Sputnik Returned consists of a replica of the first manmade satellite to orbit the earth, Sputnik, installed as if it has fallen from its orbit and crashed back to earth. Sputnik Returned presents a metaphor for the failed promises of a future predicated on scientific advancement. The stainless steel orb, resting lifeless in a crater recalls a modern day Icarus, whose faith in technology lead to hubris and imminent demise as he fell back to earth. This simple design, streamlined and reflective, seems to encapsulate the space race of the 1950s. Today this design appears as a wonderfully crude relic of the period, a potential unmanned doomsday weapon mirroring the excesses of the cold war while also recalling the proto-modernist sculptures of Brancusi.
