Paul Chan: Happiness (finally) after 35,000 years of civilization with curator Michael Metzger

Paul Chan (b. Hong Kong, 1973) is an American artist, activist, writer, and publisher. His work reflects a strong commitment to the relation of politics and aesthetics, philosophy and popular culture, art and grassroots activism. His first major artwork Happiness (Finally) After 35,000 Years of Civilization presents a 15-minute looped digital Flash animation inspired by as much by the history of utopian thought and the US invasion of Iraq as by Web 1.0 banner ads. In Happiness, Chan communicates a sense of living through a pivotal passage in history, but one whose competing stories and larger horizons remain obscure. Join exhibition co-curator Michael Metzger, Pick-Laudati Curator of Media Arts, for a lunchtime tour and discussion of the exhibition.