The Lava Project
October 31st, 02009 by Alexander Rose
Audience members at Arthur Ganson’s Seminar on September 14, 02009 were among the first viewers of The Lava Project Documentary, which premiered in our new Long Shorts series – short videos that explore, explain, or exemplify long-term thinking and responsibility.
The Lava Project Documentary was created by White Elephant DesignLab, a group of designers who explore natural phenomena and experiment with various materials and their external influences. Earlier this year, the group created a piece at the Kilauea volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii that was inspired by our promotion of long-term thinking through use of the five-digit date. Using a “02009″ stamp made of hardwood and aluminum, they imprinted the congealing surface crust of Pāhoehoe lava in order to equip the emerging lithosphere with its date of origin.
“We developed the idea of using this symbol only when we had already arrived on the island,” says Tobias Kestel of the design team. “We thought it was just the right symbol to use in this context of volcanic activity. Processes of new land being formed by lava flows have been going on for billions of years on the planet, which provided the perfect ground for embossing your symbol of long-term thinking.”
“We are aware,” Kestel adds, “that some people might still argue that we actually did alter the environment there. At the same time, the symbolic value and the message and discussions our action will provoke can be and will be of relevance, even if only a few people will start to think differently after having seen the results and having learned about your project, as we will always promote our project together with the reference to The Long Now Foundation.”
For additional photos and information about The Lava Project Documentary, visit the White Elephant DesignLab website.
This entry was posted on Saturday, October 31st, 2009 at 8:21 pm and is filed under "Long Shorts". You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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Posted on November 4th, 2009 at 9:25 am
The “material” is not only a symbol of purity and creation, it is sacred to the native Hawaiian people. The external influence you provided was a violation on nature, culture, and inteligence. I take from this “experiment” the impression of egotism and insensitivity. Very bad design by any standard.
Posted on November 5th, 2009 at 2:02 am
[...] The Lava Project – The Long Now Blog [...]
Posted on November 24th, 2009 at 7:23 am
This is a great little film. The project seems to be remarkably creative, while at the same time very useful. Recently, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about sharing and the commons. This film really opened my eyes to the way we share, not only with others, but with the future. As Stewart said, imagine how excited the archeologists of the future will be when they find the timestamps.