89 Seconds is a publication made as my senior design thesis project. It was displayed within a living room setting at SOMArts in the spring, and people were invited to sit down and flip through the book while being in this somewhat period-accurate space.
The book was made with InDesign!
View PDF here.
89 Seconds to Morning is a project that synthesizes my thoughts on our nuclear past, present, and future. Touching mostly on the Cold War and Space Race eras, I wanted to create something that helps me come to terms with our prospects and the feelings I have that may or may not be shared with others around me. I’ve always had an odd fascination with space, the Cold War, and human audacity and will, and this project acts somewhat as a culminating checkpoint. The book is divided into chapters that discuss the Apollo 11 landing, humanity’s gall in the creation of nuclear technology and its use in interplanetary space travel and war, Artists Against the Bomb, and a conclusory section that (I hope) maintains a positive perspective of our future. Like a journal, most of the writing in the book is free-flowing, and though based on much research, is quite opinionated with an air of levity. In a way, it acts as a diary that exists within our current time from the perspective of someone who isn’t a scientist or politician.
For the exhibition, 89 Seconds was placed in a somewhat late 1960’s living room setting, complete with a table, chair, and a Panasonic TV with footage of Kennedy’s Rice Speech and the Moon landing. Accompanying the project was Brian Eno’s Apollo 11 album playing on the TV for this atmospheric ambience. The title of the project, 89 Seconds to Morning, is in reference to the Doomsday Clock piece, currently titled 89 Seconds to Midnight, which projects how close we are to the irreversible effects of climate change, AI, and nuclear technology. Though the topic is somewhat anxiety-inducing, I want this project to be a place where we can revel in our smallness within the universe and to have an air of hope for our future into the unknown.