In late July, Fathomers convened a group of artists, designers, entrepreneurs, poets, and scholars to begin thinking about a global communication system of “beacons” linking the sites of Twelve Earths, a work that aspires to communicate with audiences now and thousands of years in the future.
Twelve Earths: Open Signal began with an opening presentation on the project by artist Michael Jones McKean. Then, over two days, participants met for five roundtable sessions led by Open Signal co-curator David Kim. They wrestled with daunting questions: What might we wish to communicate? How might we make ourselves understood over centuries, let alone millennia? How do we account for non-human perspectives? In what objects and technologies might Twelve Earths’ beacons be constructed? Can they both acknowledge the global and respond sensitively to local conditions?
The convening came to a close with a research synthesis and presentation by the design team.
