Blog Post #8 - Dang and Grimes


Blog Post #8 The Tree of Life

            This project, taking inspiration from the Tree of Life by Julia Christensen, is about both longevity and public interest. Through exploring and understanding the Tree of Life project an important challenge stuck out; how to keep public interest for a project spanning 200 years. The Tree of Life project is faced with many challenges and obstacles stemming from the longevity of the project, but this issue seemed important because of the public funding that this project will rely on. The Tree of Life is both a global endeavor that will face and overcome many obstacles in both the art and science world.
            One of the biggest challenges that NASA has faced over the years has been time. The current longest running missions at NASA are Voyager I and II. They were launched in 1977 and have been active for more than 40 years, but even with such a great accomplishment they are quickly becoming obsolete. Most of the younger generation don’t know about the Voyager missions and what they meant for space travel. This project strives to combat a possible dwindling of public interest over time by creating a plan for the future.
            These posters are meant to be released periodically over the course of the 200 year project. These are for the most significant landmarks of the project, every 50 years, but leaves room for more frequent additions in-between. Each poster explores the accomplishments of the years that have passed as well as encouraging future engagement with the project. The first begins with the sampling of the tree communicating with the far away satellite. Moving to the second poster we see the tree grow and develop over the next 50 years. The half way point is marked by 50% of the globe being monitored by the satellite. The next marker is visualized by ¾ of the trees around the globe being in communication with the satellite. The final poster is a visual representation of the success of the mission, showing the final song etched out on the disc, and the pear to signify the tree that started the project.
            These posters also explore the project visually to help the viewer understand the mission as a whole. They move through different stages of the project to guide the viewer through the expected accomplishments of the mission. Starting with the launch date and ending with the etching of the completed song these posters are a story of a hopeful 200 years.  The posters move through the percent completion of the project using color. As more and more years of the project goes by the more of the poster is colored, until you reach the final poster in full color.
            This project aims to explore the project visually while also challenging and addressing one of the important obstacles that the tree of life will face, time. NASA is a branch of the government funded by the public and therefore it is imperative that they keep public interest in the project. Not only should the public be aware of the accomplishments that this project will bring, but they should also be helping support such an incredible building block for future projects, and that is what we hope to highlight in these posters.
           

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