In the year of 2120, together, global warming and overpopulation would threaten the living
space of humans, urging the UN to initiate an interplanetary migration plan to Mars and
beyond. This scheme, as well as monuments that will be constructed on Mars and Earth to
commemorate “life on Earth,” is deeply rooted in the ideas of Russian Cosmist thinkers
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and Nikolai Fedorov. Here, the goal of the monuments is twofold: to
cherish the pioneer settlers’ memories by visualizing their ties with their earthly lives; to unite
the power of humanity by highlighting the existence of shared “planetarian identity” for
audiences on both planets.
One hundred thousand volunteers will go to Mars in the first phase of the immigration scheme, and two identical monuments with the name Image: Human Roots will be constructed after they arrive Mars. Each of the finished construct will feature a cylindrical monolith of interlayered Earthly and Martian soil, as well as a hole with the same dimension by its side.
Image: Human Roots is deeply rooted in the Mono-ha movement and goes beyond the movement’s exploitation of natural material’s power by incorporating an interplanetary dimension and an interactive mechanism. The creation of the monument, for instance, not only takes advantage of Martian settlers’ agency and nostalgia but also visualizes the emotional bond of human kinship since its practical function as the only site on Mars where video messages from Earth can be received and played will urge the settlers to heap up the soil. After its completion, the monuments can visually communicate to viewers human’s shared origin, as well as the totality of human life, through its interlayered soil from two planets and the spatial relationship between the cylindrical construct and the hole on the ground. In the end, when new generations on Mars and Earth emerges, the monuments aim to
maintain the bond between the two planets by containing the ashes of their ancestors within and demonstrating that “shared planetarian identity” already exists within the kindred history and the lineage of mankind.
While serving these commemorating functions, Image: Human Roots will in fact be used by the UN to exercise bio-political control over the Martian population. By highlighting the kindred bond between Mars and Earth, Image: Human Roots aims to prevent the emergence of secessionist thinking among Martian settlers and ensure the immigration plan’s smooth development in the long term.
