Artist Trevor Paglen has drawn attention to a peculiar thematic overlap between his recent art installations and Steven Spielberg's forthcoming extraterrestrial film, "Disclosure Day." Paglen's exhibitions, titled "Cardinals," investigate the visual history of UFO phenomena, prominently featuring cardinals as symbolic elements. The trailer for Spielberg's film similarly presents cardinals as an omen of alien contact, leading Paglen to playfully hint at a potential influence from his artistic endeavors. This unexpected convergence raises questions about artistic inspiration and the widespread cultural resonance of certain motifs.
The genesis of Paglen's "Cardinals" concept stems from his 2023 video artwork, "Doty." This installation chronicles the narrative of Richard Doty, a former Air Force counterintelligence officer. Doty, self-dubbed a "Mirage Man," asserted that he propagated UFO narratives as a deliberate disinformation tactic to divert attention from classified Air Force technological developments. He disclosed that the unofficial codename for UFOs within the Air Force was "Cardinals." This detail, according to Paglen, remained largely unknown to the public prior to its revelation in his 2024 exhibition at Altman Siegel.
Paglen voiced his surprise and amusement at the visual parallels, stating in a recent conversation that upon viewing the "Disclosure Day" trailer, with its recurring cardinal imagery, he recognized a concept he believed to be uniquely explored in his own creations. He emphasized the obscurity of the "Cardinals" codename before his exhibitions, suggesting it would be improbable for the filmmakers to have encountered this specific metaphor elsewhere. This intriguing coincidence has sparked discussion within the art and film communities.
Despite the artist's observations, representatives from Amblin Entertainment, the production company co-founded by Steven Spielberg, have chosen not to comment on any potential connections between "Disclosure Day" and Paglen's "Cardinals" works. The veracity of Richard Doty's claims regarding the Air Force codename also remains open to interpretation, as Paglen himself noted in the press release for his 2024 show that Doty later presented himself as a UFO "whistleblower," alleging to expose the genuine UFO operations he had supposedly helped conceal. This adds another layer of intrigue to the unexpected alignment of these two distinct creative projects.
In essence, the striking thematic parallels between artist Trevor Paglen's "Cardinals" exhibitions and Steven Spielberg's upcoming film "Disclosure Day" have generated considerable interest. Both works prominently feature cardinals as symbolic harbingers of alien life, a concept Paglen derived from his research into UFO lore and a former Air Force officer's testimony. While the precise origin of Spielberg's creative choices remains unconfirmed by his production company, the convergence highlights the fascinating ways in which artistic and cinematic narratives can intersect and echo one another in the public consciousness.