ART BLOCKS × PACE

PRELUDES

Trevor Paglen

250 unique artworks

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I’ve spent much of my career finding and divulging secrets that are hidden in plain sight. In projects that involve tracking down covert CIA operations, analyzing NSA surveillance programs, or dissecting harmful AI systems, I’ve always been interested in the numerous methods humans have developed to hide secrets and the ingenious ways others have created to expose them.

For the PRELUDES works, I challenged myself to think about how one could hide secrets using the particularities of an entirely on-chain medium. While the blockchain’s underlying technology, of course, relies on the same types of cryptography used by intelligence agencies, secure banking systems, and other entities, the question of how to hide something in a medium where everything is visible poses a particular type of problem. I went back to my early training as a composer to find an answer.

The PRELUDES NFTs are musical compositions that hide secrets. On one hand, they’re inspired by the pioneers of algorithmically generated music such as John Cage and Iannis Xenakis. On the other, they’re inspired by composers such as Michael Haydn, Johannes Brahms, and Olivier Messiaen, who developed systems for encoding messages into their music.

Lurking in each of the PRELUDES NFTs is a secret.

PRELUDES holders who solve the puzzle are entitled to a limited edition of the upcoming CYCLOPS vinyl LP and gelatin-silver print of a “numbers station” I photographed in a remote corner of Europe.* Visit: https://cyclopsgroup.art with your three word solution to the puzzle to claim your LP.

Pm fvb hyl ylhkpun aopz, fvb ohcl ahrlu fvby mpyza zalw puav h shynly dvysk. Dolu fvb zvscl aol wbggsl jvuahpulk pu fvby hyadvyr, fvb dpss ahrl aol ulea zalw. Dl hyl nvpun vu h qvbyulf, huk aolyl pz tvyl, tbjo tvyl, av jvtl... rllw fvby dpaz hivba fvb.

01000111 01101111 01101111 01100100 00100000 01101100 01110101 01100011 01101011 00101110

 


*Complete terms and conditions will be available on Pace’s website before the project’s release.

RELEASE DATE

5 Apr 2023

LIBRARY

tone@14.8.15

DISPLAY NOTES

Click to play audio.

CREATIVE CREDITS

Scott K. Brewer and James R. Roberge

RELEASE DETAILS

250 works released with Exponential Dutch auction on 5 Apr 2023

CHARITABLE GIVING

15% of the artist's proceeds will be donated to The Kronos Performing Arts Association and the Prelinger Library.

PROJECT ID

0xea698596b6009a622c3ed00dd5a8b5d1cae4fc36-5

CONTRACT

Etherscan

5000024

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Trevor Paglen

b. 1974, Camp Springs, MD

Trevor Paglen is an American artist, geographer, and author. Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington D.C.; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Fondazione Prada, Milan; the Barbican Centre, London; Vienna Secession, Vienna; and Protocinema Istanbul, and participated in group exhibitions the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the T...

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Trevor Paglen