Category Archives: Space Arts

Space Arts, Spaceflight & Parabolic Flight

NASA JPL/Invisible Creature release gorgeous ‘Visions of the Future’ posters

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NASA JPL and Invisible Creature Speaks have released a set of three gorgeous retro-art style space tourism themed posters: New Work: Visions Of The Future for NASA – Invisible Creature –

These 3 commissioned pieces are part of JPL’s Visions Of The Future 2016 Calendar – an internal gift to JPL and NASA staff, as well as scientists, engineers, government and university staff. The artwork for each month will also be released as a free downloadable poster at the NASA JPL site soon.

NASA JPL was kind enough to let us sell our own limited-edition signed posters and prints. Those are available here.

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Check out also these SpaceX posters and NASA JPL Exoplanet Posters in similar styles.

Space Arts, Space Music

“The Astronaut’s Tale” – New opera premiers in New York

The Brooklyn Academy of Music is presenting the new opera  The Astronaut’s Tale, Jan.28-31.

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Presented by Encompass New Opera Theatre

Breathtaking images of the galaxies and outer space ignite this modern tale of a young man who dreams of space travel and flying to Mars. Guided by a mysterious stranger who challenges his views on creation and fuels his desire to become an astronaut, the young man discovers romance and a drive to succeed, which catapults his blast off into space, transforming his life. With stunning projections, an exciting percussive score for chamber orchestra, and gorgeous vocal music, The Astronaut’s Tale is a luminous glimpse at a multidimensional universe and the majesty of outer space. 

Music by Charles Fussell
Libretto by Jack Larson
Directed by Nancy Rhodes
Conducted by Nicholas DeMaison

Sets by Stephen H. Carmody
Projections by Lianne Arnold
Costumes by Angela Huff
Lighting by Sarah Johnston

Additional details about the work can be found at The Astronaut’s Tale – Encompass New Opera Theatre.

See also: ‘The Astronaut’s Tale’: New Opera Celebrates Space with Awesome Visual Displays – Space.com

 

Space Arts, Space films and videos, Space participation

Cinespace short film competition invites submissions for 2016

I recently highlighted the 2015 winners in the CineSpace short-film competition sponsored by NASA and the Houston Cinema Arts Society (HCAS). NASA officially opened the 2016 competition this week:

‘CineSpace’ Short Film Competition Returns for 2016

NASA and the Houston Cinema Arts Society once again will offer filmmakers around the world a chance to share their works inspired by — and using — actual NASA imagery through “CineSpace,” a short-film competition.

The inaugural year of CineSpace drew 194 entries from 22 countries and 32 U.S. states. Sixteen finalists premiered their films at Houston Cinema Arts Festival’s CineSpace Day at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Filmmakers brought new visions to life using real-life space imagery from NASA telescopes and robotic spacecraft exploring our solar system and beyond, to sights captured on the International Space Station where men and women have been working off the Earth, for the Earth for more than 15 years.

Films featuring NASA-captured imagery and video collected throughout the agency’s 50-year history will be judged on creativity, innovation and attention to detail: the same hallmarks of spaceflight. Works submitted to CineSpace will compete for cash prizes and the opportunity to be shown to audiences both on and off Earth.

In addition to being screened at the CineSpace awards ceremony during the Houston Cinema Arts Festival, winners and finalists may be screened at other film festivals across the country, as well as on NASA TV and even on the International Space Station.

The competition is open to all filmmakers, both professional and aspiring. Submissions of all genres, including narrative, documentary, comedy, drama, animation, experimental and others, up to 10 minutes running time, will be accepted. Entries must use at least 10 percent publically available NASA imagery.

Academy Award-nominated director Richard Linklater once again will serve as the judge in selecting the finalists.

The submission period opens June 1, 2016, and closes July 31, 2016. Finalists and winners will be announced at a CineSpace event during the Houston Cinema Arts Festival in November. Entries will be competing for $26,000 in prizes with cash awards going to the top three submissions as well as the two films that best demonstrate the themes “Benefits of Space to Humanity” and “Future Space Exploration.”

NASA’s journeys into air and space continue to power inspiration that encourages future generations to explore, learn and build a better future. Humanity has used the vantage point of space to increase our understanding of our home planet, improve lives and safeguard our future. The next decade of exploration will be a time of rapid technological advancement and innovation as humanity stands poised to make the journey to Mars.

The Houston Cinema Arts Society is a nonprofit organization created in 2008 that organizes and hosts the annual Houston Cinema Arts Festival, a groundbreaking and innovative arts festival featuring films and new media by and about artists in the visual, performing and literary arts. The Eighth Annual Houston Cinema Arts Festival will take place from Nov. 10-17, 2016.

For more information on CineSpace, competition guidelines and the submission process, and to view the 2015 winners and finalists, visit: www.cinespace16.org

To browse NASA video and imagery, visit: www.nasa.gov/content/download-nasa-videos-for-cinespace

For more information about the Houston Cinema Arts Society, visit: www.cinemartsociety.org

For more information about the Houston Cinema Arts Festival, visit: houstoncinemaartsfestival.org/

Education, Space Arts, Space participation

2016 children’s artwork calendar – NASA Commercial Crew Program

NASA’s commercial crew transportation program has released a 2016 calendar (pdf) with artwork created by kids: Young Explorers’ Artwork Featured in 2016 Calendar | Commercial Crew Program

Some of the best works of art come from children who are only limited by their imaginations, like the more than 150 young explorers from across the country who submitted artwork depicting human spaceflight as they see it. Sixteen masterpieces were chosen to be included in the Commercial Crew Program’s 2016 Children’s Artwork Calendar, which is now available for download here. We offer a huge “thank you!” to all the explorers, ranging in age from four to 12, who submitted their work and hope that everyone will enjoy and use this calendar next year.

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Space Arts

Space Art: “Giant Steps” competition + Illustrating other worlds

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Giant Steps is an art exhibition and competition sponsored by Vital 5 Productions in Seattle, Washington.

First proposed as an imaginary exhibit on the website w3seattle.com, Vital 5 Productions has decided to bring this concept to the international arts community as a competition and exhibition, designed to inspire the creative and technical communities to imagine and propose art projects on the surface of the Moon. While the incentive for the participating artist or team may not be the actualization of their project, there will be a $10,000.00 cash prize, determined by a jury composed of aerospace and art professionals. Beyond this monetary award, Giant Steps will yield an unprecedented bounty of art-in-space proposals, giving humanity at large an inspired and original collection of conceptual artworks previously not considered.

Find more about the program Art competition has lofty ambitions: the moon – The Seattle Times.

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Artists at NASA JPL strive to make exotic distant worlds seem more like real places to the public rather than the abstractions of dry scientific language: What does space look like? These NASA artists are trying to show you – Pasadena Star News

Dan Goods, for example, depicted what the Juno mission will see in the clouds of Jupiter with an installation that

consists of a large cloud that hides infrared lights. Infrared light is invisible to the naked eye, but is visible to many cell phone cameras. Just as the Juno mission uses special detectors to peer through the clouds of Jupiter and reveal the depths of its storms, you can “see” lightning storms underneath this dynamic surface.

A whimsical but very appealing approach by Goods’ team to take the public to exoplanets was via a series of gorgeous travel posters: PlanetQuest – The Search for Another Earth

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