Lecture Joris van Casteren

People on Mars

If it is up to two Dutch engineers, four people will live on Mars starting in 2027. This foursome, reinforced every two years by four more pioneers, will also die there, as returning to Earth is not yet technically possible. When Joris van Casteren heard about this unlikely project, Mars One, in 2013, he was immediately fascinated. He began having conversations with the founders, numerous candidates at home and abroad, scientists and other experts. Colonization of the planet Mars is no longer an illusion, he realized.

The conceit associated with the project surprised him greatly. Van Casteren traveled the world in search of adventurers who are or want to be involved in Mars One and of locations that have played a role in the muddled picture that has existed of Mars over the centuries: from the Arizona observatory of Percival Lowell, who believed he saw canals on the planet, to the castle outside Prague where the illustrious meeting between Johannes Kepler and Tycho Brahe took place.

People on Mars, written in Van Casteren's familiar writing style marked by wonder and dry humor, is a book as comical as it is disconcerting about a dizzying breakthrough that is imminent.

Participation in the lecture is free on presentation of a valid admission ticket to Kunsthal KAdE.
Please reserve in advance by emailing to boekingen@kunsthalkade.nl
Location: Kunsthal KAdE, eemzaal