The fourteen-foot diameter Mylar balloon hanging in the Donald W. Reynolds Grand Hall is a model for a future artwork by contemporary artist Trevor Paglen. In partnership with the Nevada Museum of Art and in collaboration with aerospace engineers, Paglen will launch a similar balloon into orbit as a purely artistic gesture.

Orbital Reflector, the satellite, will have no commercial, military, or scientific purpose. Instead, it will be a public sculpture, visible from the ground without a telescope — a satellite that belongs to everyone. It is a neo-minimalist sculpture, inspired by an alternative history of spaceflight that includes early Russian avant-gardists and forgotten NASA experiments. According to the artist, Orbital Reflector is a work of aerospace engineering for aerospace engineering’s sake.

Click to see more

Nevada Museum of Art