Surreal Mars photographs by Kahnselesnick

[progressoid]

to acknowledge curiosity's touchdown on the red planet, NASA commissioned the anglo-american duo known as kahnselesnick
to create a series of work, entitled 'mars: adrift on the hourglass sea', representing their vision of existence on mars.
the artists adorned photo-mosaic panoramas provided to them by NASA of earlier expeditions by rovers 'spirit' and 'opportunity'
with fantasy and imagination, infusing phantasmagorical elements of science fiction and the surreal.

the dream-like scenarios include specially created sculptures and installations, and deliberately features solely women,
as nicholas kahn of kahnselesnick explains:

'I think earth wouldn't be on its path toward destruction if it was run by women, so we decided to give mars a little hope by
sending two women up who wouldn't necessarily see conquering and seizing all of its minerals as a main thing.'

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/10/view/23180/nasa-commissions-surreal-mars-photographs-by-kahnselesnick.html

More at the artists' website too: http://www.thehourglasssea.com/index.php?mars=photographs

[LunaSea]

1. Bleeah...

NASA commissions?
I have serious doubts about that statement.
There's no mention of the works being commissioned on the artists webpages, just that the works are based on NASA Mars rover imagery.

[progressoid]

2. More at Wired.com

Mars-Inspired Art, Commissioned by NASA, Births Strange Sci-Fi Photos

...

“Richard and I have been playing these kinds of games together since college, like we’re 11-year-olds,” says Kahn. “We create these alternative universes and try to make them real for each other. We love to pop back and forth between the future and the past. We’re not very good at the present.”

After exhibiting their previous lunar series, Apollo Prophecies http://www.kahnselesnick.com/ApolloProphecy/moonmap.htm, the two were approached by NASA’s Media Relations contact, Bert Ulrich, about a commission for a panorama. “They [NASA] told us Mars is where we’re going to next and if you’re going to do this project we’d like you to do it about Mars,” says Kahn. “We didn’t start thinking about mars until they told us to.”



Ulrich pointed Kahn and Selesnick toward high-resolution photo-mosaic panoramas taken by the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which for them sparked an entire fantasy world. What began with a single panorama became Mars: Adrift on the Hourglass Sea.

...

http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2012/08/making-art-with-mars-rover-images/

[LunaSea]

3. Thank you

Last edited Mon Sep 17, 2012, 10:47 PM - Edit history (1)

couldn't find that earlier.
I'm surprised considering NASAs Fine Art Program was quietly put to sleep many years ago, and looming budget cuts will probably have a few people screaming over support for an artistic effort at this time.
Thanks for the correcting link, I've sent Mr Ulrich a query to find out more about how this came to be.

[nikto]

4. ACTUAL OBJECTS ON THE SURFACE OF MARS

This odd tubelike structure is several hundreds yards wide.

another angle:



Why add artificial objects to Mars pics when there are still many
mystery objects down there on the surface?


And this?

[progressoid]

5. It's the sandworm!

[AsahinaKimi]

6. I remember seeing those on

Richard C. Hoagland's ENTERPRISE website as well as on the website when ART BELL was doing Coast to Coast. No one has ever come forward to confirm those..in any way or form. I find them totally fascinating and wonder could they be the remnants of some biological life form left over from Mar's past..(if, indeed those photos are real.) sort of like our dinosaur fossils. But, I suppose the possibilities are endless.

I once met a Religious woman, who told me, that if Aliens did exist, or life existed outside of the Earth's realm, and was proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, she said, she would probably commit suicide, because it would prove her religion was wrong, and she could not live with that.

In part, I think there are probably many people who believe that way, and so perhaps if there were proof, there are those in high governmental think tanks who may think its best not to reveal that kind of information yet, for fear of the reaction it may cause.
(Just speculation..)

[Odin2005]

7. They are called sand dunes.