California artist Richard Clar developed a unique material language in the 1970s and 1980s that wedded sculpture and environmental art to technology and eventually to space science and astronautics. His works invoke high dimensionality, notably using communication signals and data modeling but also focus on time through his interests in history and cultures. Early Finish Fetish material interests and metaphors of travel in his works expanded Clar’s practice to space exploration through what art historian and theorist Rosalind Krauss has termed the “nomadic” and “expanded field.” Later Clar expanded the scope of his practice to include institution-building and fostering globally connected communities through his volunteer work at the International Astronautical Federation and its annual conference, where the “Space and Society” segment has been co-chaired by Clar for thirty years.
Clar brought conceptual art into the space realm, and his work has resulted in new directions for space art. Several collaborative works of Clar’s, including Space Flight Dolphin, the New Butoh Space Dance, Alma da Agua, an “Antipodes” dance work, and Earthstar are works still to be realized. The work of the space artist can outlive the artist just as science fiction stories from a century ago can influence our thinking today. The works of space art aren’t just for astronauts or other artists, they are for the future, like time capsules, and Clar’s work specifically outlines a very wonderful, humanistic approach to the marriage of art and technology, putting human cultures (and even human foibles and failures – like our conflict zones, colonial practices, or environmental/space waste) into focus. The wonder of technology is that it allows us to see; the wonder of art is that it allows us to see what technology is making invisible.
Read more about his work at various articles linked to his website, https://www.arttechnologies.com/
