The Future of Art According to Trevor Paglen

“Art can ask us to question our own common sense, and in doing so allow us to imagine what different worlds might be like,” says artist and MacArthur Genius Trevor Paglen. Blurring the boundaries between art, science, and journalism, Paglen’s work exposes often unsettling realities of our world today, particularly in relation to the surveillance state and the use of data.
His projects cast aside traditional artistic media. Previously, he has taken viewers on a diving expedition to witness the international internet cables that the NSA taps. In 2018, he’ll bring his practice into space, launching the first satellite to function purely as an art object. But, for as much as Paglen focuses on cutting-edge tech and the proliferation of visual culture, the future of art he imagines remains firmly rooted in art forms of the past.
Featuring Trevor Paglen
Directed by William Silva Reddington
Executive Producers: Matt McLaughlin, Andrew Simkiss, and Harrison Nalevansky
Director of Photography: Ryan Marie Helfant
Line Producer: Zein Zubi
Music: “Halcyon,” Composed and Performed by loscil, Published by Scott Morgan (SOCAN), Appears Courtesy of Kranky, Ltd.
Editor: William Silva Reddington
Post Supervisor: Jessica Stanchak
Additional footage and artwork courtesy of: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Archive, J. Paul Getty Museum​, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Rijksmuseum​, Wikimedia Commons user Johnbod, and Archive.org
Production Team for Artsy:
Marina Cashdan, Head of Editorial and Creative Director
Alexander Forbes, Executive Editor
Demie Kim, Editorial Associate
Jamie Arendt, Producer
Owen Dodd, Designer
Molly Gottschalk, Features Producer

[@benneden2580]

It’s going to change radically. Humanity itself is about to change beyond recognition.

[@jerbear97]

and here we are now

[@Zen-Design2007]

future shock !!!

[@jodiagosta3391]

Art should be something someone chooses to see not something forced on them. Art that is forced on someone is just propaganda. I chose to watch your video. I might chose to walk into a museum and see your art. I don't appreciate you putting it in space where I can't avoid it. If every artist...and guess what, every marketer follows you we will have nothing but junk blocking the view of the only truly beautiful thing to see our earth and our sky. Please reconsider your impact on the world around you.

[@dorothycoleman4834]

AB-SouL-uTeLy wonderFUL ♡♡♡

[@RichardCorral]

3 minutes 43 seconds to say nothing

[@joeletaxi1709]

I gather you’re not an artist

[@najo4909]

The points in the video are ok, but why all the shots of you staring at the camera and staring out windows. Self indulgence

[@jennaelluzzi8794]

aka every artist...

[@jerbear97]

well that channel name is Artsy..

[@VanSkate-cq9lb]

Intersting but I don't agree with everything.

[@JackThePsychoManiac]

You've lost your damn marbles, man.