art in space

An article in yesterday's The Guardian reported that an agency was seeking proposals for arts projects to be conducted on the international space station (you can read the article by clicking here). The group is encouraged by evidence of the astro-, cosmo-, and what-nauts doing such activities as playing guitar, taking photographs, and paintings on some of the metal walls.

I am first reminded of Stardance, a sci-fi book by Spider and Jeanne Robinson which had a dancer perform a ballet in weightlessness of space.

I am encouraged that some powers-that-be might possibly see the value in the arts. To provide arts and arts experiments on the ISS could help bring awareness of the importance of arts in our lives. Which of course could be another tool for keeping (or returning) arts curriculum in our schools.

I also think it's just pretty damned cool.

A classic Star Trek episode comes to mind. One where a travelling group of actors performs for Captain Kirk and crew. I hadn't understood the correlation to the "old west" when I first saw it, but I know now that when the United States was still a vast, unknown territory, troupes of actors would visit the small, make-shift and shanty towns, bringing a sense of culture and high art where there otherwise wasn't any.

This organized opportunity with the International Space Station could very well be the first step in bringing culture and high art to still another new location as well as retoring it here on Earth.