Agencia de Borde Explores Mars as a Mirror of Earth in 'Paisaje Alien'
The Chilean collective Agencia de Borde, established by María/Rosario Montero, Paula Salas, and Sebastián Melo, has created 'Paisaje Alien,' a multidisciplinary initiative that merges art, astronomy, anthropology, architecture, sound, and biology. Set to conduct fieldwork in November 2025 at the salar de Pajonales, a site resembling Mars, the project examines our comprehension of distant planets. Key collaborators include Simón Casassus, Javier Jaimovich, and Matías Elliott. The initiative addresses how colonial perspectives shape our views of Mars, drawing inspiration from 19th-century Chilean archives and NASA's management of Martian visuals. Jaimovich gathered environmental data, Elliott investigated extremophiles, and Montero employed a pinhole camera, while Casassus highlighted possible ancient lakes on Mars, and Salas expressed feelings of alienation on Earth.
Key facts
- Agencia de Borde is a Chilean collective founded and directed by María/Rosario Montero, Paula Salas, and Sebastián Melo.
- 'Paisaje Alien' links art, astronomy, anthropology, architecture, sound, and biology.
- Fieldwork took place in November 2025 at the salar de Pajonales in the Antofagasta Region, a terrestrial analog of Mars.
- Collaborators include astronomer Simón Casassus, sound artist Javier Jaimovich, and architect Matías Elliott.
- Mars's carbon dioxide atmosphere slows sound propagation and rapidly absorbs high frequencies such as birdsong.
- Rovers from 2003, Curiosity in 2011, and Perseverance in 2020 have generated a growing archive of Martian photographs, sounds, and data.
- A crater roughly ten meters in diameter was informally named 'Antofagasta' during a Curiosity mission.
- Salas and Montero walked 39 minutes in opposite directions, matching the difference between a terrestrial and Martian day.
- Reanalysis of early rover data suggests large lakes or small seas existed on Mars until approximately 700 million years ago.
- Elliott cited organisms adapting to high radiation after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident, including fungi near the reactor.
Entities
Artists
- María/Rosario Montero
- Paula Salas
- Sebastián Melo
- Simón Casassus
- Javier Jaimovich
- Matías Elliott
- Philippi
- McKenzie Wark
- Escobar
Institutions
- Agencia de Borde
- Universidad de Chile
- Laboratorio de Biofabricación UC
- NASA
- Artishock Revista
Locations
- Chile
- Mars
- salar de Pajonales
- Atacama
- Antofagasta Region
- Antofagasta
- Bolivia
- Argentina
- Marineris valley
- Chernobyl