Food & Drink
New Seattle Art Fair Artistic Director on Exploring the Good, Bad and Ugly of Tech
Philly native Nato Thompson says this year’s fourth annual expo will explore changing forces within Seattle’s art scene
By Gavin Borchert August 2, 2018

This article originally appeared in the August 2018 issue of Seattle magazine.
This article appears in print in the August 2018 issue. Click here to subscribe.
“I know deeply how important it is to develop a complex cultural economy to support the arts. The Seattle Art Fair has given me the platform to do something that speaks to a broader community outside the traditional gallery or museum setting. Since Seattle is famously the home of many internet and tech companies, I’m eager to highlight work that is thinking through the good, bad and ugly of these profound, world-changing forces. These programming highlights include a prototype of artist Trevor Paglen’s satellite, ‘Orbital Reflector,’ that he’s launching into space at the end of the summer; Heather Dewey-Hagborg’s installation ‘Probably Chelsea,’ which features algorithmically generated masks of [transgender activist] Chelsea Manning using her DNA; and performances by machines made by [artist and inventor] Mark Pauline’s Survival Research Laboratories.”
8/2–8/5. Times and prices vary. CenturyLink Field Event Center, downtown, 1000 Occidental Ave. S; 212.518.6912; seattleartfair.com