GOD, IZIKO MUSEUM, CAPE TOWN

”Sarie, loving, loving child. Listen. I am what you can become, and you are what I want to become.”

’If I could see myself a few years ago I’d be a millionaire - if I only knew then what I know now. A person shouldn’t just look at and compare yourself to others - you need to look at yourself and let yourself grow into life so that you reach out to others.’

Video inspired by ‘Swart ster oor die Karoo’ (Black star over the Karoo) by Jan Rabie, 1957 - An Afrikaans Sci-fi Novel about a future human species is living in a solar system where the Sun has gone dark. They travel back in time and stop the Earth from turning so that the one side becomes dark and extremely cold and the other side always in the sun and hot - a way to try intervene human progress and give opportunity to the humans of the past to change the course of the future. The visitors from the future have changed in physical appearance are initially thought to be aliens from another planet. In order to search for the the cause of the disruption in the Earth’s rotation the humans of the past decide to take an ‘alien’ back to their planet. Inevitably they realise that they are on their way to visit a future icy and dark earth, where the physically adapted future humans are all living underground to stay alive. The humans of the future have the ability to show the visitors from the past themselves.

In Afrikaans the word for Sun is ‘Son’, in the book the dark, cold sun is called ‘Nos’.

”Sarie, loving, loving child. Listen. I am what you can become, and you are what I want to become.” - Eva Stellaris to Sarie, Swart ster oor die Karoo by Jan Rabie, 1957. Translated from Afrikaans to English.

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‘This means we are busy flying inwards into the solar system - in other words, back to the Earth.’

”…we know that have lost contact with the Earth, and that the Sun became invisible behind us. But just in this moment lieutenant Viljee’s observations proved that we are not at the height of Uranus - but that of Jupiter! Still at 140,000km but it is so big that we can observe it’s horizon, even the famous red circle on it’s surface. This means we are busy flying inwards into the solar system - in other words, back to the Earth.“

Series inspired by ‘Swart ster oor die Karoo’ (Black star over the Karoo) by Jan Rabie, 1957. Sci-fi Novel about a future human race that has to live in a solar system where the Sun has gone dark. Translated from Afrikaans to English.

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'In other words, it's a place where we try to reproduce stars in a laboratory - stars are the place where there is a high density of protons, neutrons and from this high density, there are collisions that are going to create heavier elements. So this is what we are trying to do now, we are trying to reproduce what happens in stars, in the laboratory.'

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‘…time becomes plastic, malleable, time becomes a thing which people can use as a weapon…’

‘My three books are all about time, in them time becomes plastic, malleable, time becomes a thing which people can use as a weapon, time becomes a thing like where you can play a leapfrog war, you leap ahead in time, you get there earlier than the guy you are trying to destroy, you wait and when he pops out of sub metric space into metric space you zap him! That is where time becomes a theatre of war. Also, I love time. Everyone knows this story, about the two young fish. They are swimming along one morning, and they say ‘o what a lovely morning’. And they meet the old fish, he comes past and he says ‘hey, hallo boys’, he says ‘the water is nice this morning hey’. The young fish says, ‘what’s he mean by water?’. That’s like weird, like us saying - what do you mean by time? Is time granular, I don’t know. I think they worked out something like there is a Planck length for time, I’m not sure, don’t quote me on that. One of my characters says ‘time and space are granular they inhabit each others intestines, give them a shake and they come apart’. But this is all bullshit, all science-fiction. A real physicist would laugh, mind you I do have a physicist friend who read my books. He said ‘ja I enjoyed it’, he said ‘Jesus Tom you know, you come up with all this absolute nonsense and made up bullshit and it is so plausible!’. Which is a big compliment.’

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‘…the lines are too harmonious to be designed by devils.’

Photograph inspired by ‘Swart ster oor die Karoo’ (Black star over the Karoo) by Jan Rabie, 1957. Sci-fi Novel about a future human race that has to live in a solar system where the Sun has gone dark. Translated from Afrikaans to English.

The old Van de Graaff accelerator, now substituted with a new Tandetron accelerator, is manly used for materials research such as nano-structures or composite materials studies.

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NEUTRON THERAPY VAULT, ITHEMBA LABS, CAPE TOWN

IBART JANSE VEN RENSBURG, SALPETERKOP, NORTHERN CAPE

‘The wooden bench looks primitive but neutron activates anything, so another material would become radioactive…’

Charlotte Vandervoorde, Researcher, IThemba LABS, Cape Town.

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Our consideration of what is large and what is small is constantly provoked as we experience the many details of the landscape. Even then as we use ourselves as a type of scale and our bodies are in turn observed by the landscape - it all becomes a loop of relativity. From the mere thought of what we consider the smallest atomic parts to the imagining of other distant heavenly bodies without measure.

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‘The study on the response of cells to neutron irradiation is a crucial aspect for the feasibility of future human mission in space.’

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LOELOERAAI’S COURTROOM, OUDTSHOORN MAGISTRATE, WESTERN CAPE (FROM LOELOERAAI, 1923, CJ LANGENHOVEN)

RAJIN RAMPHUL, SALT SAAO, SUTHERLAND, NORTHERN CAPE

The thing is we observe most of our targets for other people, so we don’t really know exactly what they are. We sort of understand a little bit. My job is mostly to make sure that they get their data properly, but their science reasoning is not my specialisation.

KOPPIE #1, R354, BETWEEN MATJIESFONTEIN AND SUTHERLAND, WESTERN CAPE

Koppies are small hills - often cultivating a very specific combination of plants - facilitating a micro eco-system by giving shade and shelter for all kinds of creatures - often resulting in a very different appearance and make up to the surrounding valleys or neighbouring mountains.  

’You have to be devoted, I’m basically outside every night. I meet so many people, and it gives me a reward - when people say they enjoyed it. Lastly I would say you learn how insignificant we are in the greater universe and it makes you feel humble - that is the way I want to look at it every night. If you look at the whole concept, I have to agree that it is not only our world - it is such a vast area, it is a never ending story… where do you stop, where do you begin? Once again it makes you feel very humble.’

Jurg Wagener, Star Gazer

The only evidence remaining of the old main route to Sutherland seems to be these lines of rocks. The inside of the road has been restored over time, it appears to be exactly the same as the fynbos surrounding it.

‘To think, that we went back - we went forward. Everything was white, ice, there was nothing. The ice was already a few hundred meters high when we left, but now there were no mountains, no hills. Just ice, as far as you could see, just ice. There was no Karoo, you didn’t even know which country you were in, just ice, people had to live underground - and still, what kind of life was this?’

Video and words inspired by ‘Swart ster oor die Karoo’ by Jan Rabie, 1957. Novel about a future human race that has to live in a solar system where the Sun has gone dark. They travel back in time and stop the earth from turning so that the one side becomes cold and the other side hot, to try persuade humans of the past to change their ways for the sake of the future - they also take them to the future where the physically adapted humans are all living underground to stay alive.

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‘When I was a young girl, we didn’t have telescopes. We had small binoculars mostly because it was after the world war. Today there are so many telescopes - and they are amazing. From this little size from where you could see the moon and the Planets to that big one over there where you can see literally everything.’

Jess van Elferen, Shopkeeper, Telescope Shop, Brakpan, Gauteng.

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Ek voel baie, baie hartseer. Maar laat my gaan, amptenaar; jy het my woord dat ek nie vier-en-twintig uur langer die aarde met my teenwoordigheid sal opskeep nie.”

“Dit lyk my jy is kranksinnig ook,” sê die magistraat. “Konstabel, ek het reeds gelas om die prisonier te verwyder.”

Die konstabel tree nader en lig sy hand op. Net soos hy aan Loeloeraai se arm raak, word hy slap en hy sak inmekaar.

“Laat hom ’n paar uur slaap,” sê Loeloeraai. “Hy sal niks oorkom nie. Kom, Kerneels en Stoffel, kom ons gaan huis toe. Ons het baie om te gesels in die tydjie wat vir ons oorbly. Maar voor ek gaan – amptenaar, asseblief moenie gewapende magte stuur om my in hegtenis te neem nie. Ek wil niemand die minste leed aandoen nie.” Hy kyk by die oop venster van die hofsaal uit. “Sien jy daardie groot bos op die rand van die oorkantse kop ?” Hy haal ’n dingetjie nes ’n vérkyker uit sy bors en hy peil da

ardeur. Toe ons weer sien staan die bos aan die vlam.

“Dis maar ’n klein aanduidinkie,” sê Loeloeraai, “van die wetenskap van die bewoners van julle aandster en môrester.”

From Loeloeraai, 1923, CJ Langenhoven

"I feel very, very sad. But let me go, official; you have my word that I will no longer than twenty-four-hours bother the earth with my presence.”

"It seems to me that you are insane too," said the magistrate. "Constable, I have already ordered the removal of the prisoner."

The constable steps closer and raises his hand. Just as he touches Loeloeraai's arm, he becomes limp and collapses.

"Let him sleep for a few hours," says Loeloeraai. "He'll be fine. Come on, Kerneels and Stoffel, let's go home. We have a lot to talk about in the time that remains for us. But before I go - official, please do not send armed forces to arrest me. I do not want to hurt anyone in the least." He looks out the open window of the courtroom. "Do you see that big bush on the edge of the opposite head?" He takes a thing like a pair of binoculars out of his chest and he peers through it. Before we knew it the bush was on fire.

"It's just a small indication," says Loeloeraai, "of the science of the inhabitants of your evening star and morning star."

From Loeloeraai, 1923, CJ Langenhoven

(Translated from the original Afrikaans)

’I’m actually from Kuilsriver, but we moved to Paarl and I got heavy asthma - so we decided to move here. Since we’ve been here I don’t get any asthma - nature became my health-pill here. I’m relaxed. We are totally off the grid - we don’t have a landline, or cell reception and the police van doesn’t even catch his radio signal here. We are cut off from the world and like it that way - and the kids can’t bother us unnecessarily. We do go to town once a week and then they can reach us. If there is an emergency the police will come out and call us. I prefer this place, because here you can actually see the stars - you get the feeling that they are so near that you want to pick them like flowers, while in town you don’t see it as there are too many lights around you. Here you get the darkness and it is so near to nature.’

‘I look at the moon basically every night because I walk up and down between the kitchen and here. Actually when I look at the moon I can almost tell you how many days it will be until full moon or till dark moon. You pick up a lot of things about the nature - like when it will rain. You can tell by the baboons and how they are screaming, by the ants carrying their food. Nature is absolutely part of my life here and I wouldn’t exchange it for town - not at all. I mean, you can’t actually describe all of this, you got to be here to feel it - to be part of it… sort of. I just acknowledge myself as a very privileged person, to be here - just to see the sky and nature on the ground and everything all come together. You have to be here to see what is going on - to live with it. Then you start to believe how great nature is, how great God is. I mean he put everything there for us and it fits together like a puzzle. I got no worry about time because when you are in nature you lose time, because there are so many things you observe. Time is not a factor here. You must not worry about getting older because you will get older.’

Tjol Herbst, Tolhuis, R354

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The Sun Man, as some refer to him, stares at the sun every day. He makes a little hole between his fingers to protect his eyes, but they still become red and swollen on some days. We realised that he changes position and posture based on the availability of sunlight in certain areas and the position of the sun. When it is midday for instance, he needs to sit down to be able to lean back and stare straight up to the sun.

Salpeterkop (Saltpetre Hill) was an active surface volcano about 66 million years ago – believed to be the last one in South Africa, making it the youngest known active volcano in Africa south of the Equator. When viewing this structure today, it must be remembered that about 2 km of rock has been eroded away, so we are looking at a level deep in the throat of the volcano. Its present summit is reached via a kilometre-wide lava ash field.*

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Dr Ricky Smit is showing a schematic representation of the principle of acceleration of the charged particle through the Separated Section Cyclotron (SSC) at iThemba LABS.

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KWAGGA, ITEMBA ACCELERATOR-BASED SCIENCES, CAPE TOWN, WESTERN CAPE

Quagga were all wiped out by pioneer hunters in South Africa in the 19th century. They were a subspecies of Zebra basically with a similar appearance, but their stripes become wider and disappear towards the back where it is also more of a brown colour. In 1987 a programme started to try and resurrect the Quagga using selective breeding. The only known photograph of a living one was taken by F.York at a London zoo in 1870. 

The Zebra found on the grounds of the iThemba Lab (the largest facility of Africa for particle and nuclear research) is part of an ongoing programme to reintroduce the Quagga.

‘BaGel (Ball of Germanium and LaBr) It is used to detect the de-excitation radiation (gamma rays) from nuclei excited via nuclear reactions. Nuclear structure studies have important impact in the understanding of astrophysical phenomena such as the dynamics of neutron starts and the production of heavy elements in the universe.’

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THE OLD MINE #4, GOLD REEF CITY, JOHANNESBURG, GAUTENG

THE OLD MINE #1, GOLD REEF CITY, JOHANNESBURG, GAUTENG

In 2011 the deepest land living creature was discovered inside a South African gold mine. A new species of nematode worm Halicephalobus mephisto was found 3.5km below the surface. They thrive in conditions thought to be too harsh for any creature - where previously it was thought that only single-celled bacteria survive.

The discovery has also encouraged the search for life on other planets with the possibility of more creatures surviving underground.

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‘…nobody will go there at night. It’s called the hills of the spirits.’

‘Well there is a big mark in time, Soutpan, Tswaing. I don’t know how many million people would die if it would happen today but it was 200 000 years ago. I forget the size of the meteorite - a few thousand tons, and it threw up this central point and a ring of hills. There are legends - nobody will go there at night. It’s called the hills of the spirits.’

Tom Learmont, Sci-fi Writer, Johannesburg

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The name Tswaing means "place of salt" in Tswana and the crater was also formerly known in English as Pretoria Saltpan crater and in Afrikaans as Soutpankrater.

The meteorite was probably about the size of a an average house and it would have taken no more than 10 seconds to slam into the ground after entering the Earth's atmosphere, releasing the energy of about 100 Hiroshima atom bombs. Life within a 35 kilometre radius would have been wiped out.

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"Follow me," said Eva Stellaris quietly, and stepped forward, through the milky wall. "Goodness me!” whispered Jos. "It's going to open just like intelligent glue!"

Photograph inspired by ‘Swart ster oor die Karoo’ (Black star over the Karoo) by Jan Rabie, 1957. In the novel future humans are living inside Table Mountain as it is too cold outside. There are no doors, but mirror like walls that you can walk through - but only if you are calm. Wouter ended up forgetting this and ran angrily towards someone, straight into the wall like you would run into a closed glass door, coming face to face with himself.

'They stared, and then see it taking on a form …a lump to the left, and flat in the middle, and a pointed, smaller peak to the right. Yes, yes. Table Mountain between Devil's Peak and Lion's Head. For a moment they were overwhelmed with real joy, before the paralysis return. What terrible tragedy happened here? There are no traces of a city anymore, just ice. It is Jordaan who sees it first, a small glossy lump above the ice, a structure like a glass dome. There they will probably land.'

’And then we have Betelgeuse, that's a very important star. It's in the Orion constellation and some scientists to say it's already gone supernova. Some say it still has to. As astronomy is a science, it's still being looked at and studied, so we always say nothing is fact until it is proven. Why? Because man hasn't been in space - we cannot get there. We cannot really study the stars. We don't know anything until we actually have the facts - we do by mathematics and other subjects study space and the universe, but all of it is theoretical until we can prove it's fact.’

INSIDE SALT (SOUTH AFRICAN LARGE TELESCOPE), SAAO, SUTHERLAND, NORTHERN CAPE

VOLCANO #2, SALPETERKOP, NORTHERN CAPE

I become very happy when I’m up there, partly because of nature, you see all kinds of natural things. Also the mirrors, how they clean the mirrors and how they are so busy with the the machinery and all those things - it’s all beautiful. I left school early, but I did have science at school, and it attracts me - when I see the things they do. It makes me curious to learn about the telescopes.’

Anna van Wyk, Sutherland local.

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‘Used to transport the signals generated by the focal-plane detectors of the K600 magnetic spectrometer at iThemba LABS.’  

Dr. Luna Pellegri, Senior researcher, iThemba LABS

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'Who or whatever is busy there especially chose this meandering gorge.' From Sending Kosmos, ID Lamprecht, 1980. Daan Retief Publishers, 1980. (Translated from the original Afrikaans)

Traveling beyond the speed of light in a rocket that took off from a secret location in Gamkaskloof, Professor Verhoef and Hansie Strydom start remembering events from the future. They somehow know that the star they are heading towards is called the Verhoef Sun and one of it’s planets Strydom.

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GOD, IZIKO MUSEUM, CAPE TOWN