Golden Record / image No. 117
color photograph
29,5 x 23 cm

On October 20th, 2022 the image of a sanitation truck (Jamaica Bay, 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. The image is to be understood as addition to the collection of 116 diagrams and pictures generated by NASA in 1977 to supply the data collection stored on the Golden Records which was designed to inform possible extraterrestials about the existence of the earth and its inhabitants. The images on the data disc describe many aspects of human existence, but leave the reality of our modern life, such as the production of waste in large parts unnoticed.

The work was created during my Artist-in-Science Residence at European Space Agency (ESA / ESOC) in collaboration with Kultur einer Digitalstadt in Darmstadt.


Installation view: Albrecht Haag