Raqs Media Collective for the ARTISTS & ACTIVISTS 2 by Printed Matter.

THE SURFACE OF EACH DAY: QUESTIONS FOR COSMONAUTS
"
The Surface of each day is a different planet. (1)

Cosmonaut, how do you recognise signs of life when you see them on your voyage? (2)

In your logbook, how do you distinguish arid from fecund? Past animation from present vitality, or even from life yet-to-be?

How do you avoid confusion between prayers, prognoses, and prophecy? (3)

How do you make sure that you do not mistake the relics of past voyages for the fossils of giants? (4)

Have you considered how the illuminated, polarised day affects your observations, changing its parameters and shifting goalposts? Do you know how time and distance warp your senses? (5)

Yes, Pleistocene, Holocene, Anthropocene, Misanthropocene striations do blur at times. Time turns in on itself; epochs seep into each other. Its called Rocket Lag. Take it easy, Cosmonaut. (6)

FIELD NOT FRAGMENT
"...following touchdown and a brief period of anticipatory quarantine, the surface of the day was investigated for the presene of organic traces of animate matter. Preliminary reports from the first batch of samples continue to demonstrate the usual anomalies.

The important question: 'What Constitutes a Sign of Life?" remains in suspended animation. Metabolism, Growth, Sentience and Reproduction may all be expressing themselves in ambiguous ways, and it is possiblethat the test criteriabeing applied in order to identify them are insufficient to this task. How do we know what metabolism or sentience or reproduction look like in hitherto unknown, or unimagined life forms? How can we know?

There is a danger that we may be projecting our own characteristics on to the surface of the entities we are exploring. On the other hand, we may be looking at the mirror, and yet we may be misidentifying the image that we see reflected.
No certain conclusions can be reached at present. Furhter investigations will continue to be necessary."