Vitanje to Space: Don't Panic

Vitanje, 17 July - The small village of Vitanje, host to a science and art centre dedicated to space visionary Herman Potočnik Noordung, got all dressed up for its latest satellite photos, as a group of students wrote "Don't Panic" in giant letters on a nearby hill.

Vitanje
A giant "Don't Panic" sign, paying tribute to the popular comic science fiction novel "The The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" in a nearby hill in Vitanje.
Photo: Lili Pušnik/STA

Vitanje
A giant "Don't Panic" sign, paying tribute to the popular comic science fiction novel "The The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" in a nearby hill in Vitanje.
Photo: Lili Pušnik/STA

Quoting and paying tribute to the popular science fiction novel "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", the 120 metres long and 70 metres wide writing was set up by participants of an architectural summer course AAVS Slovenia, which ran between 4 and 17 July at the Centre of European Space Technologies (KSEVT) in Vitanje.

The writing will also be seen on Google Maps, as new satellite photos of Vitanje were taken on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the project participants gathered at the site for a celebratory picnic.

While waiting for the pictures to be taken, the participants filled in the letter 'O', a symbol of KSEVT connectedness with the community of Vitanje.

The humorous writing made of white plastic foil was documented from three different altitudes with a drone, a motor glider and a sport aircraft, the AAVS Slovenia said in a press release.

The AAVS Slovenia is a summer course held in Vitanje in cooperation with the prestigious London-based Architectural Association School of Architecture.

The 2015 AAVS Slovenia participants focused in particularly on the concept of "nanotourism", which gave them the idea to build a gigantic sign as they found out that Vitanje's satellite footage has not been updated in several years.

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© STA, 2015