On August 17th the LACMA Art + Technology Lab in collaboration with Caltech will present the premiere screening of Techne: Evidence in the Anthropocene, directed by Daniel R. Small. A panel discussion and announcement about a new interstellar messaging effort to revise the Golden Record will follow. The discussion will include Jonathan H. Jiang, Ann Druyan (creative director and collaborator with Carl Sagan, her husband, on the Golden Record), and Techne director Daniel R. Small. Daniel Oberhaus, science and technology journalist and author of Extraterrestrial Languages, will moderate the event.

In 2022, the Art + Technology Lab awarded Small a grant to develop Techne, an episodic documentary series that explores the intersection of art, technology, and science. The series is based on diverse sets of research from a wide range of experts in fields such as philosophy, zoology, astrophysics, planetary science, robotics, and artificial intelligence. The aim of the series is to put modern scientific researchers in conversation with contemporary artists.

The first episode, Techne: Evidence in the Anthropocene, brings together scientists from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (which Caltech manages for NASA), Jonathan H. Jiang, and Kristen Fahy, as well as artists Julian Charrière, Susan Schuppli, and Ebru Kurbak.

The Long Tail of the Future: Techne and Revising the Golden Record will take place at Caltech’s Beckman Auditorium on Thursday, August 17, at 7 pm. The event is free but RSVP is required. Reserve your tickets. 

The Art + Technology Lab is presented by

The Art + Technology Lab is made possible by Snap Inc.

Additional support is provided by SpaceX.

The Lab is part of The Hyundai Project: Art + Technology at LACMA, a joint initiative exploring the convergence of art and technology.

Seed funding for the development of the Art + Technology Lab was provided by the Los Angeles County Quality and Productivity Commission through the Productivity Investment Fund and LACMA Trustee David Bohnett.