Collaborative Process
Luna City:2175 began as a question – if humans were to live off Earth, where would we go? How could we build a sustainable community? What would day to day live be like? These are questions that cannot be answered through one expertise alone – so CSI, along with the Herberger Institute, SFIS, and the Fulton School of Engineering, built a collaborative pool of geologists, planetary scientists, engineers, artists, architects, and future thinkers to answer these questions.
Through two days of creative devising – including discussion, debate, and lots of legos, we created the idea of a Luna City – an industrial hub turned research outpost turned artist community nestled in the Shackleton Crater on the south pole of the moon. Surrounded by the luminous peaks of eternal light, our community of the future was a beautiful idea, but needed to be more rigorously designed.
Along the 9-month building process, over 200 collaborators added their ideas and expertise into the mix. You’re an architect? What would a community space on the moon look like? You’re a geologist? Could we build structures out of the surface of the moon? You’re an actor? Create a character of a water miner, a renegade scientist, an artist-in-residence.
As the ideas came together – a team of writers and performers came together to begin developing what would be an invitation to the audience – “come live on the moon with us”.
Immersive Experience
As the audience stepped up to the door of the Emerge Festival, the received a visitor badge: Welcome to Luna City. As the stepped through the airlock into the lobby, they were greeting by a bustling space port. The latest VR technology, a real-time Earth Simulator (for those who got homesick while on the moon), and the local population of artists, miners, researchers, and a few unsavory black-market dealers who may sell you some rare goods.
If audience members wanted to truly experience life on the moon, they lined up for a hyperloop ride to Neighborhood 83 – a fully built and immersive slice-of-life on the moon. In Neighborhood 83, they could meet Aisha, the dancer poet who would lead them in a meditation in the Earth-view room. Or Thorium, the singer scientists who fled Earth to conduct his illegal genetic experiments. Or Jay, the gardener who wistfully speaks of his lover who is stuck back on Earth.
During the tour, the audience was also invited to participate in one of several local rituals. In one ritual, a recently deceased member of the Lunar community was celebrated, and her remains were lovingly given back into the carbon-cycle of the system. In another, members of the Neighborhood sat in a circle and openly talked about the conflicts they had with one another – seeking reparations and community openly. Each tour was an exchange – the audience could ask questions and learn more about the Luna City, while they offered their presence and attention during community moments.