Space Museum

“When I first came across Fedorov’s book The Question of Brotherhood, it struck me first and foremost as a techno-utopia”

“Fedorov’s Cosmism is not simply a dream of a better future or a philosophical speculation; it is, in fact, a recipe book for action”

“In our search for “everyday Cosmism,” we can take another step forward and see ordinary people who have never read Fedorov or any other Russian Cosmist doing things that the “founding fathers” could only dream of doing”

“Through conversations with space enthusiasts in Russia, I learned of Pyotr Druzhinin, an ordinary resident of Tallinn, who had created a space museum in his private apartment”

“Fedorov had said, “Each man carries a museum within himself.” Evidently, carrying around a museum is too cumbersome, but setting it up in one’s home is certainly possible”

“the three pillars of Fedorov’s Cosmism—the regulation of nature, resurrection, and space exploration—are inextricably linked”

“Taking space out of Cosmism could hardly give us a better insight into the ideas of Fedorov or any other Cosmists. In this regard, we would do well to read Walter Benjamin’s “Theses on the Philosophy of History” (a key text for the combination of Marxism and Сosmism, according to Sofronov) through the lens of the “сosmist” fragment titled “To the Planetarium” from Benjamin’s own One Way Street”

“According to Fedorov, the museum, as the site of resurrection, is also an observatory”

“According to Fedorov’s vision, with the help of astronomy, humanity will ultimately transform the earth itself into a spaceship: “Science will come to be defined as knowledge of the Earth as a heavenly body, coupled with the knowledge of other planets that resemble it”

“In this sense, a space museum is a place for the research and exploration of space—a showcase of humanity’s efforts, past and present, to explore the Earth and the Universe”

“Druzhinin’s space museum is a place of gifts, friendship, and hospitality”

“Pyotr Druzhinin’s space museum is an “experimental lab for our collective future.””

“It is, indeed, the proving ground for the kind of political means that exist among small groups of friends, rather than among professional castes, national states, or humankind. A small community obsessed by space, scattered across the world and separated by closed borders, is localized in Druzhinin’s apartment”

“Perhaps, then, this museum is the birthplace of homemade Cosmism, which may eventually lead individual humans (rather than humanity as a whole) not only to an out-of-this-world journey, but also to resurrection”