IN EVENT OF MOON DISASTER

In the organizer's words:

The strange, the unbelievable, the captivating have always been part of our narratives - fairy tales, legends, myths, stories. Books, movies, social media. People tell stories to preserve their memories, to pass on knowledge, to entertain themselves. Whether drawn, spoken, sung, written, typed or shown in moving images, stories are becoming more present, more global, more accessible and, above all, more real. Some of these stories are becoming powerful and becoming power.
The post-factual technologized world offers us numerous means to promote fantasies, legends, myths or simply fleeting irrelevant ideas to the rank of "truth". One thing remains for us - to be ever vigilant and ever better at distinguishing truth from deception.
We are very pleased to present IN EVENT OF MOON DISASTER at the Cinémathèque Leipzig - to tell an exciting story and together become a little better at unmasking deception.

***

In July 1969, much of the world celebrated "a great leap for mankind". Fifty years later, things no longer look so simple.
IN EVENT OF MOON DISASTER illustrates the possibilities of deepfake technologies by reinterpreting this groundbreaking event: What if the Apollo 11 mission had gone wrong and the astronauts could not return home? An emergency speech for this scenario was prepared for US President Nixon, but never delivered - until now.
IN EVENT OF MOON DISASTER is an immersive art project that invites us into an alternative history and invites us to reflect on how new technologies can distort, redirect and obscure the truth around us. Various techniques of disinformation were used to construct the story - from simple misleading edits to more complex deepfake technologies. To recreate the emergency speech, deep learning techniques were used to both create a synthetic voice of Nixon and use dialog replacement techniques to recreate the movements of Nixon's mouth and lips. By creating this alternative history, the project explores the influence and prevalence of disinformation and deepfake technologies in our society today.

Directed by: Halsey Burgundy, Francesca Panetta
Additional concept design: Magnus Bjerg, Jeff DelViscio
Actors: Lewis D. Wheeler
Supervising sound editor: Lukas Johnson
Project supervisor: D. Fox Harrell

ENG: The strange, the unbelievable, the captivating have always been part of our narratives - fairy tales, legends, myths, stories. Books, films, social media. People tell stories to preserve their memories, pass on knowledge, entertain themselves. Whether drawn, spoken, sung, written, typed, or shown in moving images, stories are becoming more present, more global, more accessible, and above all, more real. Some of these stories become powerful and turn into power. The post-factual, technologized world offers us numerous tools to elevate fantasies, legends, myths, or simply fleeting, insignificant ideas to the rank of "truth."
We are left with one thing - to always be vigilant and to become better at distinguishing truth from deception.
We are very pleased to present IN EVENT OF MOON DISASTER at the Cinémathèque Leipzig - to tell an exciting story and together become a little better at exposing illusions.

***

In July 1969, much of the world celebrated "one giant leap for mankind." Fifty years later, nothing is quite so straightforward.
In Event of Moon Disaster illustrates the possibilities of deepfake technologies by reimagining this seminal event. What if the Apollo 11 mission had gone wrong and the astronauts had not been able to return home? A contingency speech for this possibility was prepared for, but never delivered by, President Nixon - until now.
IN EVENT OF DISASTER is an immersive art project inviting you into an alternative history, asking us all to consider how new technologies can bend, redirect and obfuscate the truth around us.
To construct the story a variety of techniques of misinformation were used - from simple deceptive editing to more complex deepfakes technologies.
To recreate the contingency speech, the piece used deep learning techniques to create both a synthetic voice of Nixon and to use dialogue replacement techniques to replicate the movement of Nixon's mouth and lips.
By creating this alternative history, the project explores the influence and pervasiveness of misinformation and deepfake technologies in our contemporary society.

Directors: Halsey Burgund, Francesca Panetta
Additional Concept Design: Magnus Bjerg, Jeff DelViscio
Actor: Lewis D. Wheeler
Supervising Sound Editor: Lukas Johnson
Project Supervisor: D. Fox Harrell

Artists / Künstler*innen

Halsey Burgund is a media artist and Emmy award-winning interactive director whose work focuses on combining modern technologies - from cell phones to artificial intelligence - with fundamentally human "technologies", primarily language, music and the spoken voice. He is the creator of Roundware, the open-source audio AR platform, and his recent work focuses on the societal challenges posed by synthetic media and generative AI. Halsey has been a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow, Research Affiliate at the MIT Media Lab, and is currently Creative Technologist in Residence at the MIT Open Documentary Lab and Affiliate at Harvard's metaLAB.

Halsey Burgund is a new media artist and Emmy-winning interactive director whose work focuses on the combination of modern technologies - from mobile phones to artificial intelligence - with fundamentally human "technologies", primarily language, music and the spoken voice. He is the creator of Roundware, the open source contributory audio AR platform, and his recent work has focussed on the societal challenges posed by synthetic media and generative AI. Halsey was a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow, a Research Affiliate at the MIT Media Lab and is currently Creative Technologist in Residence at the MIT Open Documentary Lab and an affiliate in Harvard's metaLAB.

Francesca Panetta is Director of the AKO Storytelling Institute at the University of the Arts London and an Emmy award-winning artist. The Institute works at the intersection of artistic practice and social change and aims to develop the discipline of 'storytelling for change'. She has led the Guardian's pioneering storytelling initiatives for over a decade, including in podcasting, immersive features and virtual reality.

Francesca Panetta is Director of University of the Arts London's AKO Storytelling Institute and an Emmy award-winning artist. Working at the intersection of artistic practice and social change, the Institute aims to develop the discipline of storytelling-for-change. She led The Guardian's vanguard storytelling initiatives for over a decade including podcasting, immersive features and virtual reality.