Ultraspace: Moss Helmet


Is boredom uncomfortable in space? Can you get bored in space and what the feeling of being bored in space would feel like? What would be the peripersonal space around you if you are afloat and can you reach or be reached by the external entities - objects and people or systems that put you up there? What if your suit becomes bored too, what would the suit do/do with you?

Can the suit detach itself from space and become bored enough that you let go of it? If yes, what can a boring suit be bored of?






Today, all sorts of artifacts (and people) are sent into the upper reaches of the atmosphere and lower reaches of space, and space travel and space access is having a renaissance some 40 years after the Golden Record. Satellites, space stations, and even automobiles have been sent into orbit.

And any internet-connected earthling can explore a litany of space-related content, whether artistic, educational, or scientific, all relayed and observed by machines that increasingly are outside our “normal” relationship with time or space. David, Serge and I worked together to design, build, test, and deploy a wearable space artifact. With a question,

The Flâneur


The Flâneur in Louis Huart Source: Huart (1841: 57)


We have all been there - The Flâneur, 19th century bourgeoisie archetype centered in experiencing urban spaces. Mostly affluent, who Spends time in leisurely pursuits, this  figure of modernity inspired Tati and Us to take to space. This Literary, Detached, Observant Flâneur will be the crux of taking a piece of grass to sleep in the spaces like sleeping in the park.
“Are there ways we might bring small pleasures and physical reminders of home with us to mitigate the discomfort of prolonged stays in zero g habitats?”


Space is an environment that has thus far necessarily prioritized utility over comfort or creativity.Zero gravity environments as they exist are aesthetically cold, sterile, and claustrophobic. The cumulative effects living in such environments has the possibility of being alienating and detrimental to morale.



Ergonomics and Resting


If humans are to spend larger amounts of time in zero gravity in the future, mental health and emotional wellness become of increasing importance. We were inpsired with the Furniture making process of the Eames. For the Eameses, the primary need of the human being was an essential component of every design challenge; there was no emphasis on financial gain or to fulfill the desires of the ego - Something as Flaneurs we were interested in.










The Manufacturing


This Project is a part of a tribute to the Eames. Charles Eames said that chairs should be designed not for how people should sit, but instead for how people do sit. Each Eames project’s design process evaluated the genuine need of the client—which determined the project’s constraints—and configured a solution to benefit the greatest number of people.


Step 01: CNC mould
Step 02: The Prototype 
Step 03: Fibreglass Mould for silicon


The Shoot


With this question in mind we designed and constructed a Moss Space Helmet to challenge the new in off-planet life and consider design for off-planet life through interconnected historical and poetic depictions of the universe through literature, science-fiction, and artifacts



The Flight

With MIT Media Lab in the picture and Zero-G Flight in Boston, We designed a moss clad silicon headpiece to provide a surface to connect the flyer to the earth through biological material. The suit as a whole embodied an inversion of the vacuum of space and extends a terrestrial aesthetic as conduit to how humans have been depicting the cosmos for thousands of years.




The helmet will question the body's relationship to space, across time, dimension, and sensory feedback.  To sleep on a Grass patch as a symbiosis of the suit and the interior environment designed specifically for a microgravity habitat,and further investigated the interplay and interpolation between the suit and its companion space habitat.

 


More reading: Ultra Space: Terra Cosma


Does space exploration always have to involve shiny white orbs? How can we open up the conversation and connect it back to life on earth? To explore these questions and more, a group of artists, designers, and researchers collaboratively worked to create the Terra Cosma Suit and take it on a zero-gravity flight.

Ultra Space: Terra Cosma Poster