3:30 PM - 4:00 PM
[G02-06] SORA-URUSHI: Communication Activities between Project Members and Viewers in Exhibiting Urushi Artwork and a Movie Recorded in the High-altitude Balloon Experiment
★Invited Papers
Keywords:High-altitude Balloon, Stratosphere, Space Art, Urushi Craft Artwork
Sora-Urushi project has launched a high-altitude balloon that reached the stratosphere to record the video of Urushi Artwork lit by Earthlight and then retrieved both the artwork and the video. The team started in May 2022 to achieve our concept to “express the space as an art”. Members consisted of students from various majors, such as Kyoto City University of Arts, Nagoya University, Nagoya Institute of Technology, and The University of Tokyo. We collaborated to develop a stratospheric balloon system , craft an Urushi Artwork, and communicate aspects of the project.
In this presentation, we would like to introduce the origin of Sora-Urushi project, our activities, and what we have discovered through our outreach activity.
First of all, the initial motivation of Sora-Urushi project was the fascination towards the space that Motoki, the starter of this project, had been fascinated with space. He first read the book “George’s Secret Key to the Universe” by Steven Hawking, got interested in space, and then began studying aerospace engineering. However, he was not satisfied by only studying engineering because he could not imagine the space he dreamed of. At that time, he came up with the idea of expressing the ‘space’ with artwork. This is the reason why this project was developed and aimed to launch the artwork into the stratosphere. It is also important that we present such an initial motivation in communication activities.
As shown above , Sora-Urushi project succeeded in taking the video of Urushi Artwork in the stratosphere. So far, we have held talk events to tell our outcome, workshops on the polishing process of Urushi, presentations in the symposium(1 (2, and exhibitions as communication activities. In addition, we joined two radio programs and wrote an article for the newspaper.
One of the unique features of Sora-Urushi project among a lot of high-altitude balloon experiments is that we conduct communication activities at various opportunities. We display Urushi Artwork and the video taken in stratosphere, to convey our vision of ‘space’. At the exhibitions, viewers try to understand the artwork and reflect on themselves. Hence, the understanding of our vision is different between viewers. So, by sharing those points of views with viewers, we realize another view on the artwork, and then the project members and viewers can communicate interactively.
According to the document by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology(2005)(4, outreach is defined as follows: “Interactive communication activities conducted by researchers for national people to triggers their interests for research activities and science technology, and also to share needs of society with researchers by discussing each other”. Besides, according to Sato(2007)(5, the outreach in the school is based on communication between researchers and students, so it is important that researchers can communicate at a student's academic level. To sum up, interactive communication is important in outreach, in order for that, both of them should be at the same academic level to talk to each other.
Although the aim of Sora-Urushi project is not related to the outreach of science and technology, we could say that artwork enhances the communication between artists and viewers.
In conclusion, we realized that the communication between project members and viewers can be more interactive because of the artwork in the communication activities such as talk events, exhibitions, and presentations in symposiums. This is an outstanding example of interactive communication activities which is important in outreach.
(1 Lucy & Steven Hawking, George’s Secret Key to the Universe, Iwasaki, 2008.
(2 Kohei TAKAGISHI, Taiga YAMAMOTO et al., SORA-URUSHI: Exploring the New Value Brought by Urushi Work in the Stratosphere, 2023Balloon Symposium, 2023.
(3 Motoki KAWASE, Kohei TAKAGISHI et al., SORA-URUSHI: Why Space and Urushi Artwork?, 17th Unit of Space Symposium, 2024.
(4 Promotion of Outreach Activities, Academic Subcommittee, Academic Research Promotion Subcommittee (10th Meeting) Handouts, Document 3-5, 2005.
(5 Tomoko SATO et al., CommunicationinScienceOutreach, Japan Society for Science Education, 31, 4, 2007, pp. 410-420.
In this presentation, we would like to introduce the origin of Sora-Urushi project, our activities, and what we have discovered through our outreach activity.
First of all, the initial motivation of Sora-Urushi project was the fascination towards the space that Motoki, the starter of this project, had been fascinated with space. He first read the book “George’s Secret Key to the Universe” by Steven Hawking, got interested in space, and then began studying aerospace engineering. However, he was not satisfied by only studying engineering because he could not imagine the space he dreamed of. At that time, he came up with the idea of expressing the ‘space’ with artwork. This is the reason why this project was developed and aimed to launch the artwork into the stratosphere. It is also important that we present such an initial motivation in communication activities.
As shown above , Sora-Urushi project succeeded in taking the video of Urushi Artwork in the stratosphere. So far, we have held talk events to tell our outcome, workshops on the polishing process of Urushi, presentations in the symposium(1 (2, and exhibitions as communication activities. In addition, we joined two radio programs and wrote an article for the newspaper.
One of the unique features of Sora-Urushi project among a lot of high-altitude balloon experiments is that we conduct communication activities at various opportunities. We display Urushi Artwork and the video taken in stratosphere, to convey our vision of ‘space’. At the exhibitions, viewers try to understand the artwork and reflect on themselves. Hence, the understanding of our vision is different between viewers. So, by sharing those points of views with viewers, we realize another view on the artwork, and then the project members and viewers can communicate interactively.
According to the document by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology(2005)(4, outreach is defined as follows: “Interactive communication activities conducted by researchers for national people to triggers their interests for research activities and science technology, and also to share needs of society with researchers by discussing each other”. Besides, according to Sato(2007)(5, the outreach in the school is based on communication between researchers and students, so it is important that researchers can communicate at a student's academic level. To sum up, interactive communication is important in outreach, in order for that, both of them should be at the same academic level to talk to each other.
Although the aim of Sora-Urushi project is not related to the outreach of science and technology, we could say that artwork enhances the communication between artists and viewers.
In conclusion, we realized that the communication between project members and viewers can be more interactive because of the artwork in the communication activities such as talk events, exhibitions, and presentations in symposiums. This is an outstanding example of interactive communication activities which is important in outreach.
(1 Lucy & Steven Hawking, George’s Secret Key to the Universe, Iwasaki, 2008.
(2 Kohei TAKAGISHI, Taiga YAMAMOTO et al., SORA-URUSHI: Exploring the New Value Brought by Urushi Work in the Stratosphere, 2023Balloon Symposium, 2023.
(3 Motoki KAWASE, Kohei TAKAGISHI et al., SORA-URUSHI: Why Space and Urushi Artwork?, 17th Unit of Space Symposium, 2024.
(4 Promotion of Outreach Activities, Academic Subcommittee, Academic Research Promotion Subcommittee (10th Meeting) Handouts, Document 3-5, 2005.
(5 Tomoko SATO et al., CommunicationinScienceOutreach, Japan Society for Science Education, 31, 4, 2007, pp. 410-420.