The colossal sense of scale in this Voyager 1 photo changes our perspective in fundamental ways. Astronauts are said to call it the “overview effect,” a cognitive shift in awareness during spaceflight, often while viewing the Earth from orbit. It refers to the experience of seeing firsthand the fragile ball of life, “hanging in the void.” Astronauts claim national boundaries vanish, conflicts become less important, and the need to protect this “pale blue dot” becomes both obvious and imperative.

This is a vastness not only of space, but also time. Humanity’s entire existence is a mere blink of an eye on a cosmic time scale. We are impermanent. In my art, I ask what this staggering sense of scale means for art on our pale blue dot.

I am Ashley Zelinskie, an artist that sometimes feels the size of a pixel, much smaller even than the pale blue dot. Coming to terms with our place in the universe invites new and interesting artistic questions. What if we were to make art that is not just for us, here and now? What if we were to make art for the cosmos, and for the future?

Each of my pieces were made with an eye to our position in space and time. For the pale blue dot in the void; for computers that will outlast their makers; for the technology that may someday supplant humanity. This is art for the singularity.

My work strives to carry our proud human heritage—our artistic traditions, our great discoveries—into the future. Drawing on our artistic history, I code the essence of humanity into works of art that also speak the language of science and mathematics.