Raygun Gothic Rocketship

I was recently on the west coast of the US for work, sitting in my hotel room one evening, cranking out emails, reviewing web pages, and writing out project plans. As exciting as that sounds, I decided to pop out for a stroll and some fresh ocean air, camera by my side.

Imagine my excitement and happiness when I discovered Raygun Gothic Rocketship by Sean Orlando, Nathaniel Taylor and David Shulman on Pier 14 in San Francisco, California.

Raygun Gothic Rocketship

It looked ready for take off. I snapped this photograph and strolled along the pier, feeling lucky to have found this piece.

The retro feel of it took me back to my childhood, where I watched Flash Gordon over and over. It reminded me of Vonnegut’s work. I might have hummed the tune to The Jetsons. The installation made perfect sense to me, in this spot, during this time. Well done.

Weeks later, I discovered that the installation also lives online (like all of us). It blogs, it has a complete website, it integrates Flickr, and it encourage people to share, to speak, to appreciate via Twitter and Facebook.

Is this the future of art?

Art that lives on beyond the physical experience? Art that talks back to its viewer through the artist or educators or curators? Will art from now on help shape its own digital destiny and archives? Raygun Gothic Rocketship has already inspired blog posts, tweets, Facebook discussions, photography, drawing, paintings, graphic design and lots more. What if the Mona Lisa blogged? What if Cafe Terrace at Night by Vincent Van Gogh offered recipes or drink suggestions? Raygun Gothic Rocket serves it all. And I like it.

This is the future of art. Regardless of location, whether its Pier 14 or SFMoMA – contemporary art can now live beyond the in-person experience. Although I don’t live in San Francisco, I feel a real connection to this sculpture. If this is the future of art, then expect museums to follow suit and develop new, innovative experiences for its visitors.  Now that would be exciting.

I’m glad I left my hotel room. Thank god for artists and rocketships.