Week 9 - Space + Art

Space, as Professor Vesna mentioned in her videos, is the best topic to summarize the class since it is a combination of varies fields including math, physics, robots, and even nanotech. This implies that astronomy as a relatively new and mysterious area still has a huge potential waiting for scientist to discover, whereas artists have already been creating arts bases on modern researches. In the lecture, the professor introduced the topic through a lot of perspectives with many history backgrounds, and the video I watched about power of ten was especially impressive. It showed us how things look so differently from a different scale or perspective, while all these cannot be done without technologies.


Powers of Ten teaches us how we should see and perceive things from different perspectives


Speaking of space and art, people usually think of science fictions and movies. Star Trek is one of the classics which was first broadcasted doing 1960s. It is so popular that now it has not only drama series but also movies, novels, and merchandises and gradually becomes one of the symbols of American culture. 

The trailer of a new Star Trek series produced in 2017 by CBS

In addition to traditional art, space as a new theme also inspire many artists to create amazing artworks based on their imaginations and understanding of the space. Below is one of the examples of how artists illustrate the space. Based on my very limited knowledge about astronomy, the difference of colors actually represents different energy that the star is emitting. So unlike a majority of space artworks which only emphasize on blue and black, I found this now with a red star much closer to the nature.


An artwork created by an unknown artist which I find that shows the relationship between color and energy emitted.


Finally, I want to end with a quote that I found which I liked a lot:
“The size and age of the Cosmos are beyond ordinary human understanding. Lost somewhere between immensity and eternity is our tiny planetary home. In a cosmic perspective, most human concerns seem insignificant, even petty. And yet our species is young and curious and brave and shows much promise.” - Carl Sagan



Sources:

Vesna , Victoria, dir. Space Part 1. 2012. Film. 30 Nov 2012. <

Marlow. “Happy Powers of Ten Day!”. Powers of Ten Blog. 10 Oct. 2013. Web. 1 Jun. 2017.

“Endurance”. Cosmicspark. 2014. Web. 1 Jun. 2017. http://cosmicspark.deviantart.com/art/Endurance-497852976

Sagan, Calrs. “Cosmos”. Goodreads. Web. 1 Jun. 2017. 

“POWERS OF TEN”. Bill whittle.com. 2 Nov. 2013. Web. 1 Jun. 2017.



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