Laura Poitras and David Remnick Visit the Whitney Museum


Laura Poitras (b. 1964), ANARCHIST: Data Feed with Doppler Tracks from a Satellite (Intercepted May 27, 2009), 2016. Pigmented inkjet print mounted on aluminum, 45 x 64 3/4 in. (114.3 x 164.5 cm).

Courtesy the author

Laura Poitras shared a Pulitzer Prize for her reporting based on Edward Snowden’s leaks and won an Oscar for her film “Citizenfour.” Her latest project is neither documentary nor journalism but a museum exhibition at the Whitney, “Astro Noise,” which continues her investigations into mass surveillance through installation art. Poitras walked David Remnick through the show—which is named after one of the encrypted N.S.A. files that Snowden gave her)—and explained how it aims to connect viewers to the central themes of her work through emotions rather than information.