Tom Van Sant

Space Art

"Reflections from Earth" Medium: sunlight Recorded by multi-spectral scanner on LANDSAT satellite Artist: Tom Van Sant  June 11, 1981 at 10:32am Pacific Time Shadow Mountain area, Mojave Desert, CA Size: 1.4 miles Created using mirrors to reflect sunlight accurately back to the satellite which was traveling at 13,000 miles per hour. Considered by the artist to be 'an eye looking back at the eye in the sky.'  Each reflection registered as several acres when seen by the satellite.                Click here to PLAY VIDEO "Reflections from Earth" with Richard Feynman intro.           "REFLECTIONS FROM EARTH":  the world's largest man-made image, created by Tom Van Sant, commissioned by The Los Angeles Bicentennial Commission, carried out in cooperation with NASA, US Geological Survey, City of Los Angeles  Survey and Earth Resources Satellite Data Processing Center, 1980.   Special assistance from Dr. William E. Evans, staff scientist, Stanford Research Institute.               TVS with friend and physicist, Richard Feynman                                      "Reflections From Earth" Team               "Reflections from Earth" planning  sketches and team placing mirrors to be photographed from the satellite.   Lisa Pompelli at a mirror station. John Stevens setting a mirror station. Setting for retro-reflection.
"Ryan's Eye"       "RYAN'S EYE":  the world's smallest man-made image.  Size: 250nm (1/4 micron). carried out in cooperation with the National Center for Sub-Micron Studies, Cornell University, 1981.  Scanning electron microscope under the direction of Dr. Michael Isaacson.
"Eyes on Earth"       "Eyes on Earth" -   created by Tom Van Sant in 1986 (10 years before Google Earth), is a real-time image zoom starting from the geostationary satellite 22,000 miles above Earth, then steps through LANDSAT images and aerial photography to the surface of the Earth,  ending with handheld photography in the eye of Tom's son Ryan on the plaza of the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles (on the corner of Melrose and San Vicente Boulevards).   Commissioned by the Los Angeles Pacific Design Center and the Formica Corporation, in cooperation with NASA, U.S. Geological Survey and Earth Resources Satellite Data Processing Center.       Click to PLAY "Eyes on Earth" VIDEO