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Exploring the Next Frontier of Human Expression in Microgravity


For over four decades, artists have floated through weightless cabins, exploring the limits of form, movement, and imagination in microgravity.


Since the 1980s, a handful of artists — choreographers, painters, performers, scientists, filmmakers — have boarded parabolic aircrafts in the spirit of inquiry. Their work is experimental, bold, largely unsung, and foundational.


Here they are.




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Kitsou Dubois



➟ 1990s: Choreographer Kitsou Dubois worked with CNES, the French Space Agency. She was a pioneer in integrating contemporary dance with zero-gravity research and flew aboard the French parabolic aircraft Caravelle and later the Airbus A300 Zero-G.


1990s: Choreographer Kitsou Dubois worked with CNES, the French Space Agency. She was a pioneer in integrating contemporary dance with zero-gravity research and flew aboard the French parabolic aircraft Caravelle and later the Airbus A300 Zero-G.



☟


Frank Pietronigro


➟ 1998: Artist Frank Pietronigro flew from NASA’s Johnson Space Center aboard a KC-135 turbojet to create “drift paintings” in microgravity. The results? Unpredictable. Intentionally so. A postmodern meditation on form and freedom.


1998: Artist Frank Pietronigro flew from NASA’s Johnson Space Center aboard a KC-135 turbojet to create “drift paintings” in microgravity. The results? Unpredictable. Intentionally so. A postmodern meditation on form and freedom.



☟


Cosmokinetic Cabinet Noordung


➟ 1999: Led by Dragan Živadinov, this Slovenian performance collective, Cosmokinetic Cabinet Noordung, staged "Biomechanics Noordung" during a parabolic flight from Star City, Russia. Part theater, part space ritual, their work blurred the line between nostalgia and futurism.


1999: Led by Dragan Živadinov, this Slovenian performance collective, Cosmokinetic Cabinet Noordung, staged "Biomechanics Noordung" during a parabolic flight from Star City, Russia. Part theater, part space ritual, their work blurred the line between nostalgia and futurism.



☟


V2_ Lab for the Unstable Media


➟ 2003: V2_, an interdisciplinary center for art and technology in Rotterdam, Netherlands, co-organized a series of parabolic flights and activities at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Star City, Russia. The first outcomes, research and projects were unveiled at a presentation and a seminar during the Architecture Biennial 2003. 




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Guy Laliberté (Orbital 🚀)


➟ 2009: Guy Laliberté, the founder of Cirque du Soleil, spent 10 days aboard the International Space Station as a space tourist in, aiming to raise awareness about clean water access. Guy Laliberté did not perform but carried with him a red nose, honoring the clowns, fools and jesters from around the world.


2009: Guy Laliberté, the founder of Cirque du Soleil, spent 10 days aboard the International Space Station as a space tourist in, aiming to raise awareness about clean water access. Guy Laliberté did not perform but carried with him a red nose, honoring the clowns, fools and jesters from around the world.



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Nahum Mantra and Ale de la Puente


➟ 2014: Artists Nahum Mantra and Ale de la Puente created “Matters of Gravity”, an interdisciplinary reflection about the cultural and scientific implications of the concept of gravity.


2014: Artists Nahum Mantra and Ale de la Puente created “Matters of Gravity”, an interdisciplinary reflection about the cultural and scientific implications of the concept of gravity.



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Jeanne Morel and Paul Marlier


➟ 2016: European astronauts Thomas Pesquet and Jean-François Clervoy sponsor the artistic exploration of dancer Jeanne Morel and digital artist Paul Marlier aboard the Airbus A310 Zero G. Jeanne made her first flight during a CNES scientific campaign.


2016: European astronauts Thomas Pesquet and Jean-François Clervoy sponsor the artistic exploration of dancer Jeanne Morel and digital artist Paul Marlier aboard the Airbus A310 Zero G. Jeanne made her first flight during a CNES scientific campaign.



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OK Go


➟ 2016: OK Go released their iconic music video "Upside Down & Inside Out", the most widely seen microgravity performance to date, shot aboard multiple parabolic flights, Their performance set the bar for the wonderfully surprising theatrical play possible in microgravity. If you haven’t seen it, you are in for a treat!


2016: OK Go released their iconic music video "Upside Down & Inside Out", the most widely seen microgravity performance to date, shot aboard multiple parabolic flights, Their performance set the bar for the wonderfully surprising theatrical play possible in microgravity. If you haven’t seen it, you are in for a treat!



☟


Sarah Gillis (Orbital 🚀)


➟ 2024: Sarah Gillis, a classically trained violinist and SpaceX engineer, became the first person to play the violin in space during the Polaris Dawn mission, performing "Rey's Theme" from Star Wars.


➟ 2024: Sarah Gillis, a classically trained violinist and SpaceX engineer, became the first person to play the violin in space during the Polaris Dawn mission, performing "Rey's Theme" from Star Wars.

Look how comfortable she is in microgravity.... meant to be there!


These artists dreamed boldly.


Pursuing questions very few had answers to.


Their experiments — poetic, rigorous, weird — is making ours possible.


We are not the first to fly. We are not the first to float.


We will be the first to stage an original multimedia performance in microgravity.


This September, in partnership with MIT Space Exploration Initiative, our team of performers, choreographers, and cinematographers will board the Zero-G aircraft to capture 10 sensational minutes of weightlessness. The result:


★ An art film


★ An immersive weightless installation


★ A docuserie


★ Biometric research


★ And the beginning of many more Microgravity Adventures...


And we cannot wait to share it all with you.


Stay afloat!









"We need to prepare for a future that is inevitable. Train artists for space environments and develop the new stories and experiences we will present and partake in Space, today."

Natasha Tsakos







Reach Out

(415) 8 TSAKOS





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