matthaei&konsorten
THE GOLDEN RECORD STUDIOS
International collaborations of artistic research, site-specific assemblies, installations, podcasts & a digital archive: Recording a present-day world selfie for our as-yet-unknown alien friends
Almost 50 years after NASA sent its «Golden Records» into space on board Voyager 1 & 2, matthaei&konsorten are launching the GOLDEN RECORD STUDIOS: an artistic project to decolonize our futures. Space is becoming more tangible and our existence on Earth is becoming ever more closely interwoven. It’s high time that Golden Records underwent a re-mastering that is just as diverse as the pluriverse in which we live.
In 1977, NASA catapulted its «Golden Records» into the dark depths of space with the Voyager 1 & 2 space probes. With a shelf life of 500 million years, they are intended to provide information about life on Earth. The grooves contain images of Jane Goodall with chimpanzees, Javanese temple dancers and Dutch cyclists in front of telescope dishes. As well as greetings in 55 languages and pieces of music ranging from European baroque to Azerbaijani bagpipes, from initiation chants by Pygmy girls to American rock’n’roll.
While billionaires prepare the conquest of our neighboring planets, GOLDEN RECORD STUDIOS have nothing less in mind than to counter NASA’s outdated self-portrayal with a more representative world selfie for as yet unknown alien friends.
Obviously, we no longer share the pop-technological optimism of the Western 70s, given the constant buzz of crisis discourse and anxious pride in the upheavals of the Anthropocene. But in the face of this, it is all the more important to celebrate the human imagination, our joy in inventing solutions and narratives – the inexhaustible diversity of our cultural practices.
We therefore use the metaphor of the golden record to unknown intelligences in order to involve as many people, communities, experts and stakeholders as possible:
What should today’s world selfie depict?
Who decides on its content?
How do we want to be remembered?