W. M. Keck Observatory Headquarters — Attraction in Hawaii

Carmen: I am using a speculative vision to think about ways of conserving information and digital data such as images, sounds, color and text. Data preservation will become a problem in the future due to old technology, crashes or nature. That’s why it is important to already start thinking about how this could happen, and how to react to the situation. Or how to prevent such a big data loss. By taking aspects of the plastic soup which is formed by overusing this material, I am creating an alternative way of using the plastics to preserve data. By asking all these ‘what if’ questions, I want people to start thinking about what kind of future they want (and do not want). This can help the speculative designer, to increase the odds of achieving desirable futures. The play with scale is also an important aspect. By scaling down the idea of the plastic soup it’s easier to get a grip on the subject, I take small parts of this big subject and process them in the visuals. Blowing up the microplastics lead to creating awareness and the transfer of information. So, the role of (micro)plastic acts as the container of a message, making water the carrier in...

Before heading out to the Mauna Kea visitors center, we stopped by the observatory headquarters for a brief stop. The visitors part of the center is small and has a few telescope photos and models. It is surrounded by working astronomers and others. The visitor center volunteer gave us some interesting facts and educated us on the different telescopes used on the volcano and who owned them. The information given in the brief tour was both quick and informative. We also received information on some of the programs offered at the visitors center. We went to the evening event where volunteers brought out 5 telescopes and let visitors see the various stars...

This is the admin building for the telescope, not the visitors center or the telescope itself. Visitor services were extremely limited, and consisted of a lobby that has a few models and pictures. No gift shop, food, drinks, or restrooms. However, the lobby was staffed with a Ph.d legit scientist to answer questions and talk about the telescope... Lucitia was amazing! She was so excited about the work there, and relayed information in a way that we could easily understand. Without her the stop would have been a bust, but taking to her was fun and informative. Worth a stop for any one interested in...