This immersive 3D environment addresses themes of colonialism, exploitation and consumption by examining a possible future of space travel and tourism. Interstellar Illusions leverages science fiction and fantasy aesthetics within a navigate-able speculative narrative. Viewers are invited to explore a fictional and abandoned extraplanetary luxury resort. It is unclear as to why the resort has been vacated, but what’s left behind offers an eerie glimpse of what the future of space travel and tourism could be.
Existing extraplanetary explorations currently prioritize seeking signs of existing life as uncovering “biological potential” for supporting human life on other planets. As of 2022, there are around fifty planets identified as having this potential. Corporations such as SpaceX are pursuing the possibility of colonizing nearby Mars as global ecological disasters become more intense, opening the possibility that the earth will become uninhabitable. Interstellar Illusions asks, if humans were to colonize new worlds, would we create new systems or, will extra-terrestrial planets simply become extensions of existing models of colonization which has been the earthling’s experience?