(Video link here.) As an artist in residence at MIT, Trevor Paglen worked with materials scientists to develop an ultra-archival disc of images, capable of lasting in space for billions of years. He meant this disc to contain a “cultural mark”, that would portray our world long after it might have disappeared altogether.  He interviewed scientists, artists, anthropologists, and philosophers to consider what such a cultural mark should be, and ultimately settled on 100 photos. The disc of photos will be sent into space this month.

To be sure, they are an odd assortment. You can check out some here, and in the The Last Pictures, a book that has been made about the project.  One of our favorites:

“Greek and Armenian Orphan Refugees Experience the Sea for the First Time, Marathon, Greece”

Greek and Armenian refuges experience the sea

They make us wonder: What images would WE send into space?

via Brainpickings

Related posts: sagan’s mixtape of the human experience – for aliens
andy warhol’s time capsules
insta-perspective: this is where we are
insta-perspective (the scale of the universe)
ashcraft’s music: d-i-y recordings of sun + planets

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