[Leonardo/ISAST Network] New YASMIN Discussion: 1957-2007: Space Imaginaries

[Leonardo/ISAST]

New YASMIN Discussion
1957--2007: Space Imaginaries
Moderated by Annick Bureaud
http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin/ 
<http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin/index.php?clearoff=1>
 
This October, we celebrate, with the anniversary of the launch of 
Sputnik, 50 years of human presence outside the Earth.
 
This sentence is already a statement by:
- writing "outside the Earth" and not "in space"
- acknowledging the fact that "human presence" can be achieved without 
humans but through satellites and probes that become our 
"representants." We become our artifacts and our artifacts become us.
 
Space Imaginaries tend to be dominated by the American vision. But, 
depending on one's age, country, culture, language, environment, 
personal history, etc., space imaginaries are much more varied and 
complex. For instance, there is also a strong Soviet/Russian vision and 
no doubt that with the increasing place of Japan, India and China in 
space activities, their specific visions are going to play a role. But 
it is as important to state and question the approaches of all cultures 
and countries, whether or not they are spacefaring nations.
 
This is what moderator Annick Bureaud would like to explore with you in 
this YASMIN Hot Topic. And it is as important to have people ****with** 
a space interest as people ****without**, the key question being what do 
space and space activities represent for you, for us?
 
The debate will be articulated around several axes and questions:
 
- What is the word for "space" in the different languages spoken on the 
YASMIN list (around the Mediterranean Rim)?
 
- What is your imaginary of "space"?
 
- What is your imaginary of the "human presence outside the Earth" (also 
called space conquest and space activities)?
 
- What is your imaginary of the future of "human presence outside the 
Earth"?
 
Art, and more specifically space art, will be a guideline through this 
discussion and its different components: what is the role of the artist? 
what kind of works do you know about, or that you would like to create 
that relates to that space "outside the Earth"? etc.
 
This discussion officially started on Monday June 11th.
 
In order to participate in the discussion, you need to be a YASMIN 
subscriber. You can subscribe to the list at: 
http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin/index.php?clearoff=1
 
The moderator and respondents for this discussion are:
 
Moderator: Annick Bureaud
 
Annick Bureaud is French, based in Paris and a new media art critic and 
researcher. She is the director of Leonardo/Olats (www.olats.org 
<http://www.olats.org>) and an international specialist of space art. 
She has organized the Leonardo Space and the Arts Workshop since 1997. 
In 2003, she organized the Symposium "Visibility - Legibility of Space 
Art. Art and Zero G.: the Experience of Parabolic Flight" within the 
'@'rts Outsider Festival in Paris (proceedings on the Olats web site, 
both in French and English). She is the co-editor of "SpaceartS, the 
space and the arts database", a joint project of Leonardo/Olats and the 
Ours Foundation (www.spacearts.info <http://www.spacearts.info>). She 
has written several texts on space art and has participated in many 
conferences.
 
Respondents: Michael Punt (UK) and Martha Blassnigg (Austria, based 
currently in the UK)
 
Michael Punt is Professor Art and Technology and director of 
Transtechnology Research at the University of Plymouth and is also 
Editor-in-Chief of Leonardo Reviews. He has made 15 films and published 
over 80 articles on cinema and digital media in the last decade. He 
gained his Ph.D at the University of Amsterdam (Early Cinema and the 
Technological Imaginary, 2000). His key articles have been published: 
The Velvet Light Trap, Leonardo, Design Issues and Convergence. His most 
recent book: Screening Consciousness: Cinema Mind World Rodopi, 2006 
edited with Robert Pepperell follows their earlier collaboration: The 
Post-Digital Membrane: imagination technology and desire, Intellect 
Books , 2006. Full cv and details of research can be found at 
http://www.trans-techresearch.net
 
Martha Blassnigg is a Cultural Anthropologist and Film and Media 
Theorist with a background in documentary filmmaking and film 
restoration. She is a panelist for Leonardo Reviews and works as a 
visiting researcher with Trans technology Research at the University of 
Plymouth where she is undertaking philosophical and historical research 
in order to situate the metaphysical dimensions of technology within the 
processes of human perception and consciousness, in particular in 
relation the cinematic experience. Her most recent publications can be 
found in Leonardo, Convergence, Technoetic Arts and in the anthology 
Screen Consciousness: Cinema, Mind and World edited by R Pepperell and M 
Punt (Rodopi, Amsterdam, 2006). A full list of publications and CV can 
be found at http://www.trans-techresearch.net

Leonardo/ISAST is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Donations are 
tax-deductible in the U.S. To learn more about Leonardo/ISAST's 
projects, programs and activities, visit http://leonardo.info
 
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