Satellites are this artist’s canvas.
Forest Stearns listened attentively as Planet Labs co-founder Robbie Schingler talked about the future of aerospace, but something else caught the artist’s eye that summer of 2013: a blank satellite on the table.
“Do you know the World War II bombers that have pinup girls painted on them?” he asked Schingler. “Robbie, let’s paint on your satellites.”
Both men were at a “Curiosity Camp” hosted by Innovation Endeavors, a venture capital firm backed by Eric Schmidt, the chairman of Google’s parent company Alphabet.
Surrounded by redwood trees and a beautiful lake, Schingler bought into Stearns’ artistic vision, but wanted the images to be more humanitarian.
Creating art on satellites was a challenging feat for Stearns, who now manages Planet Labs’ artist-in-residence program.
Planet Labs, which also recently purchased Google’s satellite business Terra Bella, makes small “Dove” satellites that take images of the Earth from space. The company has hosted 10 artists and hopes to expand the program to its Berlin office.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
QWhat was the first work of art you created on a satellite?
AIt was that first piece you saw in the room on the left-hand side with the elephants. So I show up on the first day right after Burning Man. I come in with a blank canvas. I’ve got the orthorectification (a process that corrects certain image distortions) genius on my right, Seth Price, who’s this cabin-bound, superbearded, flannel-wearing hippie. On my left, I have this chief spaceship captain, James Mason from South Africa, who is a different type of intense. And they’re both looking at me like: “Why is this guy here?”
Robbie comes in and asks if we have art on spaceships yet. I don’t feel like I fit in. He said, “Do a colloquium and tell everyone about your work and about what you want to do on spaceships.” I show them a presentation of my historical work and I get their buy-in.
Then the million dollar question comes up.
We’re about ready to create the first art show in space on the first 28 satellites. What is the subject matter we put on these spaceships, and what’s the theme? Q How did you decide on the subject matter and theme? A Everyone at the company was at this colloquium, and we were spitballing ideas.
I spoke up and said I draw animals really well. Animals have always been something that peo-
ple have symbiotically lived with and revered throughout time. We talked about it a little deeper and we said, “Let’s do all animals that move and migrate with a purpose.”
That harkened back to my first conversation with Robbie in the mountains about migrating from Earth as the first space-faring species. When we do that, we have to be responsible and respectful of this planet that we’re migrating from.
QHow is creating artwork on a satellite different than creating artwork on a wall of canvas? What is the process like?
AI get through the first black-and-white painting and the chief technology officer at the time, Chris Boshuizen asks, “Where’s the art on satellites?” He totally called me on it. I said, “Trust me, it’s going to happen.”
Unbeknownst to him, I had been calling paint store owners, paint chemists and famous artists with the question of, “I’m going to put art in space on the side of spaceships. What kind of materials do I use?” I have paint chemists hanging up on me thinking I’m prank calling them. A sticker won’t work. You can’t print on it like you print on a shirt because the paint will evaporate. I’m freaking.
I’m thinking I have a friend with a laser cutter, and we can subtract instead of add to the satellite.
I go to the manufacturing team and had to really romance and massage this idea into them.
They give me 58 side panels of satellites. I stick it in my backpack, and I ride my bicycle to BART. I’m going to Berkeley to use the laser cutter. I get to my buddy’s house and I got all these satellite parts in my bag. I felt like a drug mule because I don’t even know if it’s legal to take satellites on BART. I felt like a secret agent.
We spent all night long laser etching this first art show for space. I catch the first BART train back to San Francisco. Now I feel like a total super spy because I won. I had these panels laid out on the table, and the team starts piling in, in the morning.
Chris came through and said, “Congratulations, you’re now part of the team.” I didn’t know that was the pat on the back I needed.
QHow much artwork have you produced for Planet Labs?
AFour years’ worth. We’ve put art on 95 percent of the spaceships, and some of them get made too fast to get art on. So 500 pieces. Sometimes these are duplicates.
The artwork went from me making artwork to asking the team to paint with me. I asked them, “Give me your favorite quotes, most inspirational quotes, haiku poems or pieces of literature, and I will hand write them on the side of the spaceships.”
QHow would you describe the goal of the artist-in-residence program? Is it to inspire the company’s employees? Is it supposed to reflect the company’s mission and values?
AHaving an artist create something by you, and seeing them go into it fearlessly, inspires you to find solutions by thinking more abstractly or in your own unique manner.
I had a lot of people say the art at Planet is part of the reason why they took the job because they could see that this company had soul.
QOther tech firms, including Facebook and Autodesk, have artist-in-residence programs. What is different about the one at Planet Labs?
AI think our program is more similar than different. We’re creating a conversation among Silicon Valley artist-in-residence programs and other programs to facilitate artwork as value added to the company.
These employees are as creative as I am. They just figure out how to build satellites. I’m inspiring them to be a little more abstract and weird because that’s my job. I jump into projects that are seemingly impossible to do, and I finish and follow through. And they do the same thing.