Foreshadowing today’s rapid flow of information with uncanny accuracy, this 1980s video work presents a science fiction narrative of time travel in three acts: countdown, departure, and arrival. A man with wires attached to his head receives his “daily input”—a briefing on news, travel, and entertainment. The feed accelerates until it is undecipherable. Disillusioned with 20th-century society, a man and woman are then transmitted into the 21st century. Although many problems have been resolved in the future, a computer glitch makes it impossible for the couple to communicate with each other any longer. The aesthetic and plot are characteristic of Almy’s work, which adopts tropes from information technology and advertising to speculate on an uncertain future.

Image: Max Almy (American, b. 1948), Leaving the Twentieth Century (still), 1982. Video (color, sound), 10:40 min. Special Exhibitions Fund, 1984.34.