Second Earth | Stratosphere Stills

"Second Earth" is a long-term research and experimentation project encompassing photography, video, and spatial installations. It is a DIY research project that spans both the ground and the stratosphere. Various objects were sent to an altitude of around thirty kilometers using helium-filled weather balloons. The balloons burst at this altitude, causing the objects to fall back to Earth. The objects were equipped with GPS transmitters and small cameras that filmed the flight and subsequent descent. The project began with an interest in techno-utopian ideas suggesting that humans could control the global climate system. One of the most well-researched scientific processes, stratospheric aerosol injection, involves spraying large quantities of aerosols into the stratosphere. There, the aerosols would scatter solar radiation, thereby reducing the amount of energy that reaches the Earth’s surface. Second Earth raises numerous questions, such as: Who can operate in the stratosphere? What kind of place is it? How is it typically depicted and represented? How can we better conceptualize processes that are too vast to comprehend, such as changes to the entire climate system? Can the connection between a specific place and the whole world be understood through visibility? Second Earth: Stratosphere Stills is a photographic project consisting of selected stills taken during flights.