Trevor Paglen’s ongoing photographic series 'Unknowns' and an artist proof of his public sculpture 'Trinity Cube,' the original of which is installed in the Fukushima Exclusion Zone, are featured in the group exhibition ‘Survival in the 21st Century’ at Deichtorhallen in Hamburg, which explores the foundations of life in the age of polycrisis. In this video, Paglen talks about the processes behind both works and how his practice, in general, aims to address the tensions between knowing and unknowing, or seeing and lacking an interpretive framework to understand what we are looking at. With both of these ambitious and technically difficult-to-realize projects, Paglen wants to explore humanity's interventions on the planet, pushing us to think about how we affect our environment in a more expanded sense. Developed by Georg Diez and Nicolaus Schafhausen in close cooperation with Deichtorhallen, ‘Survival in the 21st Century’ presents works by 37 artists and artist groups. The exhibition is currently open until November 5, 2024.
Video by MONA, produced by Monica Salazar, filmed by Sean Hanley and edited by Peter Cairns
