PRIMER - HD Video 00’25’’, 2023
For most of the known history of human life on Earth, the species appeared to have played a relatively minor role in significant developments and events in the atmosphere. Spirits and gods were imagined to be rulers over the weather, climatic periods and extremes – like droughts, floods, heat waves, and ice ages. This self-perception of humans in a relatively passive position has changed with modernity and is being changed even more radically as a result of the scientific findings on “man-made” climate change. Circumstances have emerged in which existential questions must be asked differently. It is still the eternal: Who are we? But in the face of potential extinction, questions about our true meaning and purpose on this planet arise with great urgency. At the same time, it is also about possible rescue measures such as geo-engineering and - for those who can afford it - speculation about the possibility of living in space or on other planets.
As an ongoing mini-series BALANCEGAIA [Balance-Gaia] takes up the theme of Gaia, the ancient Greek goddess of Earth, and more specifically as used in the 'Gaia Concept' introduced by scientist James Lovelock – continued and philosophically elaborated on by Bruno Latour. An approach that seeks to reinterpret the understanding of Earth as a living being, a complex, self-regulating system. A system in which humans have taken on a dominant and influential role and, thus, have responsibility for its balance.
This series formally adapts and imitates short – and ultra-short – clips, such as those used in fashion or brand communication, to provoke further contemplation and stimulate deeper reflection.
Criticism of these specified concepts and positions will be expressed, and current questions about global climate justice and the delegation of responsibility will be addressed.
PIONEER PLAQUE AND GOLDEN RECORD
BALANCEGAIA, Episode I, Trailer - HD Video 01’08’’, 2025
PIONEER PLAQUES
The Pioneer plaques were placed on board the 1972 Pioneer 10 and 1973 Pioneer 11 spacecraft as “A Message from Earth" addressed to extraterrestrial life. The plaques show the nude figures of a human male and female, along with several symbols designed to provide information about the spacecraft's origin.
This NASA project has been criticized not only for the potential dangers of communicating Earth's position in the galaxy to unknown life forms, and whether one nation state alone should be allowed to make this decision, but also for depicting the human figures as much more Caucasian, as the “global majority,” a collective term for people of African, Asian, indigenous, Latin American, or mixed heritage, makes up about 85% of the world's population, who do not see themselves represented here.
GOLDEN RECORD
In 1977 NASA sent two probes named Voyager I and Voyager II out towards the far edges of the solar system. A team of scientists led by Carl Sagan created two golden records with encrypted messages and greetings from Earth, which contained photographs as well as music and sound recordings. From today's perspective, the entire curation of this project seems overly optimistic and characterized by bizarre naivety. The photographs, as well as a letter from President Carter, do not mention the abysses of the man-made world, such as war, genocide, global injustice, slavery, nuclear overkill, the extinction of species, the brutality of factory farming and the general destruction of the planet through technological progress. In addition, and much more seriously than in the case of the Pioneer Plaques, the photographs show in great detail how the human organism and reproduction work and what resources can be found on Earth. Highly sensitive information to unknown recipients – the potential risk (dark forest theory) was trumped by the hubris of the initiators.
In particular, the image demonstrating the human forms of food intake, i.e. licking, eating and drinking, attracted a great deal of ridicule and is also discussed here from the perspective of an AI robot.
There is still radio contact with the probes, and some of the instruments are still in operation and sending data to Earth. It is estimated that contact will be lost by 2030, but the space crafts with the information on the records will continue to travel through space for the next 40,000 years.
Note: The images used in the video are not the original photographs but manually decrypted representations. Decoding by the team of Verge Science.
Disclaimer: Any resemblance to persons living or dead and to global brand names and corporate identities is purely coincidental