OK Go on parabolic airplane flight
OK Go’s zero-gravity art contest follows up on a music video that the group performed during a zero-gravity airplane flight. (OK Go Photo)

Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture is joining forces with the music-video masters at OK Go to give students a chance to send art experiments into outer space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital spaceship.

The “Art in Space” contest follows up on OK Go’s viral “Upside Down & Inside Out” video, which splashed paint all over the interior of an airplane during a zero-gravity parabolic airplane flight.

“Now we want you to try, but in actual space!” the music group says in today’s contest announcement.

Winners won’t be able to get quite as wild and crazy as OK Go did: Their experiments will have to be confined inside a 4-by-4-by-8-inch box that would be packed aboard an upcoming New Shepard test flight in West Texas. They can weigh no more than 1.1 pounds, and explosives are frowned upon.

Despite the limitations, teams will have wide leeway to design a payload that produces art in microgravity. Students aged 11 to 18 are eligible to enter, in groups of three or more with an over-21 mentor to guide them.

May 6 is the deadline for submitting an application, including an essay that describes the proposed experiment.

“We will be looking for the most creative and original ideas that utilize as many diverse skill sets as possible! That’s how we create our videos, by thinking up an idea, asking ourselves if it is possible, and then problem solving with skills that tap into math, art, physics –– all subject areas!” OK Go says.

Two winners will be announced in June, and will work with OK Go’s team of engineers and aerospace experts to turn the experimental concept into reality. Launch aboard New Shepard will be scheduled in 2020 or so –– and then, who knows? Your experiment could turn into a viral video of OK Go proportions.

OK Go Sandbox’s “Art in Space” contest is sponsored by Cognizant, with Blue Origin and the University of St. Thomas’ Playful Learning Lab in St. Paul, Minn., serving as partners. Check the rules and eligibility requirements for details and the online application form.

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