THE DRIFT

Kelly Sears’ “The Drift” is visually notable for its use of pictures and images from magazines and newspapers, re-purposed and animated, to create a new version of the successes and failures of the 1960’s space program. In this alternate version of reality, a space mission ends with the loss of a number of astronauts, all who succumb to an odd, harmonic siren song, in an effect known as “the drift,” while out in the farthest reaches of space.

In an attempt to find the missing astronauts, satellites are launched which instead find the existence of the soothing music, and bring the tune back to Earth, where it quickly causes a similar “drift” effect, and, therefore, is eradicated.

While the history isn’t realistic, no NASA mission ever returned to Earth with a strange sound that caused people to tune out of their lives and “drift” away, the end result is disturbingly the same for the space program. Today, it’s not about landing on the moon or other grand adventures. Instead, it’s all practical science. The dreams of conquering new frontiers are stagnant, in both that system, and our own lives.