-
Helen Schell, Red Rocket Engine (detail), 2020, acrylic paint on canvas, 181x234cm. Photo: courtesy of the artist
-
Helen Schell, Engine Part, 2020, acrylic paint and collage on canvas, 40x30cm. Photo: courtesy of the artist
-
Helen Schell, There’s no right way up (detail), 2020, acrylic paint on canvas, 218x177cmcm. Photo: courtesy of the artist
Exhibition
Helen Schell: The Human Spaceship – Off Balance
7 Oct 2020 – 31 Oct 2020
Regular hours
- Wednesday
- 12:00 – 17:00
- Thursday
- 12:00 – 17:00
- Friday
- 12:00 – 17:00
- Saturday
- 12:00 – 17:00
Address
- Orbis Community
- 65 High Street
- Gateshead
England - NE8 2AP
- United Kingdom
Travel Information
- Nearest bus station: Gateshead Interchange
- Nearest Metro station: Gateshead Metro
- Nearest Railway station: Newcastle Central
In ‘The Human Spaceship – Off Balance’, Helen Schell’s painting installation explores the possible effects of deep-space exploration on the human condition.
About
Admission to the exhibition is by timed, booked ticket. Please book here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/helen-schell-the-human-spaceship-off-balance-tickets-123691648049
We are witnessing the most astounding change in ‘being human’ through cutting-edge astronomy and space exploration in the 21st century. ‘The Human Spaceship’ project employs visual art processes to examine these plans with the objective of creating an experimental installation of scale using extreme perspective, geometry, optical illusions and colour manipulation.
Helen Schell has developed an observational document which investigates vision and visual perception in altered gravity conditions (as in long term human spaceflight). During the Covid-19 lockdown, Schell has used this information to create an installation that is made up of many component parts using a variety of drawing and painting techniques. In ‘The Human Spaceship – Off Balance’, Schell uses multiple optical illusions, destabilising the spectator through images depicting visual vibration similar to space conditions, creating a sensation of being ‘off balance’.
The exhibition has been informed by a research trip to Houston, USA, in 2019. Schell was invited to be guest artist at Rice University, Texas, meeting with leading human spaceflight scientists at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (base for the Artemis Mission, that has the goal of landing the first female astronaut and next male astronaut on the Moon in 2024). This visit also included the Rice Space Institute, the Lunar and Interplanetary Institute, and Baylor Center for Space Medicine. A tour of the University of Houston’s Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture (SICSA) department enabled a dialogue about innovative designs and new materials for habitations.
