PRESS PACKAGE

PROGRAMME KEO: A UNIVERSAL PROJECT THAT IS AT THE CROSSROADS OF ART, TECHNOLOGY, HUMANISM AND DREAMS

ELECTED AS “Project of the 21ST century” by UNESCO

Programme KEO is an invitation to every individual on Earth, small, powerful, weak or rich, to address his message to our faraway descendants. This message, free from all restrictions, except that it cannot exceed 4 pages, may be an expression of oneself, of one’s way of life, of one’s dreams, of one’s hopes and aspirations, of one’s revolts and of one’s expectations as an inhabitant on planet Earth.


All the messages, without undergoing any censorship, shall be put aboard the winged satellite KEO, constructed and launched into orbit such that it returns to Earth intact in 500 centuries.


The world-wide collection of messages, that is already underway since several months, will continue until the end of December 2002.


Once KEO is launched into space, a copy of the entire assortment of messages will be preserved on Earth. After having been made anonymous, all the messages shall be made freely available to all (under certain protocols). By reading these messages, each one of us can take a peek into the thoughts, ideas, aspirations and dreams of a village chief in Africa, of a young girl in love, of a homeless vagabond, of a wise old man in Japan, of a young executive in Europe, of a child living in the slums….


With the emergence of this new vision towards the human community of the 21st century, KEO aspires to create a world that is more humane.

 

In addition to our messages, KEO will also carry archaeological gifts that are laden with symbols and information destined for our great grandchildren. Our future descendants will thus be recipients of all the knowledge procured by the Man of the 21st century. They shall also be witnesses of his cultural diversity…

 

KEO is a project that is free from all political, religious and commercial influence. KEO is being realized thanks to the generous offers of its partners who are each contributing to its creation from the heart of their profession.

The list of partners includes the European Spatial Industries, the UNESCO, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, etc…

 

In keeping with the glorious human creations that flag the history of humanity, KEO will be penned down in the same league as that of the Pyramids of Egypt and the Great Wall of China, as a universal masterpiece that is the porter of the collective memory of the inhabitants of the 21st century…inhabitants, who wish to address themselves to their future descendants…inhabitants, who wish to ponder on their lives and on the destiny of their species.

 

 

 

SEPTEMBER 2002

Communication Management: Florence Bazenet - fbazenet@keo.org

Tel : 01 44 32 19 06  Fax: 01 40 46 05 07

Video images and CD-ROMs of computer generated pictures that are free of rights are available on request.

 

 

CONTENTS

 

         I -           KEO: THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL GIFT OF THE FUTURE

           

1-      Its objectives

2-      The birth of the idea

II -                     KEO: THE  ODYSSEY OF THE SOUVENIRS OF THE MAN OF THE 21ST CENTURY ACROSS TIME AND SPACE

 

1-      KEO’s long journey

2-      The archaeological gifts that accompany our messages

3-      The decoding of the archaeological gifts by our descendants

4-      KEO’s choice to return to Earth in 50,000 years

      III -       KEO: A UNIVERSAL APPEAL FOR MESSAGES

           

1-      What does writing your message for KEO imply?

2-      How to send your message to KEO

      IV -        KEO: AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL GIFT FOR OUR FARAWAY

DESCENDANTS

      V -         KEO: A PRESENT FOR THE PEOPLE OF TODAY

      VI -        KEO AND THE SCHOOLS

      VII -      KEO: ITS TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY AND CREATION

      VIII -     KEO: its principles of working and its partners

       

1-      The philosophy of its creation

2-      KEO’s partners as of today

3-      Why have they chosen to contribute to KEO?

      IX -        KEO: exhibitions and conferences

      X -         KEO: frequently asked questions

      XI -        KEO: KEO’S CREATOR     

 

I – KEO, THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL

GIFT OF THE FUTURE

 

 

I-1- OBJECTIVES

 

The objective of Programme KEO is to encourage the maximum number of men, women and children to participate in the biggest, collective, historical and unique mission ever undertaken in the history of mankind. This venture is designed such that each person is encouraged to dream about the destiny of our species, of our human conditions; to ponder about our epoch; and to reflect and be able to predict about the world and about life.

 

 

The KEO project aims at:

 

 

¨ offering every person on Earth with the same space of liberty so that he can write his message for his future descendants;

 

¨  making each person express, his thoughts and his hopes through the medium of dreams and mystique;

 

¨ collecting all the written messages and presenting them as a collective work of art, representative of the human community of the 21st century;

 

¨ making all the messages anonymous and sharing them amongst ourselves so that we can build a world that is more humane.

 

Several thousands of messages, coming from over 181 countries and written in more than 60 languages, have already been received by KEO. All continents and age groups are represented through these messages proving that the metaphor of KEO goes beyond all frontiers and cultures. This emphasizes on the profound and collective desire that exists amongst  human beings; the wish to leave a part of their life and their enriching experiences for posterity.

 

 

 

In 50,000 years, the KEO project aims at:

 

¨ transmitting all the messages and experiences that the men, women and children of today have addressed to our descendants; like a majestic fresco, representative of the human community at the start of the 21st century, our future great grandchildren may discover their roots...roots of their ancestors.

I- 2- KEO: THE BIRTH OF THE IDEA

 

 

KEO is the reaction of a French artist and scientist, Jean-Marc Philippe, in response to the contemporary world.

 

In one of his recent conferences, Jean-Marc Philippe elucidates that:

 

“We live in a world today that is dominated by contradictions; at times splendid and at times dismal: splendid and marvelous some days because of the twinkling stars, the beauty of the Earth and the nature, the progress of our knowledge, skills and technology and our capacity to love and give…..dismal and sad some days because of the wars, the murders, the pollution, the disparity between the rich and the poor, the disparity in the levels of our knowledge, the injustice, the torture….”

 

“ ……..And yet however, we are a species that are exceptionally talented and gifted who are beginning to realize how small and delicate the Earth is. Even though we form only 0.4% of the entire animal biomass and that we find ourselves in the position of a guarantor and a manager of this planet, we have matched powers with the forces of nature and are able to dictate their destiny and ours….”

 

“………We live in a world today where man has, for various reasons, forgotten to reflect on his actions: problems in daily life, work pressure, keen competition, scattered information, the necessity to earn his livelihood…sufficient reasons to give us the impression that the “cacophony” we hear in the world today is because we are aimlessly drifting about…”

 

“…….I have therefore looked for a metaphor that can be shared by everybody without any distinction of culture, religion and age… a metaphor that incites each one of us to spend some moments in reflection, free from the anxieties of daily life…..a metaphor that incites us not only to go beyond our span of life and time, but also to take into consideration the duration of the line of evolution of our species.….”

 

“……..From here was born the idea of sending into space a satellite that will return to Earth, safe and sound, carrying all our messages, texts, poems and questions……..but a satellite that will return only after a long passage of time……”

 

“……….From here was born the idea to ask each one to go deep within himself and write, in the 4 pages offered to him, his thoughts on matters that are  closest to his heart…..”

 

“…….From here was born the idea to share our messages, to try and know each other, to try and learn who we are, and to realize that we are first brothers and sisters belonging to the same human species and that we belong to a big human family; the fact that we are each representatives of this huge human community is actually our most treasured wealth…”

 

“……From here was born KEO, a universal invitation to reflect, an invitation to learn more about each other, an invitation to dream about the world and the destiny of our human species……”

 

II - KEO: THE  ODYSSEY OF THE SOUVENIRS OF THE MAN OF THE 21ST CENTURY ACROSS TIME AND SPACE

 

 

I- 1- KEO’s LONG JOURNEY

 

The KEO satellite

Fruit of the European Spatial Industry, KEO will be injected into orbit at the end of 2003.

 

KEO’s orbit

KEO will be injected into a circular or elliptical orbit situated at an altitude of several thousands of kilometers (the  exact technical details will be disclosed during the next press conference scheduled to take place in the fourth quarter of 2002).

 

KEO’s flight: the winged satellite

End 2003, the winged satellite KEO shall depart for a long journey around our planet. It shall return, safe and sound, after some…50,000 years, to deliver all the messages that we have addressed for our descendants (each person on Earth, small, powerful, weak or rich has 4 pages of liberty to send his message: all messages, without undergoing any censorship shall be embarked aboard KEO).

 

Folded in the cap of the rocket during the launch, KEO’s wings, shall function once the satellite is in orbit thanks to the sublimation of the small naphthalene spheres that shall melt under the heat of the sun. Henceforth, the wings will beat in rhythm to KEO’s passage under the Earth’s shadow and its exposure to the sun’s rays. With a suitable optic telescope it will be possible to record KEO’s flight as it flutters its wings over its orbit.

 

After a couple of years in orbit, KEO’s unprotected wings will be shed, leaving the core sphere to continue its journey alone in space. Each day, during its long voyage around the Earth, KEO’s orbit will gradually decay bringing the satellite closer and closer to its native land.

 

Re-entry into the atmosphere: a luminous signal in the sky

As KEO approaches the end of its long journey, its momentum will be checked by the dense layers of the Earth’s atmosphere as it descends below 120 kilometers in altitude. It will then enter the final and critical phase of its return flight.

Some 20 minutes before landing, KEO will announce its arrival to our future descendants in the form of a shooting star, emitting sparks of radiant light that will be brighter than those of a natural star. Their luminosity will be continuous and their intensity will be strong.

Some 2 minutes before it lands on the soil, KEO’s titanium and tungsten shields will disintegrate under the effect of the heat accumulated during its passage across the layers of the dense atmosphere. Its carbon thermal shield will heat up to 2800°Celcius. KEO will be equipped to resist this phenomenon and will thus trigger off an ionization that shall release a steam of minute and illuminated particles.

Our future descendants will witness a flash of artificial northern lights in the sky, a strong glow, like a signal…..they will be alerted of KEO’s return.

 

In KEO’s core body, the temperature of the archaeological tokens addressed to our future generations will not exceed 450°Celcius. They will thus remain intact.

 

II - 2- The archaeological gifts that accompany our messages

 

In order to attract every human being amongst us towards the path of reflection, KEO aims to be a symbolic spectacle.

 

KEO: a universal name

The name KEO is the result of three successive phonemes, (k), (e) and (o). These are the three most frequently used phonemes across the 100 most widely spoken languages of today. The name KEO can be pronounced by all human vocal cords and thus represents a symbol of unity between mankind. Moreover, as proof of its neutrality and universal appeal, the name bears no cultural or mythological references, past or present. 

 

KEO: a porter of symbolic gifts addressed to our future descendants

 

The Earth 2003

When KEO will return to native Earth, free from its protective shields, it will appear as a small titanium sphere engraved with an image of present-day Earth.

This surface engraving will inform our descendants that the strange object fallen from the sky is meant for them. The sphere will depict the present contours of the Earth’s seas and continents that would have changed over the passage of time due to the climatic variations and the movement of tectonic plates.

Intrigued by the landing of this strange object, KEO’s discoverers will be curious to see its contents. They will thus learn about the archaeological gifts that are addressed to them.

Some of the presents will be easily distinguishable by the naked eye, whereas certain will have to be decoded.

 

 

The mosaic of faces

Aboard KEO, our future descendants will find a glass plate engraved with portraits of men, women and children. This mosaic of faces will represent the current diversity of the ethnic groups, which with time and interbreeding will have blended to form a kaleidoscope of uniform colors.

A sequence of double helix DNA unique to Homo Sapiens Sapiens as we exist today will also be engraved (would we too undergo genetic changes?).

 

 

The diamond with 4 inclusions

As KEO’s discoverers continue their exploration, they will come across a diamond with 4 inclusions made of tiny spheres of gold. The first sphere will hold a drop of water from our oceans, the second will contain a pinch of fertile soil and the third will enclose a sample of the air from the atmosphere surrounding us. More precious than the diamond itself are these terrestrial elements that, in their current composition,  make life possible on Earth. The fourth sphere of gold will protect a small drop of human blood, chosen at random from among the different human groups, to symbolize our common genetic human signature.

 

 

The sidereal clock

In order to allow our future descendants to find out the launch date of KEO, a second glass plate engraved with accurate astronomical data will be installed. The data will show the position of the planets of the solar system as on the launch date of KEO. Depending on the level of knowledge attained by our future descendants, they will be able to calculate that KEO was launched into orbit some 50,000 years ago (as the same planetary configuration is only repeated every 200 million years).

Our knowledge: a contemporary Library of Alexandria

Our descendants will then uncover a stack of engraved glass disks that will form a contemporary Library of Alexandria, a treasure chest of all our knowledge as it exists today: a catalogue of the flora and fauna, diversity of the arts, fundamental texts of our religions, geopolitical situations, economic agreements etc, …all this will be exhibited by way of texts, pictures, video clippings and sound.

 

AND a huge fresco of messages from the people of the 21st century

The most important gift of them all is a second stack of engraved glass disks that will contain a fresco of our messages; messages that every man, woman and child of the 21st century is invited to send to our future descendants.


 

 

II-3- The decoding of the archaeological gifts by our

descendants

 

The keys to decoding

In order to guide our descendants towards the significance of our messages, information immediately intelligible to the eye will be provided to them in the form of holograms and/or diagrams on each side of the glass disks. Around 200 drawings and diagrams shall be made available to them. 

They will also come across signs representing some of the invariants used in the past by numerous civilizations such as those indicating water, houses, etc,…accompanied by their translation into several languages.

 

They will also find a specific disk, engraved analogically (like an old vinyl record) at their disposal. Next to this they will find a tuning fork, a miniature horn, a record needle and a diagram showing how the disks must be rotated in order to extract their contents. As soon as the frequency emitted by the miniature horn corresponds with that of the tuning fork, our descendants will hear human voices speaking the principal languages of our days as well as melodies of the music of our times. The subsequent disk will contain exactly the same information but this time digitally coded and engraved. Our descendants will then have to begin their work of deciphering and decoding.

 

Using the example of the Rosetta Stone

 

Like the discoverers of the Rosetta Stone, our descendants will learn that the glass disks enclose real meaning and not some esoteric symbols.

Their task will be all the more complex because, unlike the clearly visible engravings on the Rosetta stone, the DVD images and the micro-millimeter engravings encoding our alphabets will be imperceptible to the naked eye. However, we will furnish them with technical diagrams for constructing a DVD disk reader, which will enable them to access the visual representation of our messages. These plans will be presented to them in the form of diagrams engraved on the faces of several glass disks aboard KEO.

 

Often it has taken us some hundreds of years of research, perseverance and careful study to be able to decipher the scripts of the past.

Still today there are several languages which remain incomprehensible. Others required several years of disciplined study while some were transmitted to us over the centuries.

 

Will traces of our current high-tech world survive the passage of 50,000 years or will they disappear like the ancient Egyptian civilization? We cannot tell. How much time will our future generations take to decode the information saved on the glass disks? One day or a thousand years? We will never know.

 

 

KEO, the Archaeological Bird of the Future, beneath its unusual appearance as a carrier of dreams and utopia, is a metaphor of artistic and technological creation and a symbol of individual introspection. It forces each one of us to evaluate ourselves in a new light, to reflect on the different aspects of life and on the destiny of our species.

By offering us the opportunity to question ourselves on a personal level, KEO invites us to rediscover the person next door; who may at times seem so different because of his rich cultural diversity and may at times seem so similar because he belongs to the same human family. KEO enables us to realize that we are each “passerbys” on planet Earth and that we should be “proud” of that.

II - 4- KEO’S CHOICE TO RETURN TO EARTH IN 50,000 YEARS

 

 

KEO has chosen to return to Earth in 50,000 years because of several reasons:

 

¨ In order to evoke in each one of us a feeling that we need to take a moment to stop and think, to focus on a fixed point, to enjoy the moments of exaltation and silence….

 

 

¨ To allow us to think and question ourselves differently, to permit us to define our expectations and our most profound aspirations.

 

 

¨ To spark off a personal, sensitive and unusual reflection within each one of us, such that in our hearts, imagination, awareness, intimate convictions, dreams and intuitions supersede the sense of reason.

 

 

¨ To permit each one, through his actions and messages, to be able to exert an influence on his epoch and on the collective future destiny of mankind.

 

 

¨ To induce us each to believe that we are all brothers and sisters of the same human family and that our most valuable wealth is the sense of belonging to this community which all of us represent.

 

 

¨ To allow each one to position himself on the ladder of evolution by reminding him that:

 

- the human species came into existence some 5 million years ago,

- man invented his first tools at least 2.5 million years back,

- he tamed fire some 500,000 years ago,

- the sepultures emerged 100,000 years ago (a true indication of the emergence of metaphysical thought),

 

 

¨ To especially remind us that some 50,000 years ago, our ancestors created their first drawings/ abstract signs on the walls of the Australian caves, displaying our species’ ability to access symbolic thought.

This form of intelligence has allowed us to develop both our mathematical capability as well as our ability to reflect and ponder.

III - KEO: A UNIVERSAL APPEAL FOR MESSAGES

 

Each person on Earth has 4 pages of liberty to express himself, in the language of his choice, all that he wishes to transmit to his faraway descendants.

His message can be an expression of himself, of his way of life, of his dreams, of his hopes, of his revolts, of his aspirations as a habitant on planet Earth.

All the messages received, without undergoing any censorship, shall be embarked aboard KEO.

 

 

III-1-What does writing your message for KEO imply?

 

Due to the space-time duration of 50,000 years that KEO invites us to confront, we are inspired to widen our personal, cultural and traditional perspectives. KEO makes us question our emotions and our misty interrogations with respect to how our descendants will perceive our messages.

 

By writing his message to KEO, every individual shall not only be in the position to freely speak ABOUT himself, but also be simultaneously in the position to review himself in a new light.

Our faraway descendants shall also stand back and review our thoughts. We have a certain responsibility towards these descendants because our current and collective behavior shall determine “how they will be” in 50,000 years! (will we change on the genetic front and what consequences would that have on them? What kind of environment shall we hand down to them?…).

 

Moreover, the reference of these essential questions, always related to an unusual interpellation across the time and the biological and genetic adventure of our species, corresponds to life in general and to the different ways of thinking residing in the human conscience: meaning of life, meaning of your life, meaning of death, meaning of the individual and collective responsibilities, meaning of the family, meaning of the human family, meaning of the species’ responsibility towards himself, meaning of the species’ responsibility towards other species…meaning of the species’ responsibility towards his own mother planet.

 

These last questions are the most intriguing because although the human species represents only 0.4% of the animal biomass on Earth, it is responsible for our history thanks to its scientific, technical and organizational competencies. It is the guarantor and manager not only of the quality of its individual and collective development, but also of the future of the planet, especially that which concerns the maintenance of the physico-chemical conditions that reign on its surface and permit the evolution of life.

 

Thus, he who writes his message to KEO can only be lead to ponder, even though these reflections are not consciously expressed. 

            III- 2- How to send your message to KEO

 

Messages to KEO can be addressed through the Internet by logging on to the site www.keo.org or by sending them by post.

The site keo.org, one of our major communication tools, has received world-wide recognition. In 1999, it won the Prix Ars Electronica and a special prize from the Jury of the Clic d’or awarded by IBM, Yahoo, CB News and Colt. Since the past two years the KEO website has been mentioned on the pages of the worldbestsites and has also been referred to as the “hotsite” by USA Today, etc…

Procedure for sending your message to KEO

 

 © By the Internet: www.keo.org on the link “Your Message”

 

© By post: Programme KEO, BP 100, 75262 Paris Cedex 06, France.

 

You have the liberty from 1 line to  4 A4 sized pages (6000 characters). In order to allow our faraway descendants to know you better, please specify:

 

·      Name, Surname (optional)

·      Sex

·      Date of birth

·      Nationality

·      Country of residence

·      Country from where the message has been sent

·      Language in which the message is written

·      Maternal language

·      Address (optional)