How can we capture and recycle old space debris? How can we design with the byproducts of space technologies, such as space junk and extraterrestrial mining tailings? How can we relate to the vast scale of the cosmos where Halley’s Comet takes 76 years to orbit around the sun? What are some of the implications of climate control technologies?
These are some of the questions asked by Taubman College’s El Hadi Jazairy in an exhibition on his work at the Martin J. (1959) and Eleanor C. Gruber Gallery of the MIT Museum with Rania Ghosn.
Cosmograph: Speculative Fiction for the New Space Age is a solo exhibition on the work of DESIGN EARTH, a research practice founded and directed by Jazairy, associate professor of architecture and director of the master of urban design program, and Ghosn, associate professor of architecture and urbanism at MIT. The exhibition will be on display at the MIT Museum through the spring of 2025.
By combining art, history, and science fiction, Jazairy and Ghosn invite viewers to imagine future scenarios where space is a new territory for both human exploration and exploitation by private corporations. Jazairy and Ghosn combined science fiction representations in the form of monumental drawings and miniature models, with scientific objects such as satellites, rockets, and meteorite specimens from the MIT museum collection, to tell stories about out-of-space exploration. A key aspect of the exhibition is that it doesn’t present the projects alone. Rather, Jazairy and Ghosn were able to access artifacts from the MIT Museum collection and incorporate them into the story of each project. For instance, “Neck of the Moon,” which discusses a proposal to clear space debris from the atmosphere, is located next to a real satellite from the MIT Museum collection.
“We proposed to put DESIGN EARTH’s science fiction narrations in relation to scientific objects that are collected by the MIT museum,” Jazairy said. “By doing that, we are articulating two domains: art as a domain in relation to science as another domain. By presenting our stories in relation to an existent scientific object, we are redefining our stories as narrations in relation to a scientific object. At the same time, we are creating overlaps. Because the fictions that we tell relate to facts and scientific situations, scientific data, scientific objects, and scientific projects.”
DESIGN EARTH uses the speculative architecture medium to raise awareness about environmental issues. Jazairy and Ghosn’s work has been published in numerous architecture journals including the Journal of Architecture Education, the Avery Review, and the Architectural Review, and their exhibits have been featured at architecture festivals and museums in Venice, Italy, Oslo, Norway, and Seoul, South Korea. The four projects presented at the exhibition span a period of work from 2015 to 2025 and include two projects presented at the Venice Architectural Biennale of 2018 and 2021. The projects include “Neck of the Moon,” “Cosmorama,” “The Planet After Geoengineering,” and “Love Your Monsters.”
While these projects represent hypothetical futures in the space age, Jazairy said DESIGN EARTH is bringing art and science together to explore possible futures for our planet and for our interaction with outer space. DESIGN EARTH projects confront us with provocations, scenarios and speculations at a cosmic scale that invite us to reconsider our present trajectory.
Photos by Anna Olivella
