Barry Streek
French scientist-artist Jean-Marc Philippe came to South Africa this week to promote the world’s largest and, perhaps, wackiest art project: to launch a satellite into orbit with six billion messages that will come back to Earth in 50 000 years’ time.
“It is a gift from man of today to the man of tomorrow,” he explained. Philippe trained as a scientist in the 1960s and obtained a doctorate in geophysics, but while he was working on his thesis he realised the limitations of a scientific approach and, resolving to “forsake the rational for the intuitive”, started painting.
His satellite project, called KEO, which has been given substantial financial support by a number of European companies, the French government and Unesco, is without doubt his most ambitious undertaking.
He came to Cape Town to address the Pan African Postal Union (Upap) conference because, in contrast to other continents, he found very little African participation so far in the project.
His programme, which is completely free to participants, is “an invitation to every individual on earth to address himself to our faraway future descendants. This message is an expression of oneself, of one’s way of life, of one’s dreams, of one’s hopes and aspirations, of one’s revolts of being inhabitants of planet Earth.”
All the six-billion messages will be stored, without any form of censorship, on KEO, which is to be put into orbit in 2003 and which is being constructed in such a way that it will return to earth undamaged after 500 centuries. The messages, which will come from more than 130 countries in 60 different languages, will be engraved on glass disks that are resistant to time and cosmic radiation.
Philippe says: “In keeping with the glorious human creations that flag the history of humanity, KEO will be penned down in the same league as the pyramids of Egypt and the Great Wall of China, as a universal masterpiece that is the porter of the collective memory of the inhabitants of the twenty-first century who wish to address themselves to the future.”
Once launched, a copy of all the messages will be preserved on Earth but made available only anonymously. “By reading these messages, each one of us can take a peek into the thoughts, ideas, aspirations and dreams of a village chief in Africa, a young girl in love, of a homeless vagabond, of a wise old man in Japan, of an unemployed young lad, or a child living in the slums …”
The satellite will also have a glass plate engraved with portraits of men, women and children representing different ethnic groups, a diamond, tiny spheres of gold, water from the world’s oceans, a pinch of fertile soil, a sample of air and a small drop of human blood.
In 50 000 years “our descendants will uncover a stack of engraved glass disks that will form a contemporary Library of Alexandria, a treasure chest of all our knowledge as it exists today, a catalogue of the flora and fauna, diversity of the arts, fundamental texts of our religions, geopolitical situations, economic agreements and so on.
“This will be exhibited by way of texts, pictures, video clippings and sound.” The disks will include one day of major newspapers from each country.
Philippe demonstrates his scientific background when he explains that “necessary precautions will be taken to ensure that the satellite is protected from the hostile environment in space. Several protective shields will cushion the gifts that are destined for our future descendants.
“The first, an anti-oxygen atomic shield, will protect KEO from residual atmosphere of the Earth. Additional shields of titanium and tungsten, both time-resistant metals, will protect it from cosmic radiation. Due to their high atomic weight, these metals are able to absorb a substantial part of these destructive rays.
“The aluminium, titanium and tungsten shields serve a dual purpose. Interwoven with layers of vacuum, they will also protect KEO from its principle enemies: space debris of human origin and mico-meteorites.”
The detail of his vision is so vast, together with his passion for the project and the large number of sponsors he has obtained, indicate that however wacky the concept appears it is serious.
The winged KEO will take off in 2003, perhaps after this week’s visit to South Africa, with African participation as well.