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The Tower of Babel
2012
The Tower of Babel is a biblical story explaining why the world's peoples speak different languages. As told in Genesis, following the Great Flood a united humanity speaking a single language came to the land of Shinar, where they agreed to build a city and a tower tall enough to reach heaven. Observing the construction with contempt, God scattered them throughout the world and gave them different languages. Paglen's photograph shows a painting of the same title made by Pieter Bruegel the Elder in the mid 1500s. The Tower of Babel underscores the challenge Paglen faced in creating The Last Pictures -- communicating with an unknown, future viewer. |