SETI public: Art for E.T.'S Sake

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http://www.space.com/adastra/070531_adastra_et_art.html

Art for E.T.'S Sake

By Stuart Atkinson

National Space Society

posted: 31 May 2007
06:18 am ET

For a long time there was an assumption in SETI circles that when Contact
came it would be through the detection of an unambiguous radio signal, a
clarion call from the depths of space that would be unmistakably alien. SETI
scientists and enthusiasts alike maintained that an ET signal will be both
simple and easy to identify as being extraterrestrial in nature. Now we
realize it might not be that straightforward. ETs might be attempting
communication via lasers, or holograms, or some other way we can't even
imagine. We're looking for a needle in a haystack whilst wearing a blindfold
and boxing gloves.

While the best case scenario would be for our first ET signal to be a
Sputnik-like beeping from the depths of space, telling us how far we have to
turn the galactic radio dial before we hear the clear tones of "Voice Of the
Milky Way", it's more likely that the transmission will contain a LOT of
information which will be hard to decode, especially if that information
wasn't created and transmitted with the purpose of making contact, but
'leaked'. Earth leaks signals out into space all the time, and the radio
ripples spreading away from us carry not only entertainment programs but
documentary-style factual programs too. Wildlife documentaries, natural
history features, gardening shows, cookery shows, sports events, all of them
carrying a wealth of accurate information for any ETIs who stumble upon
them.

Might alien civilizations be "leaking" too? If they are, then we should
cross our fingers that there are ET equivalents of "National Geographic"
specials heading towards us, packed with useful information, instead of
their versions of "Big Brother". What a disaster that would be...

But what about programs concerning art? Art contains lots of confusing and
conflicting signals. Art is subjective and very personal. And although many
forms of art are self explanatory, realistic and easily interpreted,
so-called modern art, with its geometrical patterns, chaotic curves, random
patterns and psychedelic swirls and whorls of color, take some figuring out.

The odds against us stumbling across an ET episode of "Art Today" are
ridiculously high, but not impossible. Perhaps a civilization might, after
millennia spent refining its sciences, value art more highly, so highly they
felt a desire to share their artistic achievements with the rest of the
Galaxy, (and preserve them in the process too, of course). Such a
civilization might broadcast the contents of their galleries, scattering
them among the stars like confetti, distributing them like a cosmic form of
"shareware"...

But one civilization's art could be mistaken by another for scientific
images, graphical representations of scientific concepts, or illustrations
from some advanced physics textbook, and vice versa. Would we recognize -
and/or aesthetically appreciate - any incoming examples, whole or
fragmented, of ET art? And it works both ways: what would an ETI make of
Picasso's works, when only a very few of us here on Earth have a clue what
they're meant to represent? And are we really sure that ETs will correctly
interpret those pulsar maps on the sides of our Voyagers and Pioneers, or
will they just think "Hmmm, interesting composition, but too abstract for
me.."?

The nature of ET art will be dictated by their range of senses, their
environment, their evolutionary path, psychology and physiology. Of course,
they could create familiar-looking compositions and provide us with stunning
landscapes and portraits of the living things they share their corner of the
Galaxy with, but it's more likely that the art created by ETs might be so
different to our own that it would be unrecognizable as art. What sort of
art might a mechanical ET produce? Would they rejoice in perfect design, see
beauty in purely functional forms and shapes, have only disdain for soft
lines and subtle, soft colors?

Perhaps some ETs will be so advanced they might create art on a literally
astronomical scale, manipulating astronomical objects or entire regions of
space...

It seems to me that ETs centuries or even millennia ahead of us would have
so much power and so much energy at their disposal that the lines between
art and engineering would eventually become blurred. As their artists strove
to produce bigger and better works, they would need increasingly larger
"canvases" for their works. Think of the evolution of our own art. Once we
painted on cave walls, then discovered canvases, and how to sculpt stone. We
then moved on to illuminating the sides of buildings with lasers and carving
faces in mountainsides. Where next? Laser sculptures in the sky? Sculptures
in Earth orbit? Images projected onto the Moon?

Now put yourself in the shoes of an artist a thousand, ten thousand years
ahead. What canvas is big enough for your ambitions and imagination...? How
about deliberately crashing asteroids or comets into gas giants to create
exotic and wonderful patterns in their clouds, to be enjoyed by millions
watching the show from across your solar system..?

Perhaps alien artists are painting with the very light of the stars
themselves. Look at those breathtaking pictures of planetary nebulae taken
by the Hubble Space Telescope, with all their multi-colored,
intricately-structured shells, veils and curtains of starfire swirling
around them. By interfering with the stars lurking inside such a nebula,
maybe by dumping material on their surfaces, alien artists might be able to
change the density and "gusts" of the solar wind shaping it, and in so doing
manipulate the shape of the nebula into patterns and forms of their
choosing. Would advanced civilizations be able to create epic-scale
light-and-gas sculptures in this way?

Think about it. How many times have you looked at a Hubble image and thought
"That's a work of art..."?

Maybe you were right.

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