In the near future, Mars could become a real destination: the speed at which space technology is evolving these days suggests that our children will surely see a manned mission to the Red Planet in their lifetime, and Sarah Harper invites us to imagine Gennevilliers as the first French city to seriously engage in the recruitment and training of its first travelers for Mars. A space-exploration fiction, told on the scale of the city.
Inspired by hard science, the company and residents co-created a series of events inviting scientists andpublic to debate, enact and perform the process. How should it be done? Who should go? Who should select the candidates? On what basis? With what skills? How to prepare for such a journey... perhaps without return? How would loved ones left behind on Earth feel?
These emotional, philosophical, political and scientific questions were the subject of exploration.
The story gave rise to the creation of a Space Oratorio, on the passion for exploration as well as on the vision and courage it takes to leave everything behind, in the name of humanity. Shifting the gaze of the inhabitants, the question of the future of humanity replaces the notion of community on a larger scale.
