Creative Time will soon launch The Last Pictures, an archival disc created by artist Trevor Paglen, into outer space, where it will orbit the earth for billions of years fixed to the exterior of communications satellite EchoStar XVI. The artist describes the images on the disc as "cave paintings from the 21st century," as they will become one of the longest-lasting remnants of contemporary civilisation.
The project originates from the idea that communications satellites in Earth's orbit will ultimately become the cultural and material ruins of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, far outlasting anything else humans have created. These geostationary satellites, located above the equator at an altitude of 24,000 miles, experience no atmospheric drag, and will remain in orbit until our sun expands into a red giant and engulfs the earth in about 4.5 billion years. The Last Pictures envisages a future Earth where there is no evidence of human civilisation beyond derelict spacecraft we have left behind in our plant's orbit.Read more...
