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

Art Blocks × Pace

PRELUDES #209

Trevor Paglen

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