiment about the process of adding a cultural dimension to the world's space program.