An Art Intervention Near Earth


Resident Artist Arthur Woods

 

My name is Arthur Woods, I am the Resident Artist of Greater Earth. I was not selected for this opportunity, I choose it myself as I got tired of waiting for the space industry to provide the appropriate and affordable means for me to personally explore the region of Greater Earth.

And while I and many others are still waiting ....... this art intervention represents a new development in my personal space program where I am the the Resident Artist within my own alternative space program including launch vehicles, satellites, a reusable spaceplane and a space station.


Visit My Personal Space Program


From my vantage point in Earth orbit, I am broadcasting regular video communications, interviews and observations about events that are impacting our civilization. Interactive technologies allow for direct communication with the public. Computer generated video animations are being combined with my intimate knowledge about how space development and space technologies can significantly address the many environmental, geopolitical,  economic and cultural challenges that humanity currently faces. I believe it is essential that a robust cultural dimension becomes integrated into humanity’s astronautical endeavors in order to insure its success for future generations.

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In this context, and via the Greater.Earth website, I am developing a number of additional art interventions that invite public collaboration:

  • The Space Peace Star- an orbital sculpture in the shape of Earth’s astronomical symbol.

  • The Space Option Star - an inflatable sculpture in the shape of an icosahedron that is covered with solar panels promotes the idea that solar energy harvested in space can help solve humanity’s reliance on fossil fuels with a CO2 neutral solution.

  • EarthSeeds - project to plant the seeds of Earth throughout the solar system in order to insure that life will spread and survive elsewhere, perhaps fulfilling humanity's ultimate purpose.

  • Cosmic Stones – an art intervention with the message that humanity’s future should rather be a Space Age than a Stone Age.

  • The GEO-Political Observatory - a virtual Earth observation satellite that focuses on the geopolitical events and developments that are affecting the well-being of all citizens of Earth.

  • Art to the Stars - an ongoing historical perspective on the arts and space.

I have been involved in space activities since my youth growing up in the vicinity of Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center. Living there I was witness to the beginnings of the U.S. space program and I held summer jobs at the space center in 1967 & 1968 during the Apollo program. I write about this experience here. I launched my own personal space program in the mid 1980s with the introduction of the OURS projects. Thus I became  an early and active practitioner in the field of the astronautical arts.

In 1993, my Cosmic Dancer sculpture – an investigation of the art of sculpture in weightlessness – was the first three-dimensional artwork purposely designed and officially integrated into a human habitat beyond Earth.

In 1995, working together with the European Space Agency (ESA), my organization – the OURS Foundation –  launched the first art exhibition into Earth orbit called Ars Ad Astra which sent 20 artworks from 20 different artists to the Mir space station in the framework of ESA’s Euromir’95 mission.

In addition to being an AstroArtist, as a professional artist I have pursued a parallel art career as a TerraArtist,  where I have developed an extensive oeuvre of hyper-realistic nature paintings about the surface of our truly unique and beautiful planet

My works have been exhibited in a number of international space and art exhibitions including Art Basel in 1987, 1988, and 1989 and at the International Astronautical Congresses in 1995 and 1997. My works have been included in the following exhibitions: ”All Design – Leben im schwerelosen Raum”, Museum für Gestaltung, Zürich, CH in 2001-2002,   Abenteuer Raumfahrt. Aufbruch ins Weltall, Große Sonderausstellung des Landes Baden-Württemberg im Landesmuseum für Technik und Arbeit in Mannheim, DE in  2006-07,   Falling Without Fear, The Harwood Museum of Art, Taos, New Mexico, USA in 2012-13,  Kinetica Art Fair, London, UK, 2012 and at Free Enterprise: The Art of Citizen Space Exploration, California Museum of Photography, UCR-University of California Riverside, USA in 2013. The Universe and Art at the ArtScience Museum in Singapore in 2017 and during the 2017 Venice Art Biennale in the Personal Structures exhibition curated by the Global Art Affairs Foundation and hosted by the European Cultural Centre. Most recently my Cosmic Dancer video was included in Fly me to the Moon exhibition at Kunsthuas Zürich in 2019.

In 2016, I was invited to be the AstroArtist for the month of April on the Astronomers Without Borders website where I submitted four documentary essays and an interview about my background, motivations, various projects and current activities. 

In addition to these art activities I am the co-author with Marco C. Bernasconi of a socio-philosophical concept called “The Space Option” which proposes to utilize the immense resources of outer space to meet the needs of humanity on Earth. I maintain a dedicated website on this topic: www.thespaceoption.com which shares much of the information with the Greater Earth website.

I am a member International Academy of Astronautics, Editorial Advisor to the journal Leonardo, a member of the Lifeboat Foundation Advisory Board and co-chair of the Moon Village Association's Cultural Considerations working group.

I sincerely welcome your support.

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Ars Ad Astra
Arthur Woods
May 2020