«Kriesche, the artist, transmits the image of his hand into space where an Austrian astronaut can filter it from the data-background, the data static, only with the aid of certain instruments. At a certain point, for a few minutes only, the space capsule was positioned precisely above Graz, in a way that the data transmitted by the astronaut could be filtered from the data static in Graz. The live data triggered the waltz 'On the Blue Danube', a keyboard and a welding robot. Simultaneously, the filtered out data of the astronaut's message were recorded and passed on to 10 composers who created small compositions from the data.» ~ Heidi Grundmann.

Distanz, 1991
Andrea Sodomka 2:15
'Distanz - ein aspekt der erinnerung' is dedicated to Max Brand, an Austrian composer, whose piece "The Astronauts" is an electronic epic on John Glenn's first orbital flight in 1962.

For the first time in the history of soviet space travel, next to scientific and technical exmperiments, an art project was performed - as a subproject of "AUSTROMIR".

Under the title "ARTSAT" Richard Kriesche concieved a multi-dimensional project - the first outer-space-artwork of this kind. He invited ten prominant composers to collaborate on the ARTSAT-project: from the decoded digital signal of the live dispatch, that the Astronaut Franz Viehböck sent from space, they composed the short listening pieces for the ORF-Kunstradio. These acustic bits from outer space were able to be heard in this broadcast.

MIR orbiting.

MIR reentry, out of orbit
23.03.2001
«Nowadays even the future isn't what it used to be.» ~ Robert Adrian

«The cosmonaut's message from outer space alienates the blue danube waltz on earth and vica versa. The message from outer space becomes a live conductor, as it were, of the blue danube waltz. The alienated blue danube waltz is then used as a control signal for a mute piano which is played by the imaginary hand of the cosmonaut. The cosmonaut stretches out his hand to us as he flies by overhead.» ~ Richard Kriesche.

Exploration, 1991
Winfried Ritsch 6:04

The ArtSat CD is one of several integral parts of ARTSAT, an extended radio-art project, conceived by Austrian media-artist Richard Kriesche on the occasion of AUSTROMIR, the first Austrian space project. The code of a message sent by Austrian cosmonaut Franz Viehböck from the MIR station served, among other things, as the basis for 10 short radio-compositions by Austrian artists. These compositions were broadcast on Kunstradio on Oct. 31st 1991.

Space Art Transmission, 1991
Karlheinz Essl 4:18

Sound and data material of the first Austrian cosmonaut, merged with quotations of sound material of an Austrian composer describing the first surrounding of the earth by an American astronaut tell a little Austrian story about outer space.

Up and Down, 1991
Mathias Fuchs 2:34

Produced at Institute of Electroacoustic Music, Academy of Music, Vienna and ORF / Austrian Broadcasting Corporation. Sound engineers: Norbert Math, Gerhard Wieser. First broadcast: October 10th, 1991, ORF Ö1 Kunstradio-Radiokunst.

sources: artsat_cd.html, alien.mur.at, kunstradio.at