The Center for Sky Studies is a creative and cultural research initiative examining how humans imagine, interpret, and engage with the sky across memory, myth, and media (aerocultural studies). By integrating comparative folklore, cultural geography, media analysis, and design research, we connect history with speculation to invite and encourage an airminded imagination, grounded in research.
The Center for Sky Studies is dedicated to exploring the mythologies, meanings, and media of human flight across history, culture, and imagination. Through publishing, educational programming, and creative inquiry, we investigate how flight and aviation, real and imagined, shapes our understanding of power, possibility, and “the view” down here. From ancient wings to Afrofuturism, from sky lanterns and stage-dives to gremlins and gravity suits, the Center traces our speculative futures to historic traditions.
We see a world where mythology, history, and speculative thinking intersect to foster interdisciplinary discovery, public engagement, and creative storytelling; reinterpret the sky as a canvas for multicultural meaning; and uplift the shared dream of flight.
Aerocultural Studies spans history, folklore, media, design, and experience, drawing together historic archives, mythological texts, ritual traditions, speculative fiction, and contemporary aerial technologies. Similar to aeroecology, which studies the movement of living things through the atmosphere, aerocultural studies investigates the movement of symbols, stories, and infrastructures across human cultures as they relate to the air and sky.
Aeromythology bridges comparative mythology, cultural anthropology, and science fiction studies to trace how the sky becomes a stage for both divine imagination and technological speculation. Our research and programs range from ethnographic studies of aerial folklore to creative expression, from mapping aerial myth histories to producing experiential creative workshops that explore our relationship with the sky.
In a time of accelerating technology and fractured cultural memory, the sky remains both shared and full of secrets. From gods and dreams to mystery drones and space junk, we continue to project our fears, hopes, and beliefs into the air. Understanding these sky-stories can reconnect us to imagination, community, and curiosity, and shift perceptions of mobility and independence.
Guthrie Allen is a creative director bridging folklore, media, and design at the Center for Sky Studies, where he explores the myths, stories, and practices that connect humans to the sky. Email him here or connect on LinkedIn.