Richard Bowman wrote:
>stagNATION
>How do we respond to the Archigram response to 60's optimism in the
>dawn of the terrorised, pessamistic, virally-infected,
>isolated 21st century. Is the genus loci of post modern humanity to be
>fragmented, distributed, individualised, de humanised withouut
>ambition? What happened in 1984?
>(and that is a direct reference to Orwell, the Globalised
>(anglo-saxon) World etc etc).
> Back to the frontiers - the oceans, cyberspace and cosmological
>space. Space being the most important, before we loose our
>pioneer spirit and get bored. Without expansion and exploration
>beyond Oxygen Bubble Earth and constucting voids within voids,
>transcending the bonds of gravity, architectural space will never be
>truly liberated with a revolutionary passion. In freeing the body
>from gravity we can allow ourselves to float along with our sense of
>self and open up the possibilty of worlds that only exist in Sony
>Wega adverts.
Richard, I understand your bewilderment with the state of human
affairs and I agree that the "Space Frontier" is the most important
of the frontiers you mentioned.
It has been my experience that when I am confronted with the question
"Why do art in space? - the discussion inevitably leads to the
question of: "Why Space?".
Over time I have developed several parallel and somewhat synergistic
insights to answer the latter question, the one that relates to your
sentiments above has to do with the "Space Option". The discourse
that follows concerns the state and fate of our present civilization
and the alternative to accepting the status quo.
Approximately 100 years ago, at the beginning of the modernist era
and of "modern art", the avantgarde was characterized by its
confidence and optimism about the future. They held the firm belief
that the industrial age was opening many new territories to explore
and that art, in its most noble and explicit way, would find the
necessary metaphors by which a radically changing culture could be
explained. There was no sense that civilization would ever be
threatened by the very forces that fueled their optimism. There were
no statistics about pollution, overpopulation, ozone holes, and
resource shortages to numb the senses and to counter their optimism.
Yet, as the century progressed, modern art strived and ultimately
failed, as did religion, to provide modern humanity with spiritual
sustenance and ethical guidelines in the brave new world of the 20th
century. Consequently, post modern society has become increasingly
more materialistic at the expense of the human spirit, its moral
values and of its shared vision.
If our species continues with its relentless, materialistic
"business-as-usual" approach to current human affairs, ignoring all
of the obvious environmental and political signals that are reported
daily in the media until it is too late; it is risking certain
ecological collapse, appropriation and rationalization of resources,
political and cultural repression, and the eventual crash of society
under the weight of too many people with too many problems on a
planet that is too small.
Indeed, we are already witnessing some of these undesirable
developments today - changes in the world climate, extinctions,
outbreaks of mass starvation, depletion of natural food stocks and,
of course, terrorism and the impending wars over finite resources to
mention only the most obvious.
It appears that the only alternative to the "business as usual"
approach to the future being seriously discussed today can be
generally described as the "green option" which has set forth the
seemingly impossible task of trying to change human nature by
persuading present society to retreat from a dynamic, energy
intensive, global market economy which has enabled the substantial
prosperity for the developed nations at the expense of the lesser
developed societies and of the environment.
While the husbandry of valuable resources and the search for
alternatives to fossil fuels and nuclear power are desirable and
necessary goals that should be diligently pursued, the absence of a
viable terrestrial alternative to humanity's growing energy
requirements is a major concern for a growing population. If humanity
would consequently follow the "green" path without first "solving"
the critical energy question, it must eventually turn off the very
economic engine that is essential to maintaining today's society
and, with it, the hopes and dreams of the developing societies that
have no other economic model on which to base their future survival.
With world population predicted to reach 8 billion or slightly more
by 2020, neither of the above options for humanity's future are very
optimistic in the near term. The end result of the "green option"
will not be much different than that of the "business-as-usual"
approach. The stresses to the environment and to society will
continue to increase to the point of no return which will likely lead
to unimaginable acts of violence and destruction. The human species
will have become a victim of its own success and the price of that
success in the 20th century may unfortunately spell the end of
civilization as we know it in the 21st .
However, there is a third and "optimistic" option to the above
scenarios. Called the "Space Option", it takes into account human
nature and still offers a realistic and equitable approach to meeting
humanity's growing needs. The Space Option is an evolutionary plan to
significantly meet the basic and anticipated needs of all human
societies on Earth through the utilization of extraterrestrial
resources - not for the in-situ support of science or exploration -
but rather to apply these resources and/or their products for use on
Earth at a conspicuous level.
The Space Option is not about colonizing outer space nor about
exploring distant planets and stars per se, although these
activities would most likely and logically happen as a result. But
rather, it is about accessing and utilizing the (to some extent)
infinite natural resources located just above our heads rather than
exhausting what is left of the dwindling and finite resources located
below our feet.
When most people imagine "space" they automatically assume immense
emptiness and unobtainable distances. However, within the boundaries
of Earth's gravitational sphere which extends 1.5 million kilometers
outwards, exits 13 million times the volume of the physical Earth and
through it, passes some 30,000 times the amount of solar power than
which is available on the surface of our planet. Enormous amounts of
other natural resources, including the Moon, are located inside this
3 million kilometer sphere which defines the true dimensions of our
planet in relation to the immediate cosmos. Like the territorial
waters surrounding nations, these resources existing beyond the
atmosphere belong to the present and future inhabitants of our planet
and could and should, in my opinion, be used for their ultimate
benefit. Therefore, the Space Option does not need to be enacted on
Mars or elsewhere in the far solar system, it can be effectively
implemented within the celestial boundaries of our planet located
outside of the biosphere. There is plenty of room there for new
ideas, new forms, new structures and new adventures.
The fundamental advantage of the "Space Option" over the other two
"options" is that it would provide our ambitious species with the
necessary and limitless quantities of clean solar energy and other
raw materials to keep its present civilization comfortably going
throughout the millennium while providing the means for hope and
prosperity for the developing populations and, at the same time, its
benefits would contribute to the preservation of the environment of
the home planet for future generations. Once the infrastructure to
harness its benefits is in place, and with the resulting wealth it
will create, it will irresistible for humanity to not to go further
- as I mentioned above, the Space Option is an evolutionary plan.
There is a growing body of of scientific literature about how this
can happen.
Space pioneer Krafft Ehricke stated in 1970:
"While civilization is more than a high material living
standard, it is nevertheless based on material abundance. It does not
thrive on abject poverty nor in an atmosphere of resignation and
hopelessness. It needs vigor as well as vision. Therefore the end
objectives of solar system exploration are social objectives in the
sense that they relate to, or are dictated by, present and future
human needs."
Discussing options for humanity implies it making a choice. Either
humanity will embrace the opportunities implicit in the Space Option
to survive and thrive, or it must accept the reality that present
civilization has already reached its peak. By ignoring the Space
Option, humanity will have turned its back on the future and will
have begun the long painful decent through its brief history,
watching its magnificent civilization crumble, piece by piece, into
the rubble and dust of a new Stone Age.
Choosing between a "Stone Age" or a "Space Age" is the ultimate
decision that must be made by those alive on the planet at this very
moment. However, the choice has to be made soon - it can not be
postponed.
Artists and architects of the new millennium, burdened with the
pessimistic baggage that has become the vacuous legacy of post
modernity, yet aware and convinced that human destiny on Earth is
irrevocably linked to human destiny in Space, have the unique
opportunity to passionately imagine and build a truly optimistic and
inspiring future for humanity - one that is far more compelling than
any virtual reality so far imagined.
"spaceoptionism " , "spaceoptimism" , " spaceism" or "
....................." - What should it be called?
ars ad astra
Arthur Woods
--
++++++++++++++++++++++
Arthur Woods
www.cosmicdancer.com
www.arsadastra.com
www.ours.ch
www.spaceart.net
www.spacearts.info
www.swissart.net
++++++++++++++++++++++
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