The
infinite blackness of space embodies a deeply ingrained fascination
for us. For millennia we have gazed at the night sky and
pondered the existence of things much larger than ourselves. So
what is it about us that causes such malady? Why do we dream of space
travel?
We
pay witness to a time where the initial excitement about the future
of space travel has turned into a more sobering reality of funding
issues, extreme technical challenges and the promise of lives yet to
be lost to accident or sacrificed to the sheer time requirements
involved in traversing this void to even our nearest neighbouring
planets let alone to a possible life sustaining 'other' Earth light
years away. As
we are steadily running out of resources we are starting to question
the need to invest vast amounts of energy into these programs. Can
we really afford to keep this pace? At what cost? Can we afford not
to? If we take into account the recent announcements by the
scientific community that if we continue growing at the rate we
currently are, as soon as 2030 Humanity will require 2 planets to
support itself.
The fragile
incomplete tower, placed on a black perspex reflecting its image
like a dark mirror, is constructed out of thin sheets of soft
balsa wood giving the appearance of balancing on the edge of
collapse.
(excerpt
from proposal, Mariana Jandova, 2011)