SPACE IS THE PLACE Vol.2, 2003 / 2004
interactive space diary, projected Animation, installation Gallery 2, Chicago, 2003 and Mixküche, Munich, 2004

Space is the place Vol.2 is an interactive video diary, that documents 14 days of my expedition in outer space. 14 video sequences show my mission as first artist in weightlessness conditions, who is exploring the working conditions for art in space. It shows my conflicts with the scientists on board, who consider design a better thing than art, the daily difficulties of life in space between loneliness and low quality food.
Beate Engl
Beate Engl
Beate Engl
Beate Engl
Excerpts from the space diary:

the world of space travel, as we know it, has generally scientist purposes, military purposes and now also touristic purposes. as often in history the arts were kept out so far. but now the first artist is sent with a team of astronauts into space to explore the working conditions for artists. the universe becomes a place of public interest and investigation, thus a public space, that can be compared to public spaces we know on earth. imagine a Serra sculpture floating through the universe, illuminated at night to be seen from earth. this space exploration tries to find out about the possibilities for art works in space. as the artist on board of the space shuttle, i am keeping an „artistic diary“ of my thoughts and inspirations during the trip. this is a summary of the first two weeks of my travel that is already released to public. please understand that i can‘t give further information about the present stage of the research as it has to be analyzed first by national security. but i can tell that the crew is still out there working towards a better world. we know that the thoughts and prayers of our nation and the president are with us. i promise to do my duty as the first artist in space. i thank you all for your support. god save jeff koons

to use the time until my mission is starting i am studying the history of space travel. Most of the images are beautiful photographs. i really like the family photograph of an astronaut lying in the moon sand like  an early boltanski. i also like the aesthetic of the machineries: everything‘s glittery and golden it‘s time that i get permission to start working out there!

today was more successful than yesterday. the exploration robot that i designed for this space trip had his first mission today. i called her robota, because she is the first female robot. she did a great job! and she looked beautiful out there on the moon surface. the collected some material that our scientists are analyzing now. also the first time my colleagues clapped me on the shoulder. is design better and more useful than art in space?