ICC
OPEN SPACE 2009
Mission G: sensing the earth 1961 was the year of the first manned space flight. For the first time, human beings could view our globe from outside it. With that, we have shifted to perceiving it as reflection of ourselves. In 1972, the first earth observation satellite was launched. Then, in the mid-1990s, the Internet arrived, making information on a global scale readily available. We live in an age in which we can navigate images of the Earth on our computers. Now we are seeing the emergence of an outlook that comprehends changes in the global environment and society in terms of their relationships to ourselves.
Various projects are underway around the world to set up sensors everywhere on earth, connect to the data they collect via networks, and build databases. In the past, such observations were the task of research institutions in the business, government, and academic worlds. Now, however, individuals all over the world are getting involved, voluntarily adding and sharing their own observations. As a result, new technologies, systems, and knowledge are emerging and are being shared globally, by the on-going sensing and perceiving the world.
This exhibition introduces five projects that cut across art and science and share a common forward-looking vision. Each, looking towards the future of our globe, takes as its mission to challenge our perceptions and cognition by using sensors to gather data from all over the world and then visualizing it. During this exhibition, these projects are constantly processing new data in an ongoing transformation of how we see our world.