Things the Golden Records (#Voyager) don´t show - or how I transmitted a sanitation truck into space long before ESAs Blue Danube Waltz

Golden Record / image No. 117

When I was an Artist-in-Science at the European Space Agency - ESA / ESOC in #Darmstadt in 2022 I mainly focussed on our waste culture and how we brought this culture into space (#orbitaldebris). At the same time, I also looked at how we have been turning a blind eye to the waste we produce for decades and continue to do so today. I found it extremely revealing to see that back in 1977, when #NASA made a selection of images to supply the data collection stored on the #GoldenRecords which were designed to inform possible #extraterrestials about the existence of the earth and its inhabitants, the images described many aspects of human existence, but left the reality of our modern life, such as the production of waste in large parts unnoticed.

Which is why I decided to change that and send an extra image into space to be understood as addition to the collection of the 116 diagrams and pictures generated by NASA in 1977 : On October 20th, 2022 the image of a sanitation truck (#JamaicaBay, #NY) from the year 1973 was uplinked through the tracking network of European Space Agency (#ESA) in the direction where the “Golden Records” attached to the NASA Voyager space probes are currently traveling in interstellar space.

We will now see what the extraterrestials will make of it. A sanitation truck floating through space to the beat of the Blue Danube Waltz.

ESA / #BlueDanubeWaltz: https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Operations/ESA_transmits_the_Blue_Danube_Waltz_into_deep_space

[Swaantje Güntzel, Golden Record/image No. 117, 2022, color photograph, 29.5 x 23 cm]

Installation view "Swaantje Güntzel INSTANT PARADISE" 25.5. - 13.8.2023, Villa Dessauer.
Fotos: Tobias Hübel
Image sanitation truck: EPA / Alamy Stock Foto

#art #conceptualart #deepspace #space #sanitationtruck #waste #sanitationtruck

#loompanics unlimited was a very interesting #bookseller selling #books , many of which would get you in a trouble - back in the day possibly, in these days almost certainly.
However, their #Catalogs contained a lot of great #writing . #goldenrecords is one of three (if I remember correctly...or four in total?) #compilations of these #articles . And even when outdated, still entertaining.
Recommended for the inner #rebel in you.
#compilation #dangerousbooks

Seit 40 Jahren in den Weiten des Alls unterwegs: Voyager 1 und 2 feiern am 5. September Jubiläum - und ihr habt die Möglichkeit, den beiden Sonden eine Nachricht zu senden (nur noch bis morgen!). Infos dazu gibt's bei der +NASA: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/voyager/message/

Neben Bach, Beethoven und Mozart fliegen übrigens auch legendäre Lieder wie "Johnny B. Goode" auf den #GoldenRecords mit. Eine komplette Liste gibt's hier: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/voyager/golden-record/whats-on-the-record/music/

Seit 40 Jahren in den Weiten des Alls unterwegs: Voyager 1 und 2 feiern am 5. September Jubiläum - und ihr habt die Möglichkeit, den beiden Sonden eine Nachricht zu senden (nur noch bis morgen!). Infos dazu gibt's bei der +NASA: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/voyager/message/Neben Bach, Beethoven und Mozart fliegen übrigens auch legendäre Lieder wie "Johnny B. Goode" auf den #GoldenRecords mit. Eine komplette Liste gibt's hier: https://squeet.me/photos/dlr/image/2dd75170ad7f81264fc14440c975d7e9