THE SPOTTED INSIGHT. IS THERE LIFE ON MARS?

In the frame of a science exhibition curated by SCIENCE COMMUNICATIONS.
1.6.2006 – 15.7.2006, Planetarium, Vienna

Spatial installation/Architecture: Barbara Imhof, Waltraut Hoheneder

Concept: Karin Harasser, Barbara Imhof

Drawings: Nikolaus Gansterer

Sound Space: Markus Tatzer, René Waclavicek

Translated Interviews: monochrom

Graphic Design: Barbara Imhof, Waltraut Hoheneder

Everybody can see it. Could it be, that it is alive?

Theme: From evidence to hypothesis. Forensic investigations on Mars.

Is there extraterrestrial life? This question has been occupying humankind and the science community until today. There have been various tests and experiments to find out if there is life on Mars. In the less probed area of the Martian South pole region appear changing “Dark Dune Spots” in a seasonal rhythm. Partly they vanish partly they emerge at the same spot again.

An interdisciplinary team of Hungarian scientists (planetology, biology, geology, astronomy and geography) analyse images of the “Dark Dune Spots” like detectives and compare them with similar geological or biological formations on Earth. The scientists established the hypothesis that the Dark Dune Spots could be indicators of extremophile life under the ice surface of Mars. How does one know if these spots are alive or not? How can one prove without having a possibility to go to the South pole of a planet which is 45,5 und 401,3 Mio. km away from Earth? The analysis of the images of the orbiting satellite Mars Global Surveyor becomes a forensic investigation. Through profiling knowledge of this phenomena is accumulated and becomes evidence.

all images courtesy NASA

DESIGN/ PROJECT:

Starting with the associative potential of the design of the ExoMars Rover for ESA (2004) a concept for an investigation object for Mars was developed. It consists of a main body and two independent swarm parts. All objects are situated around a circular pool which serves as a window to the south pole of Mars. They are interactive and show the research outcome and related material of the Hungarian research group. The energy for all objects derives from photovoltaic panels of the main body.

The forensic technique of the researchers is demonstrated with NASA images they use, and drawings by the artist Gansterer. The film „Blow Up“ by Michelangelo Antonioni opens the question about the research methodology and an interview by Eörs Szathmary explains the analogy. In the film a photographer photographs by coincidence a murder which he only sees through enlarging the photos and through thorough investigation of them.

To each shown piece of investigation material there are interviews; these audio spaces surround the according part of the objects. A larger scale sound space by the sound artists Tatzer and Waclavicek creates a zone which connects the planetarium and the “south pole of Mars”. Synthetic Martian sounds and alienated original quotes from interviews produce a detached atmosphere within the hive of the city.