The Human Spaceship – Off Balance
£5.00
Helen Schell (2024), JBIS, 77, pp.56-66
Refcode: 2024.77.0056
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59332/jbis-077-02-0056
New 21st century space endeavours have resulted in the need for extensive research into altered gravity’s impact on visual physiology and perception, so how do artists inaugurate innovation using creative thinking to enhance this research? Human spaceflight scientists acknowledge the requirement for the entire range of human skills to achieve such challenging goals, so can they rely on scientific methodology alone? The Human Spaceship, a pioneering and visionary project, unites art and science, through the production, publication, and public display of bold paintings of scale. Space is like a giant optical illusion, compared with Earth, causing visual aberrations and physical alterations. As the only artist, worldwide, extensively interrogating this topic, it adds to knowledge and innovation within the field of perception in space sciences and art practice. This is shown through artworks depicting colour, line and form, using geometric optical illusions to express visual conditions on the International Space Station, Moon and Mars with an investigative document examining many visual and psychological considerations. Holistically, it will be seen that human space exploration and survival must consider the creative enhancements of art, architecture, geometric proportion and colour, making the urgent case for space agencies and industries to collaborate and fund artistic enterprises.
Keywords: Human Spaceship, Art, Space, Geometry, Visual Perception, Moon, Altered Gravity
