Message to the Future

In 1981, a group called the Human Interference Task Force (made up of scientists, artists, engineers, and anthropologists) met to come up with a solution to a very specific problem- how to warn future people away from areas that may contain radioactive waste material, which can remain dangerous for hundreds and thousands of years.

This week in art class, the 7th graders were presented with the same design challenge: how can we create a message for the distant future that doesn’t rely on written language, which can change dramatically over hundreds of years?

They had 30 minutes to design and present their warning systems to the rest of the class, who then offered some constructive feedback!