MOONLIFE CONCEPT STORE(Amsterdam, 2011)

MOONLIFE CONCEPT STORE (Amsterdam, 2011)

SHOP WITH ITEMS FOR DAILY LIFE IN SPACE

Moonlifeconcept23

Moonlifeconcept06

Moonlifeconcept10

Moonlifeconcept17

Moonlifeconcept19

Moonlifeconcept22

Moonlifeconcept32

Moonlifeconcept34

Moonlifeconcept39

Moonlifeconcept41

Moonlifeconcept42

Photo credits: Ilya Rabinovich

conceptstore02

conceptstore03

conceptstore04

conceptstore05

conceptstore06

press01

Space research is usually directed by governmental/military interests, hence some inventions have an almost hostile appearance to them. Take the development of a ‘National Missile Defense System,’ the space race (which nation will be the first to reach the Moon, or Mars…) as one in a long list of examples.

Moon Life proposed that 40 years after the first human being set foot on the moon, it is now a time for a more democratic, peaceful, artistic and cultural investigation of space. Recent financial cutbacks have forced governmental agencies like NASA to collaborate with amateur researches, private parties, and commercial space companies. This is a cautious start to a democratization process that Moon Life wants to take further. Artists, designers, and architects are encouraged to think radically about concepts for habitat design for moon life, creating a platform for the public to engage with such notions, and to discuss the ‘public-ness’ of the possibility of living on the moon.

The extraterrestrial context, with its extreme conditions, restrictions, and opportunities, forces us to abandon familiar points of departure in the design process. This process can lead to innovative and functional tools for our earthly existence; a point that has already been proved by the aerospace industry (Velcro, microwave, Internet, laptop, MP3 player, airbags, etc.). With the interdisciplinary character of the project (science, technology, art and design) in a futuristic context, Moon Life aims to initiate new developments in design culture. Is it possible to create a future-oriented, innovative impulse in the same way that Constant’s New Babylon did in his time?

HELMET1

Alicia Framis HELMET HOUSE No.1 (Barcelona, 2009)

On the moon are fourteen days light and fourteen days night. HELMET HOUSE, 2009 can adjust the light for the hours you need to sleep. The house can become completely dark, or regulate daily light. On fully dark days the solar panels can reflect the sunlight.

HELMET HOUSE, 2009 belongs to a collection of houses, which Framis is preparing with architects and astronomers, for life in space- not as a new utopia, but as an immediate reality. This architectural model develops the possibility of daily life on the moon… A strategy to democratize the moon. Currently space has a militarized aesthetic, but new aesthetics can come forth, and space can become a democratic place.

On the one hand, Futurism is past, the future is past, but we want to have a future because it is part of our lives, our dreams, and relates to curiosity and challenge. But the future no longer exists. No more ideals, only regression and the fear of risk. Society has become conservative.

Framis wants to develop the idea of a new futurism and research other possibilities for the future of society through her art. She seeks to break the preconceptions that cinema and television have taught us, since they’ve given us the idea that our future will be living like “Star Trek” or “Star Wars.” In the end, these futures have past, and we need to build up a new futurism that is more connected to our current reality. The film “A Woman on the Moon” by Fritz Lang feels more connected to our present moment than pieces of cinema focused on a future in space.

Moreover, Framis is not only developing a collection of houses; she is working to create a fashion collection, domestic items, and performances concerning the same subject: democratization of the moon.