MARS!

In the project MARS! – Mobilizing Awareness for Resilient Societies! – ZKM | Hertzlab wants to challenge the signifier the planet Mars has become and to use it to address very pressing Earth matters. We will imagine for a moment that we, the global society, have decided to make Mars settlements a democratic Commons project. Rather than being left behind on a burning planet and looking on as the wealthy leave towards redder pastures, we will make Mars a democratic project for the rest of us, designing practical and utopian aspects of the question “What would we do if we could start over?”

To this end, we are inviting scientists and citizen scientists to come together at ZKM to design and prototype key features of what a Mars settlement would look like: a habitat able to withstand adverse weather conditions; a recycling system that makes the best use of valuable resources; a social order that is able to work under crisis and duress; a care system for a planet that did not ask for human presence.

During the project, we notice that all the skills needed for a democratic Mars settlement are also needed to adjust to a climate-changed Earth, giving us the necessary competence to start building a better society today. Going to Mars slowly becomes MARS! and we become aware of what we need to do in order to become a resilient society right here, where we are.