Art in the environment of zero gravity: A preliminary sketch

The article builds on the assumption that art in outer space and art in virtual worlds share certain similarities. They should be sought in the issues of space and specific status of the body and embodiment in space. This includes not only the change of perspective, coming from the body’s liberation from gravity, but also the inherent abstractness and inaccessibility of these spaces for our immediate experience that can result in the absence of the body or in its substitution by various technological prostheses, extensions and avatars. These issues are addressed by employing the notions from the phenomenological thought of Merleau-Ponty (his understanding of the embeddedness of the body into the situation, the relational space, the notion of body schema).

The article discusses two projects of avatar-based performance art within Second Life that refer to the body in the environment of zero gravity (ZeroG SkyDancers by DanCoyote and Come to Heaven by Gazira Babeli), as well as an example of postgravity art (50-year theatre performance Noordung:: 1995–2045 by Dragan Živadinov whose final goal is to abolish art-as-we-know-it and transfer it into outer space [cosmos] where it will begin to lead a new, free and independent life-as-wedo-not-know-it-yet).