Call for papers
Raumstation Skylab 5 - Breathing Living Thinking Space Station
Humankind in front of the mirror. A perspective of our own planet thanks to space missions. Cultural impact.
- Name: Barbara Imhof, Waltraut Hoheneder, Susmita Mohanty
- Country: AUSTRIA
- E-mail: office@liquifer.at
- University: LIQUIFER office for [space]architecture
Abstract: The Exhibition ÎRaumstation Skylab 5â was designed for children between 6 to 12 years of age. It went live in Vienna at the "ZOOM Kinder Museum" from 28th September 2005 to 12th March 2006.
The paper will describe and discuss this project and its cultural impact.
The inside skin of a space station is enveloped in large size projections. The space station is not comprised of inflexible, rigid material - it is not hardware but wetware - it is a breathing, living bio-substance - a flexible membrane which moves - future material maybe discovered in an extraterrestrial lab. The exhibition space is thus transformed into a living organism. An acousmatic and sound-architectural structure intensifies the intended effect of Raumatmen (of a 'breathing of the space'). The sound aura - a matrix of speakers which is installed on the ceiling, walls and floor - allows the space to breathe. The space station's intestines are the life supporting living organisms, interactive sculptural objects in the exhibition space.
The manual for the children is based upon the following story:
The countdown: From Mission Control at ZOOM Children's Museum, a spectacular rocket launch takes you to the deserted space station Skylab 5. Your job is to find out what happened to the crew.?
At your arrival on the space station you first reanimate its energy streams and get the radio contact going again. In the information headquarter you find out more about the mission of space station Skylab 5: the crew was searching for alien life and was building a space probe. Maybe aliens can help you find the old crew? In order to continue working on the space probe you will receive special working clothes. However, even very busy space researchers have to sleep and to clean themselves. Just try it: in the dry shower, in the vertigo generator and in the sleeping nest.?
In the end you discover the secret of the mysterious project ³Stardustã. Is that the reason why the crew left the space station? It's you task to find the answer to that question.
