The first artwork to be created in space will be a 3D sculpture made inside the International Space Station. Israeli conceptual artist Eyal Gever will sculpt his artwork using a 3D printer which the ‘Made in Space’ company installed for the first time ever in zero gravity back in 2014. Once complete, the sculpture will be released into the universe.
NASA has backed the extra-terrestrial art project through its Flight Opportunities Programme and Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant, allowing Made in Space to install the printer at the International Space Station. Now, almost two years later, the technical brilliance will give way to artistic endeavour.
Eyal Gever first gained international recognition for his 3D sculptures back in 2012. Through capturing snapshots of natural disasters, Gever was able to create vivid work to devastating effect. Combining many forms of visual media, and videos with printed sculptures, Gever has put on many exhibitions around the world. This time, his work will go beyond the earth.
His space project, named Laugh, seeks to take 3D sculptures to the next level. In decades past, cultural artefacts have been sent into space, most notably with the Golden Records project of 1977. Sounds and images to represent Earth were loaded onto both Voyager spacecraft, and then launched into space. Gever’s project will build upon this legacy in the most modern way possible.
The International Space Station (ISS) where the 3D printer is based.
Eyal Gever will create a physical representation of human laughter – and he wants you to take part. Through the #LaughInSpace social media campaign, Gever hopes to collect audio samples of people laughing. These sounds will then be collected via an app, and rendered by the 3D printer to create a space sculpture depicting laughter.
“People from all around the world can record themselves laughing, visualize it via an app and share it with their friends. The laughter with the most shares and retweets after three months will be sent to the International Space Station to be 3D-printed and then released into orbit,” said Gever, explaining the process.
“The earliest cave paintings were of human hands which were a way of proclaiming and celebrating the presence of humanity. Laugh will be the 21st century version of that — a mathematically-accurate encapsulation of human laughter, simply floating through space, waiting to be discovered,” he said.
Gever was approached by Made in Space back in 2014, and asked what he would do if able to create art in zero gravity, the Israeli artist settled on laughter, to show the universal expression of joy. Creating a unique cultural artefact in space, Eyal Gever with Made in Space will have contributed the latest chapter in the history of depicting human civilisation for later observers.
