Atlantis Dispatch: Special Feature

“The Carousel” by Mario Santanilla. 2021

"The Carousel" by Mario Santanilla is a featured guest piece for the Atlantis Dispatch series, a part of SFI's InterPlanetary Project, along with the Alien Crash Site podcast.

In the artist's own words:

"On March 25, 2020, Colombia closed its borders to Europe for the first time since 1499, when the first Spanish expedition had landed on its shores.

On April 6, 2020, former President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump, signed an executive order, titled "Encouraging International Support for the Recovery and Use of Space Resources," opening the way to the mining of the Moon for minerals, as well as additional mining of Mars. A similar order was signed by Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon in 1492.

Throughout 2020, hundreds of public monuments depicting colonists were toppled across the continent. These events were future, present, and now past. They travel on ships. Enabled by a journey to the present and permeated by the future, they encounter other possibilities of the past; the possibility of re-turn."

This piece was commissioned by Perpetual Postponement.

Sound design and music developed with Camilo Manchego.

Find Mario Santanilla on instagram @mariosantinilla