A crew of four artists will spend six days on an simulated moon mission in Biosphere 2’s Space Analog for the Moon and Mars starting on Sunday, ending on March 15.

The mission crew of Imagination 1 includes non-fiction writer and former UA English professor Chris Cokinos; Poetry Center librarian, archivist and poet Julie Swarstad Johnson; textile artist and MFA candidate Ivy Wahome; and dancer, choreographer and UA dance Prof. Elizabeth George. 

The four artists will be locked inside the SAM facility at the science center north of Tucson, and will live and create there for the six days.

“It’s a high-fidelity analog facility,” Cokinos said. “It will be pressurized but there will be airflow. We’ll be paying close attention to carbon monoxide levels and we’ll be recycling food scraps – it really creates an environment close to the International Space Station.”

The crew will also be able to experience wearing pressure suits on gravity-offset rigs to simulate being on the moon’s surface.

“It’s both clumsy-feeling and very freeing,” Cokinos said. “We’ll also have VR headsets for lunar simulations so we’ll simulate being on the moon’s surface and let the art come from that.”

Cokinos and Johnson had collaborated in a poetry collection about space exploration titled “Beyond Earth’s Edge: The Poetry of Spaceflight.” There was a reading from the book during a presentation about Analog Astronauts during a conference about three years ago. That’s when a conversation with Kai Staats, research director at SAM, led to the project.

“This whole thing wouldn’t have happened without Andrew Schultz, the dean of the College of Fine Arts,” Cokinos said. “I emailed him about it and Schultz was the one who found the financial support.”

An open call was held, and George and Wahome were added to the crew. Along with Johnson, they will all be engaging in collaborative and individual works inspired by the moon.

“The moon is literally a place. A real place,” Johnson said. “And understanding the moon from an artistic perspective can help us understand our own place and relationship to Earth.”

Johnson will be contemplating the lunar landscape and will work on poetry inspired by it.

Wahome is a Kikuyu textile artist from Kenya and she is working on earning her MFA in Costume and Design/Production. She said she was encouraged to apply by her mentors in the UA’s School of Theatre, Film and Television.

“I am so happy I applied and I was chosen to be one of the crew members,” Wahome said. “I designed this mission’s patch. My background and experience growing up in Kenya, I knew this was something I could do. As someone who works backstage, I am also very well-versed in teamwork.”

Being in the closed environment can be intimidating. Johnson said she was a bit nervous while Wahome said she is concerned about the food.

“As a team, we have to cook all our food from scratch,” Wahome said. “Most of our foods will be things like beans and legumes. Mostly dry food.”

Wahome will be creating a tapestry made from scrap fabric from previous projects as she is inspired by the mission.

“I hope my work will help my community see the importance of art from many points of view,” Wahome said. “As a Kenyan-American going to the moon, I am so honored to be the first Kikuyu Kenyan woman artist on this mission.”

George, who has been teaching at UA’s School of Dance for 19 years, said she was drawn to Imagination 1 “because of the collaborative and interdisciplinary focus that has so much potential for community outreach and student connection.”

“I will explore exterior surface dance/body work while in a pressure suit aimed both at expressing body movement on a non-terrestrial surface with different gravity conditions,” George said. “And maximizing the ability to move with grace in a confined suit with limited consumables.”

George said the research she conducts in SAM “will be used as a pilot that could potentially benefit astronaut training for interior habitat dance exercise routines and for exterior movement on the moon.”

“I will work with a videographer in editing the movement material I create at the Space Analog for Moon and Mars,” George said. “I am also working with a team of musicians, and together, we will create an abstract documentary that will inspire a live performance opportunity for the dance majors on stage at the Stevie Eller Dance Theatre.”

George said Imagination 1 is already creating connections for students as the advanced choreography class for BFA Dance Majors visited the Space Suit Lab and were able to experience the feel of moving in the suits.

Cokinos said he hopes there’s more missions similar to Imagination 1 in the future.