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The creation of “pretty pictures” with data from the Hubble Space Telescope by non-professionals has been framed by Space institutions as an adventure for laypeople, a way to democratize astronomers’ materials and practices, and a possibility to crowdsource the work of science communicators. However, the practices of amateur astronomers are much more complex. Firstly, by circulating these materials online, amateurs live and convey a variety of good and bad experiences through their adventures with Hubble’s data. Secondly, the “tutorialization” of the use of Hubble’s data by the amateurs and the “softwarization” of the practice by the institutions are co-constitutive of its popularization and the personification of the practitioners as experts, rather than long-lasting laypeople. Thirdly, amateurs’ practices show that the images “of Hubble” are part of a wider galaxy of actors than the assembly of astronomical objects/capturing devices/data/and pretty pictures that is foregrounded in representations of science by professionals.

I will present how the creation of pretty pictures with Hubble’s data was both exploited through the development of digital technologies and media by Space institutions and explored as an individual and collective empowering activity by amateur astronomers. This academic paper is influenced by the “Sociology of uses” (Proulx, 2015) and its aim to look at both the conception and appropriation of sociotechnical innovations, and is based on an online ethnography with amateur astronomers. Its contribution to STS will be to enrich the understanding of the trajectory and transformation of data and images outside the laboratory and observatory through creative interventions.

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Short abstract:

Structural transformations in space associated with the NewSpace phenomenon are also accompanied by a reconfiguration of relations and actors involved in the meaning-making processes. The paper discusses hybrid spaces of meaning-making located between the major space institutions and creatives.

Long abstract:

Recent structural transformations in space, associated with the NewSpace phenomenon and characterized by the decentralization, privatization and commodification of space, are also accompanied by a reconfiguration of the relations and actors involved in the meaning-making processes. While NASA has a long history of cooperation with creatives, it is rather new that the Ariane Group, the main European rocket developer, is opening its doors to fashion designers and musicians, and that the main international professional space association, the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), agrees to create a new committee called the "IAF Technical Activities Committee for Cultural Utilization of Space" (ITACCUS). Building on my fieldwork at the 2022 IAF Congress in Paris and at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz in 2022 and 2023, my paper highlights the contemporary territory of meaning-making located between the major space institutions (ESA, NASA), the space industry, and the creative communities, and discusses the emerging scenes of artistic communications about space. I focus on how various artistic interventions and experiments contribute to the production of meanings about space, human relations with space and space technologies. Building on McKenzie's (2019) argument that contemporary forms of capitalism are based less on the ownership of the means of production than on the ownership of the means of value creation, my analysis will focuses on the different kinds of value that emerge from the collaboration and "neighborhood" of science, art, and technology.

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Outer space imaginaries are often constituted around the ethical or poetic notion of a universal human experience and planetary ecosystem that transcends borders and frontiers. Artistic practice also appeals to human aesthetic sensibilities not limited to particular times and places. In my research, I examine a series of outer space-inspired art projects from Mexico that simultaneously invoke notions of the cosmic planetary and speak to lived experiences of territoriality and groundedness. Works by Mexican artists and art collectives complicate overly simplistic universalisms that erase the social and ecological consequences of earthly inequalities.

To illustrate this point, I reflect on three Mexican artworks: “Trapped,” created by the Veracruz art collective Tres as a critique of the increasing density of space junk orbiting the earth, “Ulises,” an artistic satellite designed by Juan José Díaz Infante and the Mexican Space Collective and imagined as a means of reclaiming a place in space for poetic citizenship, and “Matters of Gravity,” a collaboration between several Mexican artists that took place aboard a parabolic flight on a Russian airplane used for astronaut training.

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Space analogue missions create simulations for off-world living that provide immensely valuable test beds for efficacy in technology, errors in human factors, and standardisation of procedures and protocols for live space missions. However, creating and maintaining fidelity, the ‘realness’ of space, remains a complex challenge for analogue researchers. For many successful analogue missions, fidelity takes the form of engineering solutions to develop habitats, simulate isolation, and mirror laboratory research platforms that may exist off-world. What is largely missing from industry discussions on analogue work is an emphasis on the artistic labour involved in creating outer space fidelity. Based on our ethnographic fieldwork on Martian analogue missions in Scotland, and our work with architects designing space habitats for international space agencies, we ask - what are the forms of practice that are needed to turn Earth’s terrestrial spaces into Martian landscapes? We argue that missions have focussed on meeting the engineering challenges of the built environment and the data controls and collections for different research projects, but what they have neglected is a little ‘drama’. Anthropologists have long espoused the productive capacity of performance and social drama, even to the core of the structures of ritual (see for example Victor Turner). Borrowing from anthropology of performance and spectacle, we suggest that space research platforms can benefit further with attention to artistic license. Through brief case studies of prolonged field-care space missions, we show how science and social relations are formed and framed through a bit of Martian theatre.

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My contribution will involve a discursive/performative presentation of my ongoing artistic research project, 'People Will Miss the Earth.' This project critically examines the contemporary colonial rhetoric of the New Space Age while simultaneously exploring alternative narratives for deep space and (inter)planetary relations through artistic practice.

Advocates of multi-planetary ideologies believe humans can replicate earthly ecosystems in extraterrestrial environments to colonize new planets, fostering synergy between techno-scientific research and plans for space colonial settlement. By examining scientific and anthropological experiments on life survival in extreme habitats, I aim to highlight the limitations of the New Space rhetoric.

Through the observation of the psychological effects of isolation in 'The Antarctic Gardener' (short film based in Antarctica, focusing on a BLSS facility) and the impact of zero gravity on plant organisms in 'Beyond Gravity' (ongoing installation), I inquire about the capability of artificial environments to provide the conditions necessary for life to thrive.

In my new project, 'The Sea Which is Our Universe,' I research Mars analog environments, juxtaposing the idea of colonial terraforming with the theory of "sympoiesis" in search of alternative practices of "worlding." Deep space becomes a realm for speculation about the essence of life and what makes it possible. Rather than viewing it as a territory to conquer, it becomes a space to increase awareness of our rootedness on Earth. By comparing ourselves with the alterity of an extraterrestrial environment, we can observe life as a result of a situated, unique relational system rather than artificially reproducible mechanical relations.

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This presentation opens up creative and plural imaginings of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) through a combination of scientific storytelling, performance lecture incorporating the music of the Golden Record on NASA’s Voyager probes, and artistic processes from chroma.space's immersive performance "Of the Spheres”. Through an examination of art projects and futures work, including the author’s own collaborations with the scenario research of the newly founded SETI Post-Detection Hub at the University of St. Andrews, the presentation explores emerging practice-based engagements with the extraterrestrial, and what Valerie Olson names the “more-than-terran”.

In the midst of a new era of space and lunar exploration, technological and telescopic advancements significantly expand potentials for detecting extraterrestrial life. A vital re-evaluation of SETI’s post-detection protocols is in progress - emerging from calls to incorporate process-oriented and culturally diverse understandings. At Breakthrough Listen’s Making Contact meeting, the members of the Indigenous Studies Working Group - Atalay, Lempert, Shorter, and TallBear - challenged SETI researchers to overcome entrenched Euro-American biases, and highlighted that communication protocols are plural and evolve in response to relational and cultural contexts. Artistic, speculative interventions for “playing” first contact scenarios - ranging from Mixed Reality participatory experiences to Live Action Role Playing (LARP) - hold creative techniques for rising to this call to engage a plurality of imaginaries.

The work presented is developed across the first year of the "Cosmoimaginaries" programme that combines creative research and art practice at the polycultures of ecology and technology to reimagine planetary and outer space relations.

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STS scholars have long emphasised the significance of imagination (Jasanoff and Kim 2009) and anticipation (Messeri and Vertesi 2015) in co-constituting technoscientific social worlds. However, their intangible and speculative nature challenge traditional research methods of field observation, historical analyses and spoken exchanges, calling for multimodal approaches that can capture the abstract and difficult-to-articulate.

This paper explores the potential of arts-based methods to research how communities imagine futures of human space exploration. I specifically draw on three collaborative filmmaking workshops in Thailand and Indonesia in 2018/19 that I developed in response to two key questions. Firstly, given the prevalence of popular science fiction tropes and aesthetics, how might we imagine outer space ‘otherwise’? Second, since envisioning, planning and preparing for futures off-Earth crosses the scientific, fictive, religious and more—from colonising Mars to searching for extraterrestrial intelligence—how might we facilitate dialogue among disparate communities?

Discussing the workshop design, this paper highlights a montage-inspired co-creative process that involved astronomers, artists, extraterrestrial believers and others to produce speculative off-Earth scenarios. Furthermore, I provide insights into the short films created in each workshop, alongside the sensory, ethical, and philosophical discussions surrounding human space exploration that went into their making. Through this case study, I advocate for the active co-construction of worlds by both participants and researchers alike, proposing montage as a methodological tool for disrupting conventional cosmic imaginaries.

I suggest this entry for the academic paper component of the Combined Format Panel, however, I would gladly participate in the workshop/roundtable if the convenors prefer.

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Long abstract:

The project titled "Cosmos, or A Chronicle of Life’s Incredible Order, Complexity, and Remarkable Struggle Against Entropy and Resistance of Decay" embarks on a five-hour visual odyssey, meticulously crafting a frame-by-frame narrative depicting the interconnectedness of Life, the Universe, and Everything. Scientifically accurate yet visually compelling, the project delves into diverse perspectives—historical, cultural, religious, philosophical, and scientific—forming a bridge between science, philosophy, and art. Documenting ethnicities, customs, histories, and traditions, it celebrates the rich tapestry of human experience. Beyond a cosmic history, it narrates the story of life, contemplating the second law of thermodynamics, the evolution of DNA, and the uniqueness of human language.

This artistic endeavour resonates with the recent surge in critical social studies of outer space discussed in the related passage. While the project explores the micro and macro aspects of existence, the panel discussion seeks to shift the focus from macro structures to the grassroots level, emphasising the politics and poetics of space through artistic interventions. Both highlight the intersection of science, art, and social studies, recognising the transformative potential of artistic expressions in shaping narratives around Earth-space relations and technological advancements. The project’s dedication to documenting both positive and dark aspects of human history aligns with the panel's invitation for empirically grounded contributions exploring local expressions and grassroots initiatives. Together, they underscore the significance of diverse perspectives, participatory study of the arts, and collaborative practices in generating new knowledge at the intersection of art, social science, and technology.