More-than-Planet

The European project More-than-Planet researched with earth observations, satellite data, art, culture and philosophy how we could create new forms of knowledge, planetary imaginaries and narratives on how to envision our planet. This is very urgent, since 75 percent of the planet's land surface is experiencing measurable human pressure, and the way people imagine the planet substantially impacts the environment itself.

Even if earth observations are open source available, the raw data often remains inaccessible for the wider audience. How to interpret it, how to make it into a meaningful narrative? One that also takes into account the more-than-human life, public concerns, and climate justice?

Mission
The European project More-than-Planet found an urgency to re-examine the way people understand and picture the environment on the level of the planet as a conceptual whole, together with partners Ars Electronica (AT), Northern Photographic Finland (FI), ART2M/Makery (FR), Leonardo/Olats (FR) and Zavod Projekt Atol (SI). In a collaboration with artists, critical thinkers, and various experts from cultural, environmental, and outer space institutions, the project addressed a crisis of planetary imaginary. 

Vision
Artists and (artistic) researchers can contribute in a unique way to face the ecological and space challenges of the world. Oceans in Transformation from artistic research collective Territorial Agency served as a striking example of a groundbreaking planetary narrative. It was created by bringing together scattered pieces of open source oceanic data from several research groups. Their art installation was able to make an abstract theme like sea level rising, visible and tangible for a wider audience.

Within More-than-Planet, Territorial Agency researched the so-called sensible zone the coastal line that will most likely be influenced by climate change. 

Goals
More-than-Planet aimed fo facilitate collaborative, transdisciplinary research by conducting open calls, conferences, exhibitions and publications. Examples were the More-than-Planet expo at the Old Observatory Leiden (NL, until 23 December 2022), the collection of essays Space without Rockets (2022), and the More-than-Planet open call for residencies in Finland (2023).

One of its final outcomes was a More-than-Planet Atlas; that serves as a reference book for policy makers, the general public, artists and researchers.

Highlights

• The project kicked off with the More-than-Planet exhibition and a symposium at the Old Observatory in Leiden (2022). View the exhibition booklet, with an introduction by curator Miha Turšič.
• Leonardo/Olats (FR) organized the Global Periphery symposium.
• Media partner Makery.info (FR) published the book Space without Rockets (2022).
• In the essay ‘Finding New Planetary Imaginaries and Actions’, Zoénie Deng (concept developer Waag Futurelab) guided you through some of the artists and their works within the project.
• The More-than-Planet Working Group, consisting of Solveig Suess, Adonis Leboho, Klára Peloušková, Lukáš Likavčan, and Chris Julien, collaborated on the More-than-Planet Atlas, a book that critically questions the common, often technocratic ways in which we view and represent the earth. 

History
In general, the project built on decades of individual efforts by many artists, scientists, and cultural organisations who enabled artistic production in the context of outer space, with space technologies, or even in outer space itself. 

This project was funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed were however those of the author(s) only and did not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.