A celestial message

Art is increasingly adorning space. Is it art, or just space junk?

- VAISHALI DAR

WE KNOW OF cave art, ceilings art, public art, at centres and museums.

Now, we have art in space as well. Turner Prizewinning artist Anish Kapoor is planning to send a huge sculpture roughly the size of a house into the Earth's orbit so it could be seen from the ground with the naked eye. While the details are still 'work in progress’, the artist has mentioned the possibility of using mirrored or reflective elements so it catches the light and becomes a visible presence against the sky.

For this particular space project, Kapoor has indicated that he wants to “bring back the early sense of adventure in space.”

In an interview with a London-based paper, Kapoor expressed his disdain over commercialisation of space, calling current space politics 'rather disgusting’, regarding the plan to send artwork into orbit. While the project would use existing rocket technology to place the sculpture into orbit, the funding is expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and the exact figure is yet to be disclosed.

Ironically, that his endeavour just adds to already existing space debris has obviously been lost on the artist.