The Last Pictures: Workshop and Public Talk by Trevor Paglen

This event is part of the fifth and final chapter of Home Workspace Program 2013-14, led by resident professors Jalal Toufic and Anton Vidokle.

For more information on Chapter 5 and the year’s schedule and curriculum, please see HWP 2013-14.



SATURDAY, JUNE 21

by registration

4-6pm: workshop with Trevor Paglen



MONDAY, JUNE 23

public

8pm: lecture by Trevor Paglen



"The Last Pictures"



Humanity's longest lasting remnants are found among the stars. Over the last fifty years, hundreds of satellites have been launched into geosynchronous orbits, forming a ring of machines 36,000 kilometers from Earth. Thousands of times further away than most other satellites, geostationary spacecraft remain locked as man-made moons in perpetual orbit long after their operational lifetimes. Geosynchronous spacecraft will be among civilization's most enduring remnants, quietly circling Earth until the earth is no more.



The Last Pictures marks a distant satellite with a record from the historical moment from whence it came. Artist Trevor Paglen collaborated with materials scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to develop a micro-etched disc with one hundred photographs, encased in a gold-plated shell, designed to withstand the rigors of space and to last for billions of years. Inspired by years of conversations and interviews with scientists, artists, anthropologists, and philosophers, the images chosen for The Last Pictures tell an impressionistic story of uncertainty, paradox, and anxiety about the future.



Trevor Paglen's work deliberately blurs lines between science, contemporary art, journalism, and other disciplines to construct unfamiliar, yet meticulously researched ways to see and interpret the world around us.