Images on the Move

Abstract

Cover layout: Maria Arndt, Bielefeld Cover illustration: Thomas Bachler, From Düsseldorf to Kassel, from the series Reise-tories: images sent to outer space. These include the Pioneer plaques from 1972 and 1973 (diagrams engraved into gold-anodized aluminium plaques that provide information about the origin of the spacecraft), the Golden Records carried by Voyagers 1 and 2 (both launched in 1977 and including, among other things, a collection of 115 images encoded into a video signal), and Trevor Paglen's art project The Last Pictures (2012). These images are designed to last for billions of years and to move not only in space but, more importantly, in time. Their materiality is therefore destined to resist transformations in transport, to avoid traces of travel. Tomáš Dvořák conceives these images as time capsules, whose trajectories call for a reconsideration of our anthropocentric media and image theories.