Peace on Earth, Peace off Earth, Peace with Earth

The OURS Foundation (1990-2006)

The OURS Foundation was founded in 1990 as a legal entity and vehicle to organize, manage and fund the astronautical art projects that it was developing. All of the members of the board of directors believed, however, that this non-profit organization should have a broader mandate dedicated to introducing, nurturing and expanding a cultural dimension to humanity’s astronautical endeavors.

This intent was embodied in the statues:

STATEMENT
The exploration and development of outer space are contributing to a new awareness of humanity's place and purpose in the cosmos as well as creating new opportunities for its advancement and enrichment, both on and beyond its home planet Earth. It is considered essential that a cultural aspect becomes integrated into these astronautical endeavors in order to insure their success and benefit to all present and future generations.

PURPOSE
The primary purpose of the OURS Foundation is to introduce, nurture and expand a cultural dimension to humanity's astronautical endeavors. This task will be manifested through the identification, investigation, support and realization of related cultural, astronautical, humanitarian, environmental and educational activities which may take place both on and off planet Earth, and which are deemed as beneficial to the development and advancement of human civilization in this new environment.

Commencing in 1990 and continuing until 2006, parallel to its innovative extraterrestrial activities, the OURS Foundation was very active on the surface of Earth as well.

In 1990,in addition to the O.U.R.S. and OUR-SPS presentations at Space Commerce’90 in Montreux, Switzerland and at the invitation of the organizers, the OURS Foundation organized “Visions of Space: The 1st International Space Art Exhibition in Switzerland” which added a cultural aspect to the space technology exhibition making the event more attractive to the public.

Two years later, the Space Commerce organization invited us to do so again at Space Commerce’92 where the Ours Foundation organized the “1st European Space Art Workshop, Symposium and Exhibition” which included the participation of 17 artists from Europe and the US.

Under the auspices of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), the OURS Foundation together with Leonardo - the Journal of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology – and their French branch OLATS was co-organizer of a series of space art workshops held first at the Leonardo premises in Paris (1997-2002) and then later in other venues including "Space: Science, Technology and the Arts" at ESTEC in 2004, the IAA’s “The Impact of Space Activities on Society" conference and workshop held in Budapest, Hungary in 2005, and, in 2006, the "Space: Planetary Consciousness and the Arts" held at the Maison d’Ailleurs, the Museum of Science Fiction, in Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland.

Also, during this time, the OURS Foundation also organized and/or co-organized international exhibitions of space art held at the International Astronautical Congresses (IAC) in Oslo, 1995, Turin, 1997 and in Melbourne in 1998.

The European Space Agency commissioned the Maison d’Ailleurs and the OURS Foundation to conduct a study called: “ITSF- Innovative Technologies from Science Fiction for Space Applications” which was carried out in 2000-2005. An ESA brochure was published and in the course of the study “The Clarke-Bradbury International Science Fiction Competition” for short stories was organized in 2003 and in 2005. The latter one resulted in the publishing of the book “Running the Line – Stories of the Space Elevator”.
www.itsf.org

Working together with the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) the following studies were also performed which in some cases included the development of the respective websites:

IAA study - “The Impact of Space Activities on Society”: where world leaders were invited to comment on the importance of space activities. www.spaceandsociety.org
IAA study - “Space Expectations: How the Public Views Space Activities”: a multilingual survey in 7 languages of the public’s expectations about space. The preliminary results were presented at the IAC in Glasgow. (Website now closed)
IAA / ESA sponsored study co-organized with Leonardo/OLATS: “Spacearts: The Space Art Database” 2003. www.spacearts.info
ESA study 2004 - “Using Space Technology to Celebrate the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy”