Laika the spacedog., originally uploaded by Coilhouse.

We are approaching the 50 year anniversary of Laika‘s flight!

Her story has always resonated with me. Still deciding how this should be celebrated and suggestions are welcome. Anything reminiscent of a furry party will be disregarded. I’m considering a Laika sanctification ceremony. In the meantime, a transcription from my personal journal follows.

If anyone deserves to have a religion devoted to them, it is you. An army of zealots and their children, whispering your name before bed, thinking of your sacrifice. An innocent, a martyr offered to science in the real world.

To Laika!

To Science!

This building is called the Wolkenbügel, or Cloud-Iron. It was designed – though never built – in 1925 by artist El Lissitzky. That’s right – 1925! As in many of his other works, which spanned vastly different media, the Wolkenbügel underscores Lissitzky’s belief in the beauty of industrial production and a desire for pure monuments of technological progress.

There’s something very dark about Lissitzky’s propaganda art. Not dark in any sort of contrived “I’m trying to scare you” kind of way; on the contrary, his still, supreme and aphotic images are filled with nothing but love.