In July 1969, much of the world celebrated “one giant leap for mankind.” Fifty years later, nothing is quite so straightforward. In Event of Moon Disaster illustrates the possibilities of deepfake technologies by reimagining this seminal event. What if the Apollo 11 mission had gone wrong and the astronauts had not been able to return home? A contingency speech for this possibility was prepared for, but never delivered by, President Nixon – until now. In Event of Moon Disaster invites you into an alternative history, asking us all to consider how new technologies can bend, redirect and obfuscate the truth around us.
The project is open to the public and can be viewed here: https://moondisaster.org
Francesca Panetta is a Creative Director MIT Center for Advanced Virtuality. She was executive editor of virtual reality at The Guardian. An multi-award winning digital artist and journalist, she lead immersive innovation at the Guardian for the last 10 years including running the Guardian’s in house virtual reality production studio.
Halsey Burgund is a sound artist and technologist whose work focuses on the combination of modern technologies – from mobile phones to artificial intelligence – with fundamentally human “technologies”, primarily language, music and the spoken voice. He is the creator of Roundware, the open source contributory audio AR platform, which has been used to create art and educational installations for cultural organizations internationally.
Please join us for this online screening and Q&A, hosted and moderated by Amir Husak, Director of Documentary Studies and Assistant Professor in the School of Media Studies.
The New School Doc Studies 