The world of generative art celebrates 50 years of Arecibo Message
+++ 155 participants from 46 countries submitted works for the Open Call
+++ November 16 and 18: special events at the planetariums in Hamburg and Bochum
+++ announcement of the winners and presentation of selected finalists
+++ world premiere of “The Message” by AI-artist Sasha Stiles
On October 31, the worldwide call for artists to participate in the “CONTACT ATTEMPT” of the art meets science – Foundation Herbert W. Franke ended. 155 participants from several continents responded to the call – with their artistic reflections on a historically significant event: November 16, 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the first large-scale scientific attempt to make contact with an alien intelligence via radio transmission. The signals were sent into space from the world’s largest radio telescope at the time, located in Arecibo (Puerto Rico).
The planetariums in Hamburg and Bochum are celebrating this anniversary with two special events in collaboration with the Foundation Herbert W. Franke. Susanne Paech will report on the historical Arecibo message in her presentation and give a brief insight into the history of ideas on the question of whether extraterrestrial civilizations exist in space.
At the event in the Hamburg Planetarium, Susanne Paech will publicly announce the winners of the CONTACT ATTEMPT. The winning works as well as other works by some of the finalists will be presented.
Planetarium Hamburg
CONTACT ATTEMPT – the 50th Anniversary of the Arecibo Message
Announcement of the Winners and the Finalists of the Open Call
November 16 – Begin: 10:30 am (free entrance)
The evening event at the Planetarium Bochum on November 18 will then focus on the world premiere of a commissioned work that the foundation has awarded to the internationally renowned AI artist Sasha Stiles to mark the anniversary. Her works can be found in exhibitions at major museums such as the Museum of Modern Art and have won numerous prizes such as the Lumen Prize and the Future Art Prize.
Planetarium Bochum
CONTACT ATTEMPT – the 50th Anniversary of the Arecibo Message
World Premiere of “The Message” by Sasha Stiles
November 18 – Begin: 7 pm (entrance 6 €)
A jury of experts will select this week the three winners from the approximately 30 participants in the final round. The prize money for the three winners amounts to €2,500. The foundation was able to recruit internationally recognized experts from various fields for the jury.
Seth Shostak – Radioastronom, bekannter Autor und Senior Scientist des SETI-Institute in den USA
Anika Meier – Kuratorin und Autorin, spezialisiert auf generative Kunst
Thomas Kraupe – Astrophysiker und langjähriger Präsident der International Planetarium Society
Bjoern Wirtjes – PLANET KA und Mit-Initiator des Open Call
Susanne Paech – Stiftungsgründerin und Wissenschaftspublizistin
The Sci Fi work edition of Herbert W. Franke now available as e-books
To mark the Arecibo anniversary, the Herbert W. Franke Foundation is also launching its e-book activities. It just has already published the first ten volumes of the work edition of the foundation’s namesake Herbert W. Franke, a pioneer of German-language post-war science fiction. These books were originally published by Goldmann and Suhrkamp between 1960 and 1976. The complete work edition comprises more than 30 volumes with all the novels, screenplays, radio plays, stories and other manuscripts, some of which were unpublished. All books will also be available as e-books by the end of the year. They reveal the visionary thoughts about the hopes and dangers of the metaverse, as well as about robots and artificial intelligence – and, of course, about contact with aliens!
Der grüne Komet (1960) – 64 super-short stories
Das Gedankennetz (1961) – novel
Der Orchideenkäfig (1961) – novel
Die Glasfalle (1962) – novel
Die Stahlwüste (1962) – novel
Planet der Verlorenen – novel
(written under the pseudonym Sergius Both for a young target group)
Der Elfenbeinturm (1965) – novel
Zone Null (1972) – novel
Einsteins Erben (1972) – short stories
Ypsilon minus (1976) – novel
The Project Initiators
The project is organized by the art meets science – Foundation Herbert W. Franke, based in Gruenwald near Munich, and was launched in August 2024 together with PLANET KA, a planetarium currently being founded in Karlsruhe.
About the art meets science – Stiftung Herbert W. Franke
The art meets science – Stiftung Herbert W. Franke was founded in 2022 by Franke’s wife Susanne Paech. It honors the life’s work of the visionary Herbert W. Franke and promotes connections between art and science with publications, events and exhibitions. It also supports scientific projects in the fields of Franke’s scientific research. Another important task is the cataloging of the visionary’s work in cooperation with the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, the location of the extensive Herbert W. Franke Archive.