Capricon 32 Science Fiction Convention

This weekend I'll be attending the 32nd Capricon Science Fiction Convention being held at the Westin Chicago North Shore in Wheeling, IL. The theme this year is Amazing Adventures. I've attended quite a few Capricon's over the years and they've always been fun. In addition to participating in the con's programming, I've participated in their art show for the last several years.

With respect to programming, this year I am giving one presentation – The Art of the Exploration of Space. In this talk, I give an overview of the development of space art and how that art evolved over time to reflect the realities of aerospace engineering. I pay particular attention to the means by which art is used to portray space exploration, from exploratory to educational to inspirational. I also talk about the NASA Art Program and NASA's recognition of the emotional impact of art vs photography. I even sneak some of my own space art into the talk.

I will also be moderating the panel Goodbye, Space Shuttle where we'll be discussing human access to space in the post-Space Shuttle era. Joining me will be Henry Spencer, all the way from Canada and a co-panelist on a number of past space panels, and Chris Gerrib, whom I haven't had the pleasure of meeting.

Lastly, I will be a panelist on the Pluto Is Still a Planet in Illinois panel. Moderating will be friend and scientist Bill Higgins. My fellow panelists will be Brother Guy Consolmagno (who was actually at the 2006 IAU conference at which Pluto was relegated to dwarf planet status) and Steven Silver. One of the questions the panel is asked to answer is Why are we still so invested in the classification of this distant object? In the case of Illinois politicians, I'm betting it's because the chuckle heads, eer elected representatives, in Springfield would prefer to deal with weighty issues like Pluto's planetary status rather than the financial and ethical holes they've dug the state into.

Uncharacteristically, I have not yet decided whether or not I am going to participate in the Capricon art show. Sunday has limited programming and I am not on any panels that day. Not participating in the art show frees up my Sunday which works out exceedingly well for me as I have other commitments that day.

Looking over the programming line up, you may find me in the audience of the following panels:

• Whither Goes the Art Show?
• Chicon 7: The 2012 Worldcon Open Meeting
• Civil Disobedience: Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party Movement
• Dystopia Now
• Fan Artists You Should Know
• SF/F Music that Isn't Filk
• The Coming War on General Purpose Computation
• There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow! The Disney Imagineering Panel
• We Do It in Groups: Fandom and Social Media

You can get all your Capricon questions answered at the Capricon web site.

The Illustration

To illustrate this post I decided to use a relatively recent digital painting I created and only added to my web site today. Beyond the Mountains is a minimalist representation of an exoplanet landscape.

Bon Voyage, Jim

| Return to the Blog Index | This entry was posted on Thursday, February 9th, 2012 at 10:28 am and is filed under Art Shows, Astronomical Art, Presentations, SF Cons.