Want to be half human? People in this city are 'transformed' into human-alien hybrids by drinking from a fountain in Fontecchio, a town in the Abruzzo region, Italy. The water flowing from this medieval fountain is the work of experimental philosopher Jonathon Keats.
Keats refers to something. On the hillside above Fontecchio lies a chondrite meteorite, the parent of which originates in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Therefore, alien essence from the space rock has seeped into the village's groundwater flowing through its pipes -- in theory.
Keats was invited to Fontecchio by a government commission led by Ufficio Speciale per la Ricostruzione dei Comuni del Cratere, as part of a program called Riabitare con l'Arte. His work is called the 'Fountain of Tolerance' or 'The Fountain of Tolerance'. It was first unveiled at Fontecchio in August 2021.
The main aim of this project is to help combat xenophobia and other forms of prejudice, which are on the rise in our increasingly divided and divided society.
"When we become aliens together, by ingesting this meteorite material, we consciously become part of the cosmos," Keats told Space.com, Tuesday (28/9/2021).
"Therefore, there is an increase beyond the fact that I am from one place and you are from another to the recognition that, in fact, we all come from the same place, which is the cosmos. And there is also a sense of how the differences we perceive are very small in comparison. with what we have in common," he said.
Fontecchio is indeed a great place to be the first fountain. The village is located just a few km from Sirente Crater, a 425-foot (130-meter) wide hole in the ground that was most likely blown up by an alien object that crashed into Earth about 1,700 years ago.
As additional information, for those of you who are interested in drinking water from the Fountains of Tolerance, the government has expanded this human-alien hybridization effort by providing water from this fountain free of charge in the square.
The theme of unity with the philosophy of the unity of all human beings as part of the cosmic does often appear in Keats' work. In 2010, he founded the Local Air and Space Agency, which, among other activities, sells bottles of mineral water infused with the essence of the moon, Mars and distant stars.
The people of Fontecchio have made various drinking cups from the clay of the crater to help share water which can change the perspective of this community. The container is on display at the Fontecchio archaeological museum during a special exhibition.
But, Keats says we all don't have to go all the way to Italy to drink this water. Every year, Earth sucks up more than 5,000 tons of interplanetary dust, some of which enters our lungs and stomach. So you don't have to make a pilgrimage there.
"Fontecchio is a beautiful medieval city, and I hope more people will visit," he said.
"But you don't have to go out there to make a transformation in your state of mind, in terms of being an alien hybrid. We've all done it. And this is just a space that could ideally help activate it."
