Second Earth
Video Installation
1 - 10 screens, banner, wall print, pigment prints, objects 2022 - 2026
I
A strange, spherical object floats higher and higher through the clouds. At one point, you can even see the curvature of the Earth. Then suddenly something happens and the object starts to fall. Through its eye – the camera lens in the middle – it is possible to see what is in front of and behind the object, as well as the object itself.
The work is based on an experimental process in which the artist used weather balloons to send various objects into the stratosphere. At an altitude of approximately 30 kilometres, the balloons burst and the objects fell back to the ground. These journeys generate a direct, visually observable connection between the ground and the stratosphere, and between the local place and the globe.
II
An unclear structure looms in the air. Some people on the ground are trying to do something. The structure appears to contain metal, branches, stones, and other strange objects. After reaching the stratosphere, the object falls. It crashes into a tree and remains there. Then the construction workers arrive.
In the realm of techno-utopian dreams, humans could control the global climate system. One of the most realistic and extensively studied proposals is stratospheric aerosol injection, which involves spraying large quantities of aerosols into the stratosphere. There, these particles would scatter the Sun’s radiation, thereby reducing the amount of energy that reaches the Earth’s surface. Ivar Veermäe’s discussions with scientists and academics working in the field of climate modification contextualise Second Earth.
III
The transparent mirror flies through a layer of clouds, then another, then another and the Sun appears.
Although according to exact classification the stratosphere is not the space, the work generates a contrast with neo-colonial fantasies of space conquests by depicting fragile and helpless, at the same time suspicious objects in an enormous, hostile yet somehow calm environment.
