<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Humanity has long nested on Earth as an infant in a cosmic cradle. As this collective consciousness of billions enter into the adolescence of the species Earth can no longer offer proper nourishment. Life has become too easy and we are now in a period of stagnation and distraction as masters of a tiny brush dot on the vast canvas of the universe. Conflict and suffering have been abolished and people grow bored with idleness. Life has become a pointless matter of easy birth and painless death. With this in mind, we have decided to send colonists far and wide to create a mature sketch of humanity across this virgin cosmos. These colonists have been accustomed to lives of luxury supplemented by easy access to food, shelter, and love. The paucity of resources in space will be discouraging to many, but this challenge is necessary because in the words of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, “<span style="color: #000000;">that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.</span>” <!--more--></span></span>

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> However in sending this multinational, multi-ethnic, multi-gendered conglomerate into space we must prepare them for the limits of humanity. Thus a museum has been proposed to hopefully capture the breadth of achievements made by artists struggling through the baby-steps of humanity. Because humanity now exists at a point where reality and the ideal are one and the same, this capsule will explore a time before such unity, where reality was difficult and people used their ideals as a form of escape and inspiration. This should free the colonists from their ignorance in matters of suffering, and teach them ways to cope this new life they've chosen. The capsule will be divided into two themes: Optimism and Realism. In the Optimism section will be a recreation of The Forbidden City and recorded performances of Swan Lake. In the Realism section will be a reading room for Don Quixote and a section for Stalker.</span></span>

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> The Forbidden City was such a large architectural project that copying it in it's entirety would be impractical. Also, the original materials used would decay without constant maintenance. So instead the facsimile would use resistant modern materials that try to emulate the feel of the original work. The centerpiece throne room with a few administrative buildings, and a garden area with an indoor lake would be made. There will be virtual kiosks that recreate the full experience of the city in each of the period buildings, but the open area would ideally be a place for people to experience and meditate in a real environment. The purpose of this exhibit would be as a space for people to escape their worries about life for a while and feel a sense of calm and serenity. The point of the physical structures would be to recreate the feel of the location without being obtrusive, but the virtual tour would be more elaborate with educational guides on the history and political background of the Forbidden City. Visitors could be given the choice of either a solo tour or connecting with other users to explore the Forbidden City together. AI characters would populate the virtual city so that it's not entirely vacant, and people could switch between the Qing and Ming dynasty and see how the culture changed over time. </span></span>

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> A wing would lead from this display to a theater showing hologram projections of Swan Lake. The holograms would be recorded performances from different ballet troupes so that the audience could understand how the creative vision for the piece was not ironclad and open to interpretation. A small workshop would exist to teach the audience about conventions of ballet, and there would be practice sessions where people could audition for live performances. It will be exciting to see how space travel and the backgrounds of performers affect new interpretations of Swan Lake. A small exhibit dedicated to Tchaikovsky and the history of ballet would complete the wing. This would help visitors understand the struggles Tchaikovsky faced in an intolerant society and create some contextual understanding of the art form. We will provide recordings of the orchestral score for people to use at their own leisure at home.</span></span>

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> Separate from these two wings would be the Realism section. There will be a reading room featuring Don Quixote's Cervantes on eBooks translated into several languages. Artwork and scenery inspired by the novel would decorate the room, and it would have a library-like atmosphere. A book club will be held every month to discuss the themes of the novel and how it relates to the hope of imagining a better life within the admittedly dismal conditions that our colonists will have to put up with from day to day. Adaptations of Don Quixote into other media such as film and plays would be on hand for visitors to examine and compare with the novel. </span></span>

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> Finally a section will be devoted to Stalker. To enter the theater showing the film, the audience first participates in a game. One of the themes of the movie is about respect for your environment, and participants would need to throw bolts tied with cloth ahead of their path to find a safe route to the theater. Anyone who carelessly wanders would be teleported to the beginning, or even ejected from the room. The reward for completing the game would be a showing of the remastered movie. It's anticipated that completing the challenge will be seen as a rite of passage into adulthood for the children born aboard our spaceship. </span></span>

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> Hopefully this museum will instill the proper mindset into our space travelers. We want to create both the ability to aspire and hope for great things, but also to temper those dreams with fact and figure a way to reconcile their wishes with what will be a difficult journey. Mere entertainment and distraction would be ruinous to the expedition, and these four works will be the cornerstone of a bold new mankind. We want to avoid the contempt for existence and progress that currently permeates the old world, and this museum will be a building block in future creative endeavors by our brave colonists.</span></span>