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One Way Ticket to Mars lets visitors experience different aspects of the journey and stay on Mars. How unruly are the conditions of the newly discovered planet? Is living on Mars a terrifying idea or just a tantalizing one? Starting Sept. 21, Kunsthal KAdE depicts a temporarily impossible journey. An exhibition in four story lines: the desire, the journey, the stay and homesickness. With new and existing works by artists, designers, architects and scientists from home and abroad.
"It is an exhibition that highlights in stunning versatility the red planet, the journey there, the stellar beauty and, of course, the big why question" (NRC). *****
Science journalist Govert Schilling is compiling a timeline for the exhibition that includes the most important highlights and unique objects from Mars' space history. In addition, he shows the beauty of the planet with photographs from NASA and ESA.
Life on Mars
Mars is the planet closest to Earth. As early as 1659, Christiaan Huygens mapped the planet. In 2011, the Amersfoort-based organization made Mars One announced plans to establish a colony on Mars. Within a short time, a thousand applicants signed up for a one-way trip to Mars. Elon Musk of SpaceX reckons it will be possible to build a Mars base starting in 2024. NASA wonders if it can launch a manned Mars mission starting in 2030.
"Typical of the always idiosyncratic KAdE to take such a stimulating and topical subject as the starting point for an exhibition. Cleverly designed as an imaginary journey" (de Volkskrant). ****
Imaginative art
Where does this search for the unknown come from? Art lends itself ideally to depicting a journey to an undiscovered destination. For the exhibition, artists and designers visualize possible outcomes. They raise obstacles and propose solutions. The work of Jan Fabre, Carel Willink and Tom Claassen, among others, is shown alongside that of a younger generation of artists and scientists such as Luke Jerram and Angelo Vermeulen.
A special work in the exhibition is a dot painting for Mars by Damien Hirst. In 2003, scientist Colin Pillinger placed Hirst's work aboard the Beagle 2 space probe, an unmanned spacecraft with the mission to search for any sign of life on the red planet. For a time NASA lost contact with the probe, but in early 2015 it was revealed that the craft had indeed landed on Mars. According to Damien Hirst, Martians would appreciate his work: ''If they've got eyes, they'll love it.''
"What is it about this Mars trip that so captures the imagination? Kunsthal KAdE in Amersfoort unravels that fantasy in an ambitious exhibition featuring works by artists and scientists - and makes critical comments" (Het Parool).
Storylines
In four story lines, the story of the journey to Mars unfolds: desire, journey, sojourn and homesickness. Curiosity about the unknown and the constant desire to transcend ourselves is sparked immediately upon entering. In the dark main hall, a luminous, colossal Mars sphere 6 meters in diameter floats in space. The work was created by British artist Luke Jerram and commissioned by Kunsthal KAdE.
The journey to Mars currently takes about eight months. Edith Dekyndt poetically visualizes the feeling of gravity that occurs along the way. In her video Slow object no. 4 she makes a rubber band dance up and down in her hand. In the next space, the visitor resides on Mars. In the work Timepieces Katie Paterson makes sense of the passage of time in our galaxy. On Mars, a day lasts 24 hours, 37 minutes and 22.663 seconds. Finally, the visitor is confronted with the feeling of homesickness. Kunsthal KAdE asked a number of people, from space specialists to philosophers, what they would take with them to Mars to alleviate their homesickness. Henk Stallinga creates an installation that symbolizes the great absentee on Mars: the sea. In his work, we hear and see the surf on the shore.
The exhibition is accompanied by an essay by sociologist and writer Ruben Jacobs. Jacobs writes about the desire for Mars, raising critical questions; for example, he says, ''to recreate a biosphere on a very human-unfriendly planet like Mars is still many times more difficult than keeping our own planet habitable as a home.''
Participating artists: Carolien Arnold (NL, 1976); Tom Claassen (NL, 1964); Edith Dekyndt (BE, 1960); Layla van Ellen (NL, 1993); Jan Fabre (BE, 1958); Karl Hans Janke (DE, 1909-1988); Damien Hirst (UK, 1965); Luke Jerram (UK, 1974); Ryoichi Kurokawa (JP, 1978); Lena Lapschina (RU, 1965); Lucy McRae (UK, 1979); Bjørn Melhus (DE, 1966); Constant Nieuwenhuijs (NL,1920-2005); Olphaert den Otter (NL, 1955); Katie Paterson (UK, 1981); Michiel Pijpe (NL, 1981); Thomas Ruff (DE, 1958); Tomas Schats (NL, 1976); Roland Sips (NL, 1954-2012); Spullenmannen (NL); Henk Stallinga (NL, 1962); Franziska Steingen (DE, 1988); Tobias Tebbe (NL, 1980); Angelo Vermeulen (BE,1971 ); Carel Willink (NL, 1900-1983)
Samsung Art & Design Institute contribution:
In the Creative Computation (computer design strategy) course, students at the Samsung Art & Design Institute (SADI) in Seoul were given the following assignment by lecturer and visual artist Hyojung Seo for the exhibition:
What would you take with you to Mars? Design something with movement and interaction that would make you less homesick on Mars.
Students: Junghyun Lee / Yujeong Heo / YeJin Jeon / GyeongJin Kim / Wonmo Yoo / Bumjin Hong / Seo jung Kim / Yunha Kim / Hyeri Jang / Yu Bin Jung / Youngjin Seo / Hyunyeol Shin / Hyunbin Oh / Haram Lee / Junghyun Kim / Young Jun Jung / Hongji Kim / Donghwa Hong / Byounghun Kang / Yeonhwa Oh / Myung hoon Kim / Hyeryeon Yu / Eunchong Kim / Soon Ung Park / Jihoon Nam / Seonguk Kim / Geonhee Han / Yoo Kyung Ham / Jaehyeon Kim / Sunwoo Keel / Seo Jin Lee / Goeun Park / Hyunjoon Kang / Hyejeon Ryu / Hey Rin Lee / Leejin Yoon / Jieun Bong / Hayeon Jeong / Yejung On / Dongjae Koo / Baehoon Kang
Guidance: Hyojung SEO / professor at Samsung Design Institute Seoul (SADI)
The exhibition is financially co-sponsored by: 
Thanks to the Mondrian Fund for compensation of artists' fees.
