The STEMarts Lab would like to thank all the sponsors and partners that helped to bring Space Messengers to the International Anderson Abruzzo Balloon Museum in Albuquerque, New Mexico on October 12-14, 2023. It was a magical experience for our whole team of artists, scientists, student ambassadors and our partners. Below is a photo recap that captures the special moments and provides a glimpse of the Space Messengers immersive Mixed Reality installation that is traveling throughout New Mexico and around the world. Stay tuned to catch us in 2024!
We are honored to have been selected by the City of Albuquerque Public Arts Office and the Anderson Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum @abqballoonfndn for this event. Thank you to Sponsors: City of Albuquerque Public Arts Office, National Endowment of the Arts, Albuquerque Sister Cities Foundation, U.S. Consulate General in Guadalajara, J3 Fund, NM Trade Alliance, Q Station, NMarts, MAE Foundation, Taos Community Foundation, The Encantado Foundation, Taos Pueblo Education and Training Division.
Interactive Projection Wall
STEMarts Ambassadors
Huge shout out to the STEMarts Ambassadors that helped to install Space Messengers and that served as experience guides at the event. You rocked it and it would not be Space Messengers without you! Claire Legate, Ian Harrison, Julia Doke, Rocio Aguilar, Serina Martinez, Sirena Quezada, Sophia Bates, Shaylee Mirabal, Hermila Ruiz Aguayo, Jesús Santiago Valadez García, Julio Cesar Hernández Ochoa, Lizbeth Carol Spiller.
STEMarts International Youth Exchange
This event was even more amazing thanks to our sponsors, the Albuquerque Sister Cities Foundation and the US Consulate General in Guadalajara. Thank you Pam Feather, Celeste Nunez, Fabiola Melendez and Alejandro Aldama (ABQ) and Maria Elena Sauceda, Rocio Yanez and Brittany Thompson (GDL). They sponsored four Ambassadors from Guadalajara that won the travel award to come to the Balloon Museum event. Students were selected from San Jose del Valle in Guadalajara that participated in the 7-week Space Messengers workshop exchange with Albuquerque High. During their visit they met the New Mexico ambassadors and they served together as experience guides for the Space Messengers event. In 2024, STEMarts Ambassadors can apply to win the travel award that will send four New Mexico ambassadors to Guadalajara for the Space Messengers event there. We also want to send a huge thank you to the host families in Albuquerque that graciously opened their homes to the visiting ambassadors, providing meals and transportation and a warm welcome.
Art and Science Partners
Thank you to Markus Dorninger of the OMAi collective; They are the creative wizards behind the Space Messengers interactive wall. Shout-out to our collaborating artists: Roy MacDonald is the coder behind the space messages, David Novack is the sound engineer of the soundscape, Mathieu Castel designs the VR worlds, and Malu Tavares creates the video clips activated by the interactive silhouettes. Our appreciation goes out to Dania Loya, now the Production Director for Space Messengers and a STEMarts Ambassador. We also want to thank Summer Ash, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Very Large Array Visitor Center and STEAM Education Manager, and Sophia Dagnello, Scientific Visualizer, for running the science stations. Thank you for the opportunity to experience the Very Large Array telescopes in an immersive virtual 3D and for the chance to explore and learn about radio waves and multi-wavelength astronomy. Special thanks to Dr. Andrea Albert and Dr. Julia Blue Bird for participating as an avatar at our interactive wall station. Thank you, Alison Johnson and Thomas Vause, for the remarkable opportunity to explore a fusion reactor in virtual reality, and for introducing us to the cutting-edge technology that promises to revolutionize how people interact with complex information in the virtual realm. SciVista VR platform and SummitVR™ guided by Digital Ant Media. Big thanks to QuarkNet for the live Cosmic Ray Detector station, and to Shane Wood and Nathan Unterman for the informative talk about cosmic rays and their history, including the connection to ballooning. We are honored to have been selected by the City of Albuquerque Public Arts Office and the Anderson Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum @abqballoonfndn for this event.
