CULTURAL AND ARTISTIC EVENTS IN SPACE - ESA'S PERSPECTIVES

摘要

Increasingly, the European Space Agency is being asked to support or participate in artistic and cultural events. This paper will provide an overview of its involvement in some of the activities in this domain including the organization of space art exhibitions and conferences, creation of a space arts database, and setting up a space arts programme. In particular, the paper will discuss how the confined environment of manned space stations could be transformed into a broader, more open arena which would become the subject, canvas or theatre for a wide range of cultural and artistic activities reaching out to the public at large and enabling them to share the human experience of space missions and interact with the sights and sounds of space. So far, the question of such cultural utilisation of the International Space Station is purely academic as the Station is currently used for scientific and application purposes only. However, ESA is launching a study to explore the cultural potential of the ISS with the aim of raising public awareness of European participation in this global endeavour. The paper will also describe the background and objectives of the study and the anticipated results.