December 17, 2020, Mexico City, Mexico and Mountain View, CA – The Earthling Project, which will collect songs from people worldwide to create musical compositions and send them into space, is officially launched. The project is a collaboration between SETI Artist-in-Residence Felipe Pérez Santiago, the SETI Institute, and the Arch Mission Foundation, a nonprofit that archives human knowledge for future generations.

“The Earthling Project consists of gathering human voices from all over the world to create global online compositions and send them into space as a representation of our species united as one, having our first mission to the moon in 2021,” said Pérez Santiago.

The project will collect 10,000 voices from people who will submit songs through the Earthling Project app. Pérez Santiago will use the submitted pieces to create a composition representing the sounds of humanity. Thanks to the Arch Foundation, the composition will be put on a disc and sent to the moon onboard Astrobotics Peregrine rocket. Unlike the Golden Record, which curated sounds and images representing Earth's diversity to send to space, the Earthling Project will be an original creation intended to be from all humanity. The Earthling Project app will make all submitted songs available in the Spring of 2021, and the resulting composition will be available on music streaming services.

The Earthling Project is part of a collaboration between Pérez Santiago and Dr. Jill Tarter, co-founder of the SETI Institute and an astronomer best known for her pioneering work in SETI research.

“I'm excited to see/hear what Felipe and his team can create with this Earthling platform,” said Tarter. “I love the idea of composing music based on songs from around the planet, a piece of music that astronauts can someday take with them to distant worlds to remind them of home.”

The SETI Institute's Artist-in-Residence (AIR) program is an international leader in the movement of integrating art and science. SETI AIR connects contemporary artists with SETI Institute researchers and facilitates an exchange of ideas to catalyze new perspectives, insights and modes of comprehension. SETI AIR artists bring fresh eyes and informed, critical minds to complex concepts and become creative ambassadors for the SETI Institute. Pérez Santiago became a SETI AIR artist in 2018.

“When I first met Felipe, he had just joined the AIR program,” said Bettina Forget, Director of SETI AIR. “Felipe gave a stunning performance of his recent work and then outlined the concept of the Earthling Project during the panel discussion that followed. I was captivated and inspired by his ambitious plan and his poetic vision. It is fantastic to see the Earthling Project app launch, and I look forward to hearing the world sing.”

The Earthling Project app is available for OS and Android devices. People can submit up to three songs in seven categories, such as festive, lullabies or grief. The deadline for submitting songs will be in the Summer of 2021.

SETI AIR Current Projects

In the last two years, the SETI AIR program has welcomed its first international artists. In 2018, Felipe Perez Santiago from Mexico and Zeinab Alhashemi from Dubai joined the program. Santiago is creating EARTHLING, a contemporary composition made in collaboration with Dr. Jill Tarter. Alhashemi is working with Drs. Mark Showalter and Matthew Tiscareno on several public art projects. SETI AIR’s most recent residents are Chinese artist Xin Liu, electronic musician and DJ Alfred Darlington (aka Daedelus), and performer-activist Jordan Holmes (aka Dxtr Spits).

Felipe Pérez Santiago is an internationally acclaimed composer, conductor, guitarist, and sound artist. Winner of several prizes and recognitions, he is a member of the National System of Art Creators in Mexico. Felipe is the founder and artistic director of the Mal’Akh Ensemble, combining chamber and rock music with electronica and multimedia performance. His compositions have been played and commissioned in more than 40 countries by internationally renowned orchestras and ensembles. Felipe's catalog includes more than ten discographic productions, spanning orchestral compositions, chamber music, solo pieces, electronic works, and music for films, dance, video, and multimedia installations.

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