Moranic Mission to Montana Early production artwork depicting MUNIN (Module for Unmanned Novel Investigation and Notation) spacecraft and equipment, Steven Brower, 2009.

This month at Parker’s Box, artist Steven Brower‘s Brower Propulsion Laboratory stages a three-week “Pre-Launch Operations Test” for its third large-scale space voyage, lovingly christened “Moranic Mission to Montana.” A pioneer and market leader in the field of one-man, penniless “corporate” aerospace companies, BPL is unique for conducting its exploratory research missions entirely on the planet earth, and, in an industry typically fueled by a desire for financial, political, scientific, and geographical conquest, for undertaking all of its projects in a spirit of “disutility.” “The basic goal of each mission at BPL,” the company’s official website states, is simply “to do something”– and, through, the acquisition of knowledge and technical expertise linked to the demands of each operation, to develop a “parallel universe of pseudoexpertise,” applicable only to BPL operations.

The company’s third mission, scheduled for late August, 2009, will mobilize three handmade robotic spacecraft (a lander, a rover, and a hot air balloon) to retrace the path of Hudson River School painter Thomas Moran in his historic 1871 expedition to Livingston, Montana, near Yellowstone National Park. Until that landmark expedition, which people worldwide will be able to follow on the “Interweb,” people interested in learning more about BPL can drop by Parker’s box for a look at some of Steven Brower’s (patented?) inventions–including, but not limited to, the three spacecraft, a “cheap ass” laser night vision system, water color “surveys” of the Yellowstone terrain, and BPL souvenir merchandise. A bake sale fundraiser will be in effect through all of the gallery’s open hours, with delicious pies, cupcakes, and cookies baked daily by the company CEO himself.

Steven Brower, BPL Mission 003 : Pre-Launch Operations Test (PLOT)
Friday-Monday, 1-7pm, through June 21, 2009
Parker’s Box
193 Grand Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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