Introduction: The Solution

A solution to my goal of creating art in microgravity presented itself through the 1998 NASA Student Reduced Gravity Flight Program, sponsored by the Texas Space Grant Program, which provided access to the KC135 turbojet and allowed undergraduate student teams to propose, design, fabricate, fly and assess reduced-gravity experiments of their choice in a microgravity environment. My original objectives were: (1) to revive modernist conventions (namely, abstract expressionism) as an aesthetic of historical effect [5], (2) to identify new practices for painting in weightlessness, (3) to instigate dialogue regarding the integration of fine-art processes into the daily life of space travelers, (4) to propose that such integration will stimulate right-brain functionality, as a refreshing counterpoint to left-brain activities, (5) to acknowledge spatial confusion in microgravity and, finally, (6) to take the risk of weaving my body into such a space.

> next page
< previous page