The EAR1 Command Module, 2013 (ECM) is an interactive sculpture designed with three main sections. The forward compartment is the map room, equipment storage, and sleeping quarters. The center section is the control center for sound recording and reinforcement, and the back section of the ECM is the area for transporting the rover and offloading it by ramp in various environments. I once again turned to NASA and science for inspiration in designing my command module. I’ve often contemplated the environments space explorers are confined to during their travels in orbit and to the moon. The vehicles, like the international space station and the lunar command module are not only sophisticated exploratory instruments they are environments to sustain life away from Earth. In essence they are environments constructed to explore environments. This basic idea is how I began constructing the EAR1 Command Module.

My first night to sleep in Mission Control was unusually cold for the Petrified Forest National Park (PEFO) in April. The temperature outside was 21 degrees Fahrenheit. I was granted a mini residency at the PEFO that included permission to park the Command Module on the premises and explore the environment for four days in exchange for a public presentation about the EAR1 project. I explore Jasper Forest, the Painted Desert badlands, and the Teepees areas during the days and returned to the Command Module to sleep at night. On my third night at the Park, I had retired to my sleeping bag.

It was unusually dark due to the full lunar eclipse. As I lay there listening to the sound recordings from Jasper Forest, I periodically heard packs of coyotes singing. My entire day had been spent actively listening to the natural and geological story of the park and I hadn’t heard a single sound associated with our modern world. I found myself contemplating connections with space explorers, or perhaps explorers in general. I had not blasted beyond our stratosphere atop a rocket. I was not floating weightless in space on a collision course with the Moon. I was not confined to my Command Module due to the harsh vacuum of space. However I was in an environment I constructed to explore an environment. My one purpose of that day was to explore the environment, make focused observations, collect information, and return to the command module to log what I had found. I believe I was experiencing an altered perception to the noisy world I normally lived in. The sound of Jasper Forest collected by the Remote Station Violin harmonizing with the coyote calls in the darkness of the eclipsed moon created a beautiful composition.