SpaceX gives this tech artist unprecedented access

forward Space Exploration Technologies Corporation Agnieszka Pilat was handed the keys to her art studio in her headquarters and had to sign away her life in a confidentiality agreement, the artist half-jokingly said.

Pilat, 49, is a self-described “technological optimist” and a fan of technology. space Discovery’s mission is to one day send humans to Mars a starship fleet Build a self-sufficient city. This commitment is the personal dream of the company founder. Muskmay be just what is needed to save humanity, she told Mashable.

While she’s grateful for the unprecedented opportunity she’s been given – to watch engineers building rockets and spacecraft up close – she doesn’t feel like she’s indebted to the billionaire behind it all, whose celebrity status She is very happy. She compared Musk to JFK, inspiring a new space age.but Pilat She insists she never asked for money from the SpaceX CEO or any tech company leader who allowed her to work behind the scenes.

“I work for a machine, not a specific person,” she says. “The work is so important that I don’t want to fall into the trap of trying to make something to please one person.”

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as Pilat SpaceX is trying to capture SpaceX’s technology through art, but the company will face a huge test on its path to settlement on the Red Planet decades from now. A failed attempt six months ago In order to launch the unmanned starship into space, the company plans to try again on the morning of Saturday, November 18.Starship is a 400-foot-tall giant rocket and spaceship with a thrust capacity of NASAgiant moon rocket space launch system.

On April 20, during SpaceX’s first attempt at its private South Texas spaceport, the rocket failed to separate from its massive booster and rolled out of control. Exploded four minutes after liftoff The engine explosion threw debris from the launch pad into protected wetlands and nearby beaches, triggering lawsuits from environmentalists and an FAA investigation.

But even in defeat, the stainless steel behemoth’s impressive feat of rising from the ground remains impressive, including an unexpected pyrotechnic blast from a destroyed starship. Washington post Space reporter Christian Davenport describes the event ” as “the combustible violence of rocket technology of performance art.”

Performance art is Pilat’s area of ​​expertise.Before starting her informal residency at SpaceX headquarters, she worked with Boston DynamicsA technology company now best known for its robotic dog that its makers call Spot. Initially, she attempted to paint a portrait of the bizarre four-legged machine. The project evolved into Pilat using robots to paint, their feet trotting spots across the canvas.

Pilat worked with engineers to program the dogs according to her instructions.She and three robot dogs will be in National Gallery of Victoria Triennale The art exhibition will open on December 3 in Melbourne, Australia. Throughout the event, visitors will be able to watch dogs create paintings on their own.

She acknowledges that the dogs are now associated with her brand: a painter dedicated to immortalizing technology beyond its obsolescence and paying homage to the work of Silicon Valley. One of the robots, which she calls Basia, is her pet—the perfect pet for someone commuting between San Francisco and New York. Of course, Barcia doesn’t need a dog walker if Pilat is gone for a week or two, although the couple does enjoy walking the streets of Manhattan for a week or two. Its fun.

“Basia is very cute, unlike the work at SpaceX, which is very serious, very exciting, ecstatic, and I would almost say there is a prophetic element to it,” Pilat said. “Basia is very silly, so it’s It’s a completely opposite approach.”

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“I work for the machine.”

At SpaceX, Pilat has been working on a project called “endlessAfter perusing the many pieces of equipment at the SpaceX campus in Hawthorne, Calif., she immediately settled on something that appealed to her: the hatch of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, NASA’s spacecraft rely heavily on Send astronauts to the International Space Station.

“I like the idea that it’s a door to infinity or infinity, which is space and time,” she said.

Although Pilat’s name isn’t a household name, she is becoming one among tech investors. New York Magazine reports last year called her Silicon Valley Elite’s Favorite Artist — a far cry from her impoverished childhood in communist Poland. The article quoted Jaylen Lanier as saying, One of the pioneers of virtual realitywho said she could speak their language.

“I don’t think everything she actually said was positive,” he said, “but people heard what they wanted to hear.”

Every other week, she visits her SpaceX studio, where the company rolls around a giant spare capsule they typically use for training exercises. She then used oil paint on large pieces of Belgian linen to create images of spacecraft. Round doors, either close to their actual size or larger to make them more grand. Her workspace is a collection of scattered palettes and paintbrushes, with empty SpaceX coffee cups piled around the edges of her desk. Some of her pieces are prefabricated. Sold, but she stored the painting at SpaceX for employees to enjoy.

“When you think about technology and religion, you see a lot of similarities.”

Each hatch she painted was surrounded by gold leaf, meant to evoke the aura of the old masters in Christian iconography. Long before Pilat trained Barcia to sit, she was studying classical portraiture. She enjoys using these techniques when painting to draw connections between today’s machines and historical nobility, wealth and religion.

She sees technology sometimes being praised as the modern savior.

“When you think about technology and religion, you see a lot of similarities. One of them, of course, is the utopian idea of ​​a better future,” she said.

The similarities also play out in the fandoms surrounding the ultra-wealthy CEOs who lead these companies, she added. Take Musk, for example. He has quite a devout following, especially on the social platform X (formerly known as Twitter). he won last year.

“You could use the word ‘worship,'” she said.