From Mars to Venus

In ancient cosmology, planets and minerals have long been associated with alchemical traditions, astrology, and symbolic correspondences. Mars is symbolized by iron, while Venus is associated with copper. In this work, Sápmi where the majority of the iron is mined in Europe, becomes Mars; and the Atacama-Andes region, where the largest amount of the world’s copper is produced, becomes Venus.
From Mars to Venus: Activism of the Future proposes a connection between these two distant territories: In Kiruna—Sweden’s northernmost town, 200 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle— the iron mining industry has historically occupied traditional Sámi lands; and the Chilean Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth—inhabited by the Lickanantay people for thousands of years, where copper mining and lithium extraction are depleting underground aquifers and restricting access to fresh water for Lickanantay communities. The video juxtaposes the vast scale of mining operations with territorial struggles over water, biodiversity, cultural identity loss and the observation and exploration of space. While Kiruna is a gateway to the aurora borealis and a key site for studying the Earth’s magnetic field and its interaction with solar wind; the Atacama is a key site for astronomical observation, hosting the world’s largest observatories, some of which are located on the Chajnantor plateau at more than 5,000 metres above sea level.
In Kiruna, where unjust state policies reiterate colonial patterns, the iron mining industry has historically occupied the traditional lands of the Sámi and affected reindeer herding patterns. White International media celebrates the corporate relocations of the mining town of Kiruna, where communities of over 3,000 households have been forcibly displaced with unfair compensation. This is occurring because the iron ore mine operated by the Swedish state mining company LKAB is destabilising the ground, and as a result the old city is sinking. In addition to the ongoing extraction of iron, recent discoveries of rare earth metals in Kiruna exceed one million tonnes of oxides, making it the largest known deposit of its kind in Europe. In the Atacama, the natural environment is sacrificed in the name of progress. Copper, historically, and more recently lithium extraction activities—both key to the energy transition and the active materials in rechargeable batteries—are drying up subterranean aquifers and preventing access to fresh water for the Licanantay communities.
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