Space Settlement, AMP Corporate commission preliminary 1988

Curator: Woah, just woah. This thing just pulsates with optimistic energy. Like a sci-fi pep rally on Mars. Editor: You’re right, there’s an interesting retro-futurist sheen to it. What we’re looking at is “Space Settlement, AMP Corporate commission preliminary” by John Berkey, an oil painting from 1988. And while we are in the territory of fantastical design, the question for me is about accessibility, which is far from the case. Curator: Tell me about it. This mega-structure squats on a terraformed Mars. Everything is shiny and white with retro rocket fins and what looks like happy little transport buggies zipping around. A far cry from the gritty space operas of today. Makes you wanna book a one-way ticket, no? Editor: Maybe not. Consider the historical context. This was the late Cold War, anxieties about technological dominance. That gleaming white structure with the prominent U.S. flag. Who gets to live in this utopia? Are we thinking about indigenous populations or, for that matter, the working classes of Earth? It’s a narrative of progress but a progress perhaps exclusively for the few, a visual shorthand for capitalist expansion into the cosmos. Curator: I dig that, for sure. The dream always comes at a cost. Though I can't help but think that Berkey just got jazzed by shapes. It reminds me of those elaborate LEGO castles kids build—equal parts functional and gloriously excessive. Editor: Precisely. This intersection of architectural fantasy and national ambition. You can’t ignore the symbolism of a carefully crafted, master-planned Martian society when those ideas often mirrored inequalities back on earth. Curator: Still, I can get lost in the sheer craft here. It has that cool blend of technical drawing and sheer imaginative leap. And oil paint of all mediums... that makes it pretty grounded in its old fashion-ness. Editor: It's a complex picture isn't it? John Berkey's futurist vision certainly gives us pause to ask whether progress actually equates liberation. Curator: Yes, that retro vibe and underlying ambition has me thinking, maybe utopia is more about asking better questions down here.