This Wednesday 10th August at 6:30pm, as a part of the Outside-in cinema series in Experimedia, we will be showing the 2006 documentary In the shadow of the moon, in which members of the various NASA Apollo moon missions tell their stories.

Such voyages cannot exist without imagination, and the objects floating about far above and around us have long held the gaze of artists and inventors. Plenty of titles in our collection look at representative, re-interpreted, and speculative portrayals of that which lies beyond our word and the people that dare to venture out to discover it.

The moon and the western imagination specifically looks at that necessary interplay of speculative and creative thought in new scientific discoveries. This can be easily requested via our catalogue.

University of Arizona Press, 1999

University of Arizona Press, 1999

Cosmos takes a more strictly aesthetic approach, looking at the ways that outer space has been represented in visual art over the last few centuries. Incidentally, the phrase “Outer space”, being the official Library of Congress Subject Heading for things beyond the boundary of our earth, is a great one to remember when putting together searches for similar material. This book, too, can be requested via our catalogue for use in the library.

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1999

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1999

In the stream of stars, focusing specifically on the space race, and looks at how the USSR and the USA represented their views of space through that time. Again, this is another title that can be easily requested from storage.

Workman Pub., 1990

Workman Pub., 1990

NASA/Art, findable in the Large Books section of the Arts Reading Room, gives examples of works from the NASA Art Program over it’s first half-century, ranging from graphic art to abstract to humorous pastiche.

Abrams, 2008

Abrams, 2008

And finally, Alan Bean, painting Apollo, also on the Large Books shelves of the Arts Reading Room, shows a sellection of first-hand renditions of the “first artist on another world”.

Smithsonian Books, 2009

Smithsonian Books, 2009

More similar books can be found on display during the screening of the documentary.

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