A Space Art Constellation Gallery: A Mail-Art Project using Digital and Analog Strategies for Cultural Mediation in times of Social Distancing.

A constellation of vintage space artworks as asterisms.?

Introduction

In lieu of the certainty of holding an actual exhibition, art institutions as well as curators and artists have had to seek out new ways to get their work out into the public eye.?

The exhibit “A Space Art Constellation Gallery”, here in the form of a mail art / pop up project,?reproduces abstracted versions of a range of artworks created for outer space and presented here virtually in zero gravity using AR technologies. Some are on the moon, others are circling around the earth, others - although launched- are but space debris, and a few are still hoping for count down.?

Asterisms of the Space Art works by the following artists can be found in the constellation:?

Neil Armstrong, Arthur Clay, Paul von Hoeydonck, Hannes Malte Mahler, Forest Meyer, David Novros, Claes Oldenburg, Trevor Paglen, Robert Rauschenberg, Carl Sagan, Kurt Vonnegut, Andy Warhol

The Pop Up

The?concept of the pop-up refers to something that explores a spatial niche temporary and thematically.?The phrase “here today; gone tomorrow” describes the pop up in it common form. However, what is more important is the a pop up when presented in the form of mail-art is more like a tumble weed, because it comes and goes and the space in which manifests does not determines its identity.?

In fact , the Pop Up versions of the project “A Space Art Constellation Gallery”?is a?Mail-Art Project using Digital and Analog Strategies as a means for Cultural Mediation. Therefore, the project was created to be enjoyed in the confines of the home during a time where imposed physical constraints and along with the mental challenges must be overcome by using the imagination to engage ourselves in a form of aesthetic play.

Once opened, engagement begins and the “visitor” is on a path of discovery very much like the one when walking through an exhibition in a museum where one encounters artworks in a particular setting designed for it and?with information, should one want it, really available to lear more.?

The project is innovative not only because it makes use of new technologies but because it makes use of both digital and analog cultural strategies to create a project that can engage a wide and diverse audience through a variety of means and is able to make use of an establish network of communication from the post services to social media platforms.

Fig. 1. The Pop Up Art Cut Out “9,8,7,6, and so on”

The Poster

The?“Space Art Poster Gallery Poster” was created with the strategy to prove that combining the analog with the digital makes it possible to consume art in alternative spaces such as a domestic habitat, a window, a hallway, etc.?In short, the poster is conceived as an Art Multiple within the genre of a now Neo Mail-Art movement that has come about through the COVID-19 restrictions scheme.?is innovative in its use of technology to introduce new networking and forms of collaboration, which extend the mail art experience without violating any of its principles.??

To enjoy the analog element of the work, one could just print it out as a card or a poster and send or display; To view the digital element of the work, the viewer can scan in the QR code on the poster using any scanning app on a smart devise for a cheap thrill through the bigassmessage.com feature, or the view can download the Artivive app and scan the entire image in to set the objects in the poster into motion.?

Using Artivive, the scan connects the user?to an app functions that digitally augments the poster. Here, the user can experience all of the Space Art Asterisms on the poster as complex galaxy made up out of a collage of diverse star constellations.??

?Fig. 2. The Poster-Card version of?“9,8,7,6, and so on”

Home Gallery

Created for the home gallery, is a single pop up display stand and the poster - card work, both of which are the basis of this mail-art action. The card can be printed and set and the pop up can be cut out with scissors and taped or glued together.?

Once ready, the pop up is ready to interact with: The space artworks can be seen by scanning in the QR code at the top of the display stand with any smart device.?Once scanned in, the artwork appears floating above you as expected. Like in an exhibition in planetarium, the visitor can view elements of the constellation by just navigating with their smart device.

The name of the artist, the title of the work,?and the date of its production are to found on the sides of the display stand. In addition to these, there is a QR code that connect the visitor to a web app, which they can use to explore a range of information and graphics connected to the work in view.?

Closing

Whatever creative strategies and alternative formats can be developed and applied so that art can prosper in a time where social distancing is the new norm, we must take into consideration that it may be just fine to shift shift away from intuitional event makers to smaller and more socially anchored ones.?

Many great artists believed that there is always at least one person in audience who not only is receptive to what one is offering, but also is in the position to make a change in the artist life in a small or even large way.?

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Special thanks goes out to Augment.com, Artivive.com, and bigassmessage.com - all?very useable app for creating AR.?