Finished With Engines No. 1 (Saturn V), NASA Saturn V Rocket Second Stage Module S-II-14*  (Left) 
Pigment Print on Cotton Rag Paper. 111 x 148 centimeters. Editions of 2 / 1 AP 

Finished With Engines No. 2 (Atlantis), NASA Atlantis Space Shuttle Main Engine SSME**  (Right)
Pigment Print on Cotton Rag Paper. 111 x 148 centimeters. Editions of 2 / 1 AP

Courtesy of the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida.
 

Working with the metaphor of ships engines and galactic explorations, these monumental prints of NASA’s cryogenic spaceship engines appear at once futuristic and simultaneously antiquated – mirroring the contemporary moment in which we find ourselves as a species.

With the end of the age of oil on the horizon, on the verge of a new information age, we find ourselves facing a sea change in the definitions and delivery methods of power. Alternative energies and new organizations seem to suggest possibilities for reimagining social, political, and personal realms. 

Yet the very nature of power is risk. What will we risk for the next great transformation of power? How high the cost for looking further outside of ourselves? Is it time for paradoxically looking backward and inward? Or is the Earth not enough for us?   ​

*The S-II had a dry weight of about 80,000 pounds (36,000 kg) and fully fueled, weighed 1,060,000 pounds (480,000 kg). When loaded, significantly more than 90 percent of the mass of the stage was propellant. The second stage accelerated the Saturn V manned mission to the moon with 1,100,000 pounds-force (4,900 kN) of thrust in vacuum.

**The Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25, otherwise known as the Space Shuttle main engine (SSME) is a liquid-fuel cryogenic rocket engine that was used on NASA's Space Shuttle and is planned to be used on its successor the Space Launch System for manned missions to Mars.

Image Courtesy of Galerie Andreas Schmidt, Berlin, Germany.