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Rare Soviet Retro-Future Space Art
abramsv writes "A collection of the most inspiring and hard-to-find retro-futuristic graphics from rather unlikely sources: Soviet & Eastern Bloc 'popular tech & science' magazines, German, Italian, British fantastic illustrations and promotional literature — all from the Golden Age of Retro-Future (1930s to 1970s)."
The present was so much cooler in the past...
Ok, Dawson, it's late; but can't you put a verb in there someplace?
Why "unlikely sources"?! The Russians were the first in space after all.
Those images are sad. It's so easy to imagine the future, and so hard to reach it...
It's depressing to think we'll be long dead before humanity finally understands the universe.
Space travel, immortality, living in far planets, knowing the origin and the end of all, and, most of all, contacting an alien intelligence and culture if there is one.
However, I do feel lucky for living in an era of enlightenment and fast technological evolution. A mere two or three centuries in the past, I'd have seen the same advance in all my life as I can in a modern decade.
What happened to mankind's fascination with space? These pictures are awesome to me not because of their scientific validity, but because they are a reflection of the way that mankind used to dream of the stars.
While great sci-fi is by no means limited to a distant past(thank you gaiman, stephenson, etc...), it is seems that space travel just isn't that romanticized in today's cultures. Have we stopped dreaming of an extraordinary not-so-distant future?
All things are subject to interpretation, whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and n
Did anyone else notice that the only image with a view of Earth still featured the Americas, instead of Mother Russia?
You never expect irony, do you?
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In http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1128/1058108337_46491e437c_o.jpg, they show North and South America. I would have guessed them showing Eurasia.
where did my sig go? where's my sig at?
I have to admit, although U.S.S.R. and so called "Bolshevism" has written lot of dark pages in history while building "Communism", those dreams about future when humanity together working to defeat universe at least in subjective scale, expressed in these pictures and stories from Stanisaw Lem and other soviet sci-fi writers are which I am more found of. Yes, western sci-fi usually spells more doom and gloom, power of coorporations, profit over science and discovery, etc. Both "schools" have beatiful exceptions, like Lem sci-fi fairy tales or "I, Robot" series by Isaac Asimov. When I think of sci-fi, I usually think of "The Magellanic Cloud". This novel from then-young Lem is something I still fill very exceptional. In Soviet times it was published in so called "Winning Communism edition", but after collapse of Eastern Block it was published in non-tweaked edition, as Lem said first edition was too rosy about communism. What I like about it is that even in old version Lem touches (but only touches) issues of conflict as aims of society vs. aims of personality, as it challenges people who try to reach only closest star system. In some way, it is similar to western sci-fi - it doesn't say anything nice about way the Western lives and how it ends. But as socialist Lem of course tries to provide alternative. Of course, big question is - is this possible.
Anyway, what I wanted to underline that so called "Socialism in space" was more than propaganda, it had different mind set, and sometimes it was for me as small boy easier to connect to those stories with all scientific stuff and challenges of scientists against their egos and needs. Also they definitely tried to imagine how life of people would be in future, how social and moral elements change - for good, of course. While Western sci-fi (as it holds roots more in Scepticism) bashes human nature and don't find escape from it, however there are lot of funny and hopeful authors. I still wait for sci-fi who would embrace both of these - western and "socialist" styles. That would definitely exciting to read.
In resume, I really miss sci-fi which could inspire and lift up, not just show future from very pessimistic point of view. Yes, we as humanity has huge issues, starting with problem to lacking people who value humanity over their egos, who work together with others to achieve something. It is not said that everyone should work and live together as brothers, but at least we should not try to kill each other because of small petty differences.
Just my two euro cents,
Peter.
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Maybe it was their way of showing the readers "Those capitalists in North-America are very easy targets from space".
Lesbian Nazi Hookers Abducted by UFOs and Forced Into Weight Loss Programs - -all next week on Town Talk.
This image from the article reminds me of Tintin: Explorers on the Moon published in 1954, a year later.
The x-ray glasses advertised in the back of those science mags don't work.
FAQs are evil.
When I look at those pictures it makes me sad and very mad at the same time.
What happened to humanity? We used to dream about bright space future, flying cars, scientific progress and stuff like that. And we had hope to achieve all of this if we put enough effort into it. And now I think we lost that hope.
I don't see people dreaming about anything more than getting a million dollars and doing 2 chicks at the same time...
And you can bash soviets all you wish, but they had one thing right- the education was non-religious and pushed belief in sience most of the time. (Well, there were propaganda bits and belief in communist ideals, but these were easily discarded and did not interfere with science). I think soviet union was the first and only truly non-religious state. And that is something to be admired.
Don't get me wrong. I realize that the technological progress now is faster than it ever was. But you get no rush thinking about it anymore. It is not considered exciting and sexy and bright. It fails to captivate the minds of people. And I think it should be.
--Coder
I recognize quite a few of those illustrations.
That's what partially inspired me to go into tech in the first place. I wanted to make those images a reality.
An interesting piece of trivia - pictures credited with TM were published by the official magazine of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. This magazine was targeted at teens. Among other things, we had ZX80 source listings, MK61 programmable calculator listings, and so forth. Those were simple games that I would have to painstakingly type in on my MK61 calculator in RPN notation. Yet they taught me the principles of directly addressing a microprocessor. I had a subscription to many of these magazines since I was 5. Yet now in US we are experiencing a rapid decline in science education. It sounds unthinkable that Whitehouse would sponsor something like this, even though the expense would be trivial and would promote agencies like NASA. Something needs to happen before we wind up a 3rd world country due to lack of science, lack of big dreams, and apathy. That's precisely what USSR did. Even though the scientists were paid miserly wages, the children were inspired to get involved in building the future. I don't ever see big dreams promoted in the US. Everything is compartmentalized, processed, antisocial, and really not inspiring.
I will own several of the technological marvels such as flying cars within a few years. I will do it because I still have dreams and still remember what inspired me. But will others? Or will they be toiling away in overwhelming debt unable to see through the haze of daily stress? The only thing I can think of that is good for science and inspiration lately is Mythbusters. That's my opinion, but it probably made more than a few kids curious about chemistry at the very least.
This is so sad that it brought tears to my eyes.
Leonid S. Knyshov
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Notice how few of these images center on a single individual. Mostly they are space-scapes or pictures of massive engineering projects in which people are tiny figures like in an architect's model, if they appear at all.
There's only one image that would be typical of a US sci fi magazine cover, with the handsome space pioneer man in the foreground and his female counterpart in the background. Even so, there is little suggestion that the pioneer man plays a key role as an individual in whatever action is being depicted.
This might be an artifact of selection, but it's tempting to speculate that this reflects a collectivist view of the future. Still, I have a certain kitschy fondness for Socialist Realism school of art, and many such works do use an heroic individual as a focal point -- albeit either an anonymous one or a historical hero like Lenin. Arguably in either case, Socialist Realism uses the individual functioning as a representative of the working class.
These images are quite austere and free of any hint of individuality as a focal point in the imagined future.
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One thing you can say about the Soviets, they had among their ideals equality between the sexes.
In one of the paintings there's a woman standing next to a man, and they're both wearing the same outfit and appear to be equals in the space endeavor, which is a far cry from how space exploration was portrayed in the USA, with only white men permitted to go anywhere near a spaceship.
This sig, aah-ah, is comin' like a ghost-sig...
> The present was so much cooler in the past... This reminded me of one gallery with soviet architecture - colossal projects that were never built. http://www.muar.ru/ve/2003/moscow/03e.htm - not really space art but very retro-futuristic nevertheless.
I have been living in the States for many years and one thing still puzzles me: Americans know so little about their former enemy. Why is this space art is such a surprise? Do you really believe that all Soviets did was related to drinking vodka and breaking backs in Gulag? Soviet Union had art, music and science. Are you aware of the fact that most Soviet high schools taught organic chemistry in the 10th and 11th grades? Please spare me "but what about the food lines" statements. The system screwed the people beyond belief and there was little that even smart people could do about the political aspect of the country.
Years ago I recall a question from one of American high school students, "Do bears run on streets in Russia?" I thought that the person was kidding. No, this was a serious question. Apparently the student thought that Soviet/Russian cities (the terms that he used as synonyms) were full of bears and vodka drinking hunters with bad manners. The insulting part was that this question came from somebody who knew nothing about chemistry, physics or calculus in his junior year of high school. We did not have bears, but we had Z80s, programmable calculators, home grown vector processors (Elbrus) and enough nukes to destroy the world. You know, the usual items found in half-way houses :)
Those who are interested in the subject of art and space may want to read up on Alexey Leonov. He summarized his experiences in space in a book and many drawings. Check out the wiki. I am not sure if any copies of Technical Molodezhi (Technology of the Youth) were translated into English, but it was a really neat magazine. I started reading it as soon as I could read and understand some of the basic concepts. Think of Popular Science + Popular Mechanics + various news articles related to physical sciences combined in one package.
If you compare the American and Soviet science fiction, you will see that American sci-fi novels very often (if not always) carry some military theme or references (invasions, interstellar wars, presence of military personnel and advanced warfare on space ships, etc.), while Soviet and Eastern-bloc writers focus mostly on difficulties of space exploration, daily routines of colonization of other planets, and always promote peaceful resolution of interplanetary conflicts. IMHO.