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The 1st Art Exhibition in Earth Orbit
on EUROMIR 95
"When Dreams Are Born"
The above picture by Elisabeth Carroll Smith was selected by the three man crew on the Mir space station during ESA's EUROMIR 95 mission.
The photo below depicts the 20 art works attached to the wall in the cluttered environment of the Mir space station.
The first art exhibition in Earth Orbit
seen inside the Mir space station.
The ESA Certificate
The Twenty Artworks Selected for Ars Ad Astra
The Cosmonaut Art Jury
Yuri Gidzenko, Thomas Reiter and Sergei Avdeyev
Live projection of video transmission from the
Mir space station - Nov. 30, 1995
On September 3, 1995, 20 works of art on the theme "Space & Humanity" that were selected through an international competition accompanied the European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Reiter to the Mir space station on his 180 day EUROMIR 95 mission. Ars ad Astra represents the first time in histroy that artists have been invited to have their art works exhibited in space.
The Announcement: Live From Space
Thomas Reiter and his two Russians colleagues Sergei Avdeev and Yuri Ghidzenko had the task of deciding which of the twenty art works best fulfilled the theme of the project. After more than one week of deliberations the cosmonauts made their difficult decision. They first narrowed down their choice to ten artworks then to just three. The painting they liked the best was "When Dreams Are Born" by Elisabeth Carroll Smith.
And the winner is - Betsy Smith!!
The decision was announced during a live 20 minute video link-up with the Mir station on November 30, 1995 as a part of ESA's "Art & Space" event which was hosted by the Euro Space Center in Transinne, Belgium.
Thomas Reiter said that the crew took this task very seriously and that having art in their environmant was a welcome and important addition to the strenuous scientific activities that must be carried out by all astronauts.
The astro-jury showed how they displayed the art exhibition in the Mir by attaching the pictures to the station walls. 81 pictures including digitized versions of the 20 originals were stored in an electronic archive in the ESA on-board portable computer.
The Awards
Elisabeth Carroll Smith, an artist and a professional pilot, had to make special arrangements with her employer to be present for this once-in-a-lifetime event. She received a special Omega Speedmaster Professional Chronograph that was on the Mir for one year and which is valued at more than $10,000. The prize was sponsored by the Swiss watch company OMEGA SA.
ESA astronaut Ulf Merbold presented the artist with an art print that had flown with him on his EUROMIR 94 mission.
Her work will stay on the Mir space station to entertain future crews and as a symbolic statement about adding a cultural dimension to humanity's space activities.
The artists of the other 19 artworks selected for the exhibition on Mir each received a prize of LASCAUX artists' paints donated by the Swiss producer of fine art materials LASCAUX - Alois Diethelm AG.
Reproductions of the 20 paintings in space were put on display at the center.
The International Exhibition Tour
All of the original art works except for the one chosen to stay on the Mir station were returned to Earth at the end of the EUROMIR 95 mission. The Ars ad Astra art works became a part of the "Art to the Stars" exhibition of space art which made an international exhibition tour.
The OURS Foundation
Ars ad Astra: The 1st Art Exhibition in Earth Orbit and the "Art to the Stars" exhibition was organized by The OURS Foundation - a cultural and astronautical organization based in Switzerland.
ESA Press Release 52-95
For more information contact:
The OURS Foundation
CH-8424 Embrach, Switzerland
Tel. ++41 1 201 67 81
Fax. ++41 1 201 67 82
Email: arsadastra@spaceart.net
European Space Agency - Public Relations - Paris
Tel. ++33 1 53 69 7155
Fax. ++33 1 53 69 7690
European Space Agency
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