ARTFEED — Contemporary Art Intelligence

Steve McQueen's 'Once Upon a Time' Reimagines Voyager's Message to E.T.

exhibition · 2026-04-23

Steve McQueen's installation 'Once Upon a Time' at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris draws from Carl Sagan's 'Murmurs of Earth' and the 1977 Voyager II mission. The work projects the 116 images from Voyager's Golden Record in a dark corridor, accompanied by glossolalia—unintelligible speech—creating a disorienting experience where familiar images lose meaning and the alien language seems to make sense. McQueen also organized a conference at the museum with SETI scientists and members, including Ann Druyan, who discussed the challenges of representing humanity to extraterrestrials. The installation critiques the 1970s American-centric selection of images, now dated, and reflects on how the message is both a self-portrait and a mirror for humanity. McQueen notes the probe travels into the future while carrying a message from the past, blurring temporal boundaries. The project highlights a shift from scientific to artistic approaches in interstellar communication, as proposed by William Clancey's 'Qatsi perspective.' The work questions whether humanity can define itself without an 'Other' and underscores the ongoing search for extraterrestrial intelligence as a profound existential quest.

Key facts

  • Steve McQueen's installation 'Once Upon a Time' is based on Carl Sagan's book 'Murmurs of Earth'.
  • The installation features the 116 images from Voyager II's Golden Record, projected in a dark corridor.
  • The audio track uses glossolalia, an invented unintelligible language.
  • McQueen organized a conference at the Musée d'Art Moderne with SETI scientists, including Ann Druyan.
  • Ann Druyan noted the inclusion of a statement by President Jimmy Carter and political figures in the record.
  • The images on the record are from the early 1970s, none after 1977, and reflect an American cultural perspective.
  • William Clancey proposed a 'Qatsi perspective' for future interstellar messages, inspired by Godfrey Reggio's films.
  • The project explores the paradox of sending a message from the past into the future.
  • Voyager II's message is seen as a step toward 'cosmic citizenship' and a self-definition of humanity.
  • The installation was shown at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in 2003.

Entities

Artists

  • Steve McQueen

Institutions

  • Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
  • SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence)
  • NASA

Locations

  • Paris
  • France

Sources