[spectre] Extremophiles Conference info

[rob]

Extremophiles - surviving in space

As well as recently being the closest to us for 6000 years, the planet Mars,
glowing red in the night sky, will be invaded by numerous robotic probes in
the next few years. Is it now time for humans to go there, and if so how
will they survive the long journey in zero gravity? Should we Œtake gravity
with us¹, or augment the body and become space-faring cyborgs? It¹s a debate
that is entering the digital world, the world of art and performance as well
as of course those with the principal interest: the science world and the
space industry. 

In a new conference at London, England's Royal Institution, Extremophiles,
(September 19 2003 2pm) various positions will be on display. Chaired by BBC
science correspondent Pallab Ghosh, the conference will explore issues about
the survival of the human body and the surrounding technological systems
journeying with it into space. Space medic Kevin Fong, who worked on the
John Glenn mission for NASA will outline the difficulties of the long
voyage, President of the Mars Society Bo Maxwell will argue for artificial
gravity as well as analogue earth experiments to accustom us to life on
Mars, while media writer, medic and science fiction writer Rachel Armstrong
(The Grays Anatomy- Serpents Tail) will advocate the ŒStelarc Solution¹-
augment and even adapt the human body , possibly beyond the point of no
return. A sense of reality will be injected by someone who has spent a lot
of time in orbital space, veteran cosmonaut and ISS commander Yuri Gidzenko.

An artist/technologist with a practical solution is Marko Peljhan, who is
co-founding a national space agency ­ the Slovenian Space Agency.
Performance art historian Tracey Warr (The Artists Body - Phaidon) will
explore the extremes to which artists have submitted their bodies and
consider analogous experiences while surviving in space.  Finally roboticist
and performer Marcel-li Antunez Roca, fresh from starring at Ars Electronica
in Linz, will perform Transpermia, an artwork constructed during a zero
gravity flight, organised by science-art agency The Arts Catalyst, who also
put together Extremophiles at the Royal Institution.

www.artscatalyst.org.

extremophiles at artscatalyst.org
00 44 207 375 3690