hello. we existed.

Hello. We existed.

INDEX Intro page Welcome to the Anthropocene page Im-mortality page Ashes to ashes – binary to binary page Scenario page Bibliography and image index page

04 06–09 10–11 12–19 24–29 30

03

We hide our treasures in the oceans.

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IMMG 1

05

In the year 1977 a insight into human culture was shot into space on the Voyager spacecraft. The Voyager Golden Record contains sounds and images selected to portray the broad diversity of life and culture on Earth, and is intended for any intelligent extraterrestrial life form who may find them. (Pyne, Stephen J.) Years later, humanity had to admit that all its digital culture is at risk of getting lost. A heritage of data depending on ephemeral devices. With their heads in the iClouds they thought about a new way of collecting data that might stand the test of time. In 2017 human beings start to record their terrestrial era by using new forms of tombstones. By this they hope to create a glimpse into our era on the planet – a glimpse to see what and who we were. These plastic rocks preserve a cultural record in a form that can only be understood by intelligent future relatives. They materialize the principles of openness as a form of communication that endures.

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IMMG 2

WELCOME TO THE ANTHROPOCENE An epoch defined by nuclear tests, plastic pollution and domesticated chicken Time is divided by geologists according to marked shifts in Earth’s state. Recent global environmental changes suggest that Earth may have entered a new and humandominated geological epoch, the Anthropocene. Here we review the historical genesis of the idea and assess anthropogenic signatures in the geological record against all the formal requirements for the

IMMG 3: We don´t know exactly how long plastic will survive. But it is made to remain.

recognition of a new epoch. The evidence suggests that of the various proposed dates two do appear to conform to the criteria to mark the beginning of the Anthropocene: 1610 and 1964. With the formal establishment of an Anthropocene Epoch we would mark a fundamental change in the relationship between humans and the earth system (Davies, Jeremy).

07

The combination of plastic and campfires has formed a wholly new sedimentary rock dubbed ÂťplastiglomerateÂŤ. (Castro, Joseph)

08

IMMG 4

PLASTIGLOMERATE: THE FIRST STONE THAT IS 100 PERCENT HUMAN IN ORIGIN Plastiglomerate is a term that was proposed by Patricia Corcoran, Charles Moore and Kelly Jazvac for a stone that contains mixtures of sedimentary grains, and other natural debris (e.g. shells, wood) that is held together by hardened molten plastic. It has been considered as a potential marker of the Anthropocene (Corcoran, Patricia & Moore, Charles & Jazvac, Kelly).

09

The impact of our binge species is beyond capacity to measure. We dare to endure time. We impose our evanescence on the time of rocks – the history of the universe – a thing so much bigger than ourselves we will never see it. It is our cheapness that we inherit to future generations. All the products that we use today agglomerate over centuries with the earth we stand on and become terra futura.

Who would have ever believed that infinity can be that colourful, full of shapes, glitter and surfaces? Breathtaking. We celebrate eternity in the best way we can. Our values are crystallizing. Our goods shape geology. We reshape the world.

10

IM–MORTALITY (...) breath out, breath in, breath out, breath in, breath out. Burried in wooden coffins, filled in self-disposal urns. We vanish away. The last remainings of our bodies decay. Meanwhile our possessions remain. They float in the ocean, gather together on beaches, invade organisms and form hybrids with our environment. Impossible to count. It is said that the biggest fear of human beings is the fear of being forgotten, which goes hand in hand with the fear of dying (Ariès, Philippe). With our minds in clouds, Google, Apple and all the other big heavenly bodies enable us to turn ourselves into an immortal presence. We could live on forever, overcoming

Writings engraved on stone stand the test of time (IMMG 5, 6).

death with the help of technological achievements. In the end, death itself might die and we live surrounded by deceased in digital form. No more dead, no more fear of being forgotten. The sad truth about data storage is that no medium for data storage will last forever. Most of them are replaced by a new storage method before long. Data can be lost due to demagnetism, physical damages, chemical breakdowns, heat or compatibility issues. As our digital devices aren´t blessed with immortality yet, we are doomed to vanish again. We have to find a different medium in which we may continue (indefinitely?).

Tombs are often the most standing things we have from previous civilizations. Naqsh-e Rustam is an ancient necropolis located about 12 km northwest of Persepolis, in Fars Province, Iran, with a group of ancient Iranian rock reliefs cut into the cliff, from both the Achaemenid (550–330 BC) and Sassanid periods (224 to 651 AD). (Sarkhosh, Vesta & Curtis, Sarah)

11

What will remain as there is no longer a sharp demarcation between humans and machines.

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ASHES TO ASHES binary to binary The phrase »ashes to ashes and dust to dust« is a liturgical formula frequently used during funerals. The saying comes from Ecclesiastes 3:20 or possibly Genesis 3:19 »By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.« (1. Mose 3,19; 18,27.) We are made of the dust and that is what we turn back into after we die. The grave forms a natural place of conversion back to terrestrial life. As ashes represents the smallest leftovers of the human body, binary data is its digital companion. The assumption is that we humans are

essentially information and that information can be indefinitely stored. The binary number system represents values using two symbols, 0 and 1. These symbols are called bits. A bit is either off (0) or on (1). Mathematics (in any base) and physics can be seen as universal: the idea of the number six doesn’t mean anything different to a being on the opposite side of the Universe, even if they use a different set of numerals, or even a different numeral base, to represent it. The construct is our symbol for the number 6. Binary as a mean to send a message is relatively easy to understand, as it is simply on and off.

ESSENTIALLY WE ARE INFORMATION AND THAT INFORMATION CAN BE STORED.

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WE TURN INTO STONES This new form of headstone contains binary encoded text and images selected to portray a human being. It is intented for any intelligent terrestrial life form or for future humans, who may find it. The information is made to endure for ages. Therefore it is protected from software obsolesence, bitrot or hardward failure. LASERED IN ENDURING MATERIAL IT IS SAFE FOR FUTURE ERAS TO COME. To reduce data that is passed on to future humans or other future lifeforms the binary code reveals specific information that can help to rebuild a picture of our current era. The stone contains encoded information. The name might not be that important but it creates a bridge from the death of a person to the unknown time to come. In that way it helps to take the fear of the unknown door that we pass through after we die. Additionally information on the gender is added. The profession offers a glimpse into the daily life that we lead. With the day of birth and the day of death a timeline can be created and links to other headstones can be built. The type of death gives information on our society, health issues or wartimes. Geographical coordinates enable future humans to reconstruct the plate tectonics and give further information on the trajectory of a person. Finally an encoded image of the deceased gives information about bodies, facial expressions, landscapes surrounding the person eg. As each stone is part of a puzzle that forms a comprehensive view on our era, the stones meet the desiry for indivduality. Whereas the basic form itself is democratic and is designed to not offer space for highlighting a certain human life.

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tanja müller female communication designer birth 03.10.1988 49° 25’ 31.47’’ N 11° 4’ 46.76’’ E death 01.04.2200 16° 45’ 59.72’’ N 3° 0’ 9.22’’ W cause shark attack children 0

01110100 01100001 01101110 01101010 01100001 00100000 01101101 11000011 10111100 01101100 01101100 01100101 01110010 00001101 00001010 01100110 01100101 01101101 01100001 01101100 01100101 00001101 00001010 01100011 01101111 01101101 01101101 01110101 01101110 01101001 01100011 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00100000 01100100 01100101 01110011 01101001 01100111 01101110 01100101 01110010 00001101 00001010 01100010 01101001 01110010 01110100 01101000 00100000 00110000 00110011 00101110 00110001 00110000 00101110 00110001 00111001 00111000 00111000 00001101 00001010 00110100 00111001 11000010 10110000 00100000 00110010 00110101 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 00110011 00110001 00101110 00110100 00110111 11100010 10000000 10011001 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 01001110 00001101 00001010 00110001 00110001 11000010 10110000 00100000 00110100 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 00110100 00110110 00101110 00110111 00110110 11100010 10000000 10011001 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 01000101 00001101 00001010 01100100 01100101 01100001 01110100 01101000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00101110 00110000 00110100 00101110 00110010 00110010 00110000 00110000 00001101 00001010 00110001 00110110 11000010 10110000 00100000 00110100 00110101 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 00110101 00111001 00101110 00110111 00110010 11100010 10000000 10011001 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 01001110 00001101 00001010 00110011 11000010 10110000 00100000 00110000 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 00111001 00101110 00110010 00110010 11100010 10000000 10011001 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 01010111 00001101 00001010 01100011 01100001 01110101 01110011 01100101 00100000 01110011 01101000 01100001 01110010 01101011 00100000 01100001 01110100 01110100 01100001 01100011 01101011 00001101 00001010

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01100101 00001101 00001010 01100011 01101111 01101101 01101101 01110101 01101110 01101001 01100011 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00100000 01100100 01100101 01110011 01101001 01100111 01101110 01100101 01110010 00001101 00001010 01100010 01101001 01110010 01110100 01101000 00100000 00110000 00110011 00101110 00110001 00110000 00101110 00110001 00111001 00111000 00111000 00001101 00001010 00110100 00111001 11000010 10110000 00100000 00110010 00110101 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 00110011 00110001 00101110 00110100 00110111 11100010 10000000 10011001 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 01001110 00001101 00001010 00110001 00110001 11000010 10110000 00100000 00110100 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 00110100 00110110 00101110 00110111 00110110 11100010 10000000 10011001 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 01000101 00001101 00001010 01100100 01100101 01100001 01110100 01101000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00101110 00110000 00110100 00101110 00110010 00110010 00110000 00110000 00001101 00001010 00110001 00110110 11000010 10110000 00100000 00110100 00110101 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 00110101 00111001 00101110 00110111 00110010 11100010 10000000 10011001 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 01001110 00001101 00001010 00110011 11000010 10110000 00100000 00110000 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 00111001 00101110 00110010 00110010 11100010 10000000 10011001 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 01010111 00001101 00001010 01100011 01100001 01110101 01110011 01100101 00100000 01110011 01101000 01100001 01110010 01101011 00100000 01100001 01110100 01110100 01100001 01100011 01101011 00001101 00001010 01100101 00001101 00001010 01100011 01101111 01101101 01101101 01110101 01101110 01101001 01100011 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00100000 01100100 01100101 01110011 01101001 01100111 01101110 01100101 01110010 00001101 00001010 01100010 01101001 01110010 01110100 01101000 00100000 00110000 00110011 00101110 00110001 00110000 00101110 00110001 00111001 00111000 00111000 00001101 00001010 00110100 00111001 11000010 10110000 00100000 00110010 00110101 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 00110011 00110001 00101110 00110100 00110111 11100010 10000000 10011001 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 01001110 00001101 00001010 00110001 00110001 11000010 10110000 00100000 00110100 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 00110100 00110110 00101110 00110111 00110110 11100010 10000000 10011001 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 01000101 00001101 00001010 01100100 01100101 01100001 01110100 01101000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00101110 00110000 00110100 00101110 00110010 00110010 00110000 00110000 00001101 00001010 00110001 00110110 11000010 10110000 00100000 00110100 00110101 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 00110101 00111001 00101110 00110111 00110010 11100010 10000000 10011001 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 01001110 00001101 00001010 00110011 11000010 10110000 00100000 00110000 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 00111001 00101110 00110010 00110010 11100010 10000000 10011001 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 01010111 00001101 00001010 01100011 01100001 01110101 01110011 01100101 00100000 01110011 01101000 01100001 01110010 01101011 00100000 01100001 01110100 01110100 01100001 01100011 01101011 00001101 00001010 00111000 00111000 00001101 00001010 00110100 00111001 11000010 10110000 00100000 00110010 00110101 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 00110011 00110001 00101110 00110100 00110111 11100010 10000000 10011001 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 01001110 00001101 00001010 00110001 00110001 11000010 10110000 00100000 00110100 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 00110100 00110110 00101110 00110111 00110110 11100010 10000000 10011001 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 01000101 00001101 00001010 01100100 01100101 01100001 01110 01100101 00001101 00001010 01100011 01101111 01101101 01101101 01110101 01101110 01101001 01100011 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00100000 01100100 01100101 01110011 01101001 01100111 01101110 01100101 01110010 00001101 00001010 01100010 01101001 01110010 01110100 01101000 00100000 00110000 00110011 00101110 00110001 00110000 00101110 00110001 00111001 00111000 00111000 00001101 00001010 00110100 00111001 11000010 10110000 00100000 00110010 00110101 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 00110011 00110001 00101110 00110100 00110111 11100010 10000000 10011001 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 01001110 00001101 00001010 00110001 00110001 11000010 10110000 00100000 00110100 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 00110100 00110110 00101110 00110111 00110110 11100010 10000000 10011001 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 01000101 00001101 00001010 01100100 01100101 01100001 01110100 01101000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00101110 00110000 00110100 00101110 00110010 00110010 00110000 00110000 00001101 00001010 00110001 00110110 11000010 10110000 00100000 00110100 00110101 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 00110101 00111001 00101110 00110111 00110010 11100010 10000000 10011001 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 01001110 00001101 00001010 00110011 11000010 10110000 00100000 00110000 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 00111001 00101110 00110010 00110010 11100010 10000000 10011001 11100010 10000000 10011001 00100000 01010111 00001101 00001010 01100011 01100001 01110101 01110011 01100101 00100000 01110011 01101000 01100001 01110010 01101011 00100000 01100001 01110100 01110100 01100001 01100011 01101011 00001101 00001010 01100101 00001101 00001010 01100011 01101111 01101101 01101101 01110101 01101110 01101001 01100011 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00100000 01100100 01100101 01110011 01101001 01100111 01101110 01100101 01110010 00001101 00001010 01100010 01101001 01110010 01110100 01101000 00100000 00110000 00110011 00101110 00110001 00110000 00101110 00110001 00111001 00111000 00111000 00001101 00001010 00110100 00111001 11000010 10110000 00100000 00110010 00110101 11100010 10000000 10011001

17

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NOW

FUTURE

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Huge amounts of data are narrowed down.

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Future civilizations who encounter the rocks might be able to decode them and learn more about our era. The collection of plastiglomerate will form a library on past decades. Single images of the past that enable a glimpse into our current era. With this gesture all the materialized data forms a new type of analog preservation medium.

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20

stone

ashes

plastic

The headstone contains the ashes of the deceased and basic information encoded in binary units and engraved in plastic. In that way it is information and grave at the same time. When we humans create the stone we can give it any shape. By the usage of plastic and stone the urn represents our current terrestrial era. Together with all our leftovers on the planet and changing geology the shape will transform over time.

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The »exterritorialisation« of modern societies also includes death. As our life is fleeting, our headstones are fleeting as well. They get carried away by rivers, brought to other contintents or sink down to the earth. Our society submits to continuous mobility. An individual and permanent location is intangible – even after life. The single headstones remain on the planet and form part of a memory landscape.

24

Over the centuries the stones become part of the landscape. In some areas they form new types of mountains, in other areas they disappear underneath other layers of soil – waiting for their discovery.

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Upon closer inspection, the symbols appear more like hieroglyphs, cryptic signums that they can not understand.

26 DECRYPTION Decoding the binary data is a challenge and only possible to taggle for advanced future civilizations. Like the stone of rossetta from 196 BC was the key to read the hyroglyphs, also the headstones need a key to be read. Instructions in a symbolic language explain the origin of the headstones and indicate how the content is to be decoded. By the help of this the possible finder – no matter if human or not – might be able to decode the binary messages and will be given a broad overview over our era. As a help to read the binary system, a key that contains information on how to read the single information on the headstones is hidden in specific places on our planet. This medium contains: _The numbers 1–10 in binary code _Information on the used time system: A sun that is surrounded by a planetery is seen. Beneath the planet the number 1 is shown. This determines that the orbit of the star sun is seen as a standard unit of time. For us humans this means one year passes by. _Beneath this the reader sees an illustration of earth in a Mollweid projection. This shows the current state of our time and with this the current location of the continents. _On the left side the terrestrial continents 200 million years ago can be seen. _On the right side the expected shape of the continents in 8 million years is shown. _The finder of this information can locate himself and calculate an estimated time that has passed since the message was created. _In order to decode the letters the numerical representation of the binary code (ASSCI) is displayed.

27

I IO II IOO IOI IIO III IOOO IOOI IOIO

I

IO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO

IOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO OOO

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

OIIOOOOI OIIOOOIO OIIOOOII OIIOOIOO OIIOOIOI OIIOOIIO OIIOOIII OIIOIOOO OIIOIOOI OIIOIOIO OIIOIOII OIIOIIOO OIIOIIOI OIIOIIIO OIIOIIII OIIIOOOO OIIIOOOI OIIIIOOIO OIIIIOOII OIIIIOIOO OIIIOIOI OIIIOIIO OIIIOIII OIIIIOOO OIIIIOOI OIIIIOIO

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Along with the help of these instructions they discovered that the engravings were actually binary code and contained data. A series of ones and zeroes is communicated, deoded and understood – a precious relic of ancient times.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Ariès, Philippe (1974). Western attitudes towards death: from the Middle Ages to the present. University Press. Castro, Joseph (2015). Plastic Legacy: Humankind’s Trash Is Now a New Rock. Available here: http://www.livescience.com/46057-human-trashbecomes-new-plastiglomerate-rock.html (state: 14. Mai 2015). Corcoran, Patricia & Moore, Charles & Jazvac, Kelly (2013). An anthropogenic marker horizon in the future rock record. GSA TODAY. Davies, Douglas (2004). A Brief History of Death. Oxford: Blackwell. Davies, Jeremy (2016). The Birth of the Anthropocene. University of California Press. Herrmann, G. & Curtis, V. S. (2003). Sasanian Rock Reliefs. Encyclopedia Iranica. Costa Mesa: Mazda. Nuwer, Rachel (2014). Future Fossils: Plastic Stone. Available here: https:// www.nytimes.com/2014/06/10/science/earth/future-fossils-plastic-stone. html?_r=1 (state: 10. Mai 2015). Pyne, Stephen J (2010). Voyager: Exploration, Space, and the Third Great Age of Discovery. Viking Penguin. Sarkhosh, Vesta & Curtis, Sarah (2005). Birth of the Persian Empire. I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd. IMAGE INDEX As far as not differently marked the images are either own photogrpahys or illustrations. IMMG 1: https://www.payetteforward.com/icloud-storage-full-never-pay-foricloud-backup-again/2/ (state: 04.06.2017). IMMG 2: http://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion (state: 12.05.2017). IMMG 3: http://viralsection.com/ (state: 15.05.2017). IMMG 4: http://www.e-flux.com/journal/78/82878/plastiglomerate/ (state: 16.05.2017). IMMG 5: http://www.bilderbuch-koeln.de/Fotos/flittard_grabstein_auf_ dem_kirchhof_von_st_hubertus_63568 (state: 10.05.2017). IMMG 6: Stephane Rossini (1989). Egyptian Hieroglyphics: How to Read and Write Them. Dover Publications.

We become the treasure.

tanja mĂźller | summer 2017 | kisd