At a talk last night in NY’s Bryant Park, Werner Herzog and Trevor Paglen discussed art and aliens. 

The event showcased Paglen’s newest project and book called The Last Pictures. The title refers to 100 pictures that Paglen selected to be placed on an “ultra archival” disc that itself will be placed on a satellite set to be put into geosynchronous orbit around the earth. The theory is that after humans engineer their own nuclear annihilation, create some horrible unstoppable virus that will destroy all of humanity or otherwise get driven to extinction, the only remnants of humans will be the satellites uselessly orbiting the earth.

Herzog disagreed and argued that, “because of the vast distances aliens would have to travel and the extreme lengths of time it would take to reach earth – well, the last thing they would be looking for is art.” Read more here.

What do you think— if aliens did come to earth after humans had disappeared, would our art help to define our species?