Operation Cntrcpy[tm] is a virtual space flight to Mars, accessible to everybody with a mobile phone and access to the internet.
The target is, to navigate a space ship to Mars as fast as possible and to land there, by using a web interface and a mobile phone.
Throughout the whole mission the pilot is responsible for the space ship and crew.
The journey is impeded by obstacles, such as aliens, black holes and fields of asteroids. When the spaceship heads towards one, the cosmonaut is immediately informed by SMS – at any time of day or night.
Then, action is called for. The pilot has to log into the "Virtual Mission Control Center" via the internet as fast as he can, and avert these dangerous situations.
The quickness of reaction and the quality of solving a problem decide the course of the journey.
The project is an ironic comment to manned space flights and to our yearning for virtuality. Each traveler moves in two worlds: in the real world, which is determined by everyday activities, and the world of the game into which he is catapulted at unpredictable times per SMS.
Another part is also to transfer the project into "real space". In the past a propaganda video and space food were produced, space trainings were realized and an operation headquarter was installed in several galleries.
Furthermore, a goal is to criticize efforts pursued by states for spaceflight activities without having any real social benefit. For them, the conquest of space is only part of the game of power between states. This is also stressed in an ironic form by the fact that the traveler enters the cosmos and represents a country which in reality no longer exists, the former Soviet Union. Design, musical interludes and the fonts all hint to this.
