Existing comment:
Artifacts (Anasazi Cliff Dwellings, Canyon de Chelly, Spacecraft in Perpetual Geosynchronous Orbit, 35,786 km Above Equator), 2010
The left panel of Artifacts -- Anasazi Cliff Dwellings, Canyon de Chelly -- revisits an ancient native site photographed by Timothy O'Sullivan in 1873 and by Ansel Adams in 1942. For the right panel, Spacecraft in Perpetual Geosynchronous Orbit, 35,786 km Above Equator, Paglen photographed defunct spacecraft orbiting Earth like man-made rings of Saturn. He combined the two to frame the question, "What will our cultural artifacts look like to future discoverers?" The artist suggests that our most persistent artifacts will be spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit, which will remain there indefinitely, outlasting our own civilization and any means of being understood by some distant, future discoverer. |