New Territory
New Territory is inspired by data derived audio that was created from the rover Opportunity (MER-B) that landed on Mars in January 24, 2004. The work focuses on portraying alternative observations of familiar landscapes with the fantasy of what habitability on Mars could be like.
I first heard the audio when I viewed a YouTube video entitled “The first sounds of Mars are kind of freaky’. Later with some research I discovered the sound is not an actual recording from Mar’s atmosphere as the rovers do not carry microphones. However, NASA engineers where able to create an audio frequency from vibrations that were gathered from the accelerometer that maps the rovers voyage. Despite the fact the sound is artificial I was intrigued by its ability to impress upon me a sense of the real. I was intrigued by the associations that I had made. What felt so genuine was based on fictions and imaginings of place.
Interested in our built perceptions of place. I was inspired to look at my own hometown. A place which I’ve never felt the desire to photograph. Could I look at it in a new way? Could the generic become exotic and unexplored in some way. Therefore, I have pin pointed various terrains for discovery by laying a geographical map of the rover’s voyage on Mars over a map of Northern Ireland. This strategy is a way to push me towards documenting uncharted spaces that I’ve yet to discover while highlighting fragments of the banal against imagery that elevates a fictional mythology around themes on the celestial & other worldly possibilities.
During the journey I hope by exploring that it can help bridge the isolation between my relationship with my hometown and the search for something other.
In 2021 we will hear the voice of Mars.
Opportunity audio (about 60 minutes in length) covers Sols 1 to 2143 (Jan. 24, 2004 to Feb. 2, 2010).