Dystopian and apocalyptic fiction and speculation has been part of our popular culture since early man watched the sun go down and wondered if it would come up again in the morning. It’s been a rich creative vein for writers, artists ( and musicians ) ever since. Our imagination is what sets us apart as a species and it’s the key skill for the creative industries.
There have been many attempts to speculate on how the world could end- from the dramatic, such as films like last years 2012 - to the subtle, like Margaret Atwood’s “Children Of Men”. Aside from the drama of the actual end of days - there is something much more interesting and human - what do we leave behind????
Your task is simple - if you knew that the human race was going to vanish - and you had warning - what would you leave behind to mark your presence here.
We have been trying to answer this conundrum for millennia. From the Pyramids of Egypt to the pictogram inside the Pioneer spacecraft, to the modest wooden crosses on the battlefields of Flanders - it’s an important part of the human psyche to feel that some evidence of our presence should be left behind, it’s probably why we find the fossilised remains of giant beasts so fascinating, a glimpse into a world we can never really understand - imagine that in a thousand years something is left behind to let the universe know that you were here.
This brief comes in 2 parts.
First, spend your summer thinking about who you are, collect evidence - scrapbooks and sketchbooks that define you - your life, your daily existence - what you are and what you believe, this calls for some maturity and self knowledge, be honest - and look towards the creative side of your personality to bring all these threads together. Imagine that all this research should fit into and fill an A4 box - six inches deep - and is to be taken away and locked in a vault somewhere for perpetuity.
Then, design a monument to mark your time on earth - or can be as big as the pyramids or as small as a pebble. The medium, style, configuration are up to you - but it must be monumental in its own way - and we should all as a group be able to identify you from it.
It’s important that you do this for yourself - it’s all about you - no asking me of anyone else what we think. It also calls for ambition, intelligence and some bravery. It’s time for all of you to start taking control of your work and showing us what you can do independently, and at least one of the modules after the summer will require you to think along the same lines.
Presentation will be on the afternoon of the first studio day back after the summer ( date TBC )
References - there are thousands out there - here are a few things to get you thinking.
“On The Beach: by Neville Shute - brilliant book and film set in Australia during the last few weeks of life on earth
“The Day The Earth Caught Fire” - intelligent British film from the 1960’s set in a newspaper office at the end of the world
“When Worlds Collide” - great Hollywood B movie about earth colliding with an asteroid - much better than Armageddon.
“The Death Of Grass” - Important fictional account of ecological catastrophe by Lewes author John Christopher
“Life After People” - intelligent drama doc from National Geographic available to watch online and youtube
If you go to Google and type in ‘World Without People’ - there are thousands of results where people have speculated and used there imagination to imagine this possible future - including time lines, animation, speculation and artwork.
Look at the evidence that ancient civilisations have left behind - Stonehenge, The Pyramids, Easter Island, The Terracotta Army of Emperor Quin, Cathedrals, Long Barrows and earthworks.
In contrast - the delicate hand daubed images on Ayers Rock in Australia left by long dead aboriginal people are more haunting and evocative than the biggest physical constructions of man. The Footprints left on the moon by the first man to walk there will remain for countless millennia - and every single plastic bag ever made ( unless it’s been burnt ) still exists in some undecayed form.
Will the carved faces of Mount Rushmore last longer than a humble message in a bottle thrown into the sea?
This brief is designed to be challenging and demanding - you are about to go into the final year of your course and you can expect everything to be much harder now - and for you all to begin putting something of yourself into your work. The competition for places on Top Up years and for employment will be very fierce, so time to up your game and start thinking on a whole new level.
Enjoy your summer - have a great time - and bring back something astonishing for us all to see next term.
The Voyager Golden Records are phonograph records which were included aboard both Voyager spacecraft, which were launched in 1977. They contain sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth, and are intended for any intelligent extraterrestrial life form, or far future humans, who may find them. The Voyager spacecraft are not heading towards any particular star, but Voyager 1 will be within 1.6 light years of the star AC+79 3888 in the Ophiuchus constellation in about 40,000 years.
The Pioneer plaques are a pair of gold-anodized aluminum plaques which were placed on board the 1972 Pioneer 10 and 1973 Pioneer 11 spacecraft, featuring a pictorial message, in case either Pioneer 10 or 11 are intercepted by extraterrestrial life. The plaques show the nude figures of a human male and female along with several symbols that are designed to provide information about the origin of the spacecraft.
The Pioneer spacecraft were the first human-built objects to leave the solar system. The plaques were attached to the spacecraft’s antenna support struts in a position that would shield them from erosion by stellar dust.
