CHASING SPUTNIK

Quay Arts, Isle of Wight 2013

Artist, Curator and Project Coordinator

The title Chasing Sputnik is taken from a British scientist’s youthful imaginings that he could chase down a visible Russian satellite by running down the street to get a closer look. Three established artists: Roy Brown, Julia Flatman and Tom Hall, working in partnership with Arts University at Bournemouth, Quay Arts and artSOUTH respond to ideas thrown up by the former rocket testing facility of the British Space Programme at High Down on the Isle of Wight. They have taken the optimism of early national space dreams creating a sense of excitement about our future and examined the ways in which the British experience of space has been portrayed and how it has seeped into public consciousness through design, literature and entertainment. The project intends to re-ignite their boyish dreams of interstellar travel and the idea of one day going to the stars.

The title Chasing Sputnik is taken from a British scientist’s youthful imaginings that he could chase down a visible Russian satellite by running down the street to get a closer look. Three established artists: Roy Brown, Julia Flatman and Tom Hall, working in partnership with Arts University at Bournemouth, Quay Arts and artSOUTH respond to ideas thrown up by sites of ‘near history’ such as the concrete bunker and cold war architecture. Looking at questions that discuss the former rocket testing facility of the British Space Programme at High Down on the Isle of Wight, works will explore how art may help to interpret these less glamorous historic sites and to see if we can begin to develop a new visual language to describe and promote them. They have taken the optimism of early national space dreams creating a sense of excitement about our future and examined the ways in which the British experience of space has been portrayed and how it has seeped into public consciousness through design, literature and entertainment finding new ways to discuss and unravel narrative ways to understand 20th century heritage sites, which have less visual presence. The project intends to re-ignite their boyish dreams of interstellar travel and the idea of one day going to the stars.