Australian artist-scientist Sarah Pell, who performs in extreme environments to simulate what it is like to be in space, on Friday said in Taipei that she hopes to understand how human beings behave in difficult surroundings and learn to adjust accordingly.
Trained by NASA on a mission to become the world’s first female artist-astronaut, Pell said her art projects — carried out in places ranging from the Atlantic Ocean to Mount Everest — are aimed at conducting the ultimate conversation between human beings and the universe.
“I am really interested in how we can create radical feet of imagination, to create an arc of technology that builds solutions for us from sea, to summit, to space,” she said at a forum held by the Australian Office Taipei.
Photo: CNA
Pell said she wants to use various art forms — from dance and performance technology to live art and commercial diving — that “amplify human conditions” and share with her audiences her personal experiences under those science fiction-like conditions.
“My aim is to build an understanding of what it means to be alive today,” said Pell, who was invited as a keynote speaker at Art Taipei, which opened on Friday and is to run through tomorrow.
“We need to evolve and adapt to really take care of our planet so we can take care of ourselves,” said Pell, who is the first female artist-astronaut candidate assigned to a Suborbital Spaceflight Mission.
The scientist-astronaut mission, designed by former NASA astronaut instructors, teaches candidates the skills to effectively conduct research on commercial space vehicles, as part of an international research campaign dedicated to the study of the global climate.
By performing under extreme circumstances, putting herself in absolute solitude, Pell said she is given the chance to explore her inner-self and to realize that people have the potential to learn how to evolve and survive.
Pell said that by pushing the boundaries, she has also found a sense of self-empowerment, which she defined as “the courage to ask questions with conviction and being prepared to follow where they might take you.”
That sense of empowerment comes from the willingness to undertake whatever challenges exist to search for the answer, she said.
Through her art performances, Pell said she might have found part of the answer to her ultimate quest for humanity and the meaning of life.
“I think to be alive today is to be confronted, to be challenged, and to stand up and do something exciting,” she said.
The coast guard on Friday took a Chinese fishing boat and the 17 people on board into custody, after it rammed into a patrol boat while attempting to flee. A 100-tonne coast guard vessel at about 8am discovered a Chinese fishing boat illegally operating in waters about 11 nautical miles (20.4km) northwest of Hsinchu, the Hsinchu offshore flotilla of the Coast Guard Administration said. The crew refused to allow law enforcement to board the ship and attempted to flee, it added. The coast guard vessel and another ship chased the fishing boat for about a half hour, during which time the Chinese boat
Vice President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that Beijing was trying to “annex” Taiwan, while China said its recent series of drills near Taiwan are aimed at combating the “arrogance” of separatist forces. The Ministry of National Defense earlier this month said that it had observed dozens of Chinese fighters, drones, bombers and other aircraft, as well as warships and the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong, operating nearby. The increased frequency of China’s military activities has raised the risk of events “getting out of hand” and sparking an accidental clash, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said last week. Asked about the spurt
China’s Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong has asked foreign consulates in Hong Kong to submit details of their local staff, which is more proof that the “one country, two systems” model no longer exists, a Taiwanese academic said. The office sent letters dated Monday last week to consulates in the territory, giving them one month to submit the information it requires. The move followed Beijing’s attempt to obtain floor plans for all properties used by foreign missions in Hong Kong last year, which raised concerns among diplomats that the information could be used for
‘ABNORMITY’: News of the military exercises on the coast of the Chinese province facing Taiwan were made public by the Ministry of National Defense on Thursday Taiwan’s military yesterday said it has detected the Chinese military initiating a round of exercises at a bay area in coastal Fujian Province, which faces Taiwan, since early yesterday morning and it has been closely monitoring the drills. The exercises being conducted at Fujian’s Dacheng Bay featured an undisclosed number of People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) warplanes, warships and ground troops, the Ministry of National Defense said in a press statement. The ministry did not disclose what kind of military exercises are being conducted there and for how long they would be happening, but it did say that it has been closely watching
RSS