# Event Details

- **Event Name**: Film Screening of “Ancient Beacons Long for Notice” and Discussion with Artist Dario Robleto
- **Event Start and End Date**: Tue, 24 Feb, 2026 at 07:00 pm
- **Event Description**: On February 24 at 7:00 p.m., Dario Robleto’s 2024 film, "Ancient Beacons Long for Notice", will be screened for free at the Normal Theater. Following the screening, the artist will have a brief public discussion with Kendra Paitz (director and chief curator at University Galleries) and participate in an audience question-and-answer session. 

Art, science, technology, history, and empathy intersect in surprising ways throughout Robleto’s films, sculptures, photographs, prints, and works on paper. "Ancient Beacons Long for Notice" is the third in a trilogy of films exploring the history and legacy of the Golden Record. Created in 1977 by a Carl Sagan-led team, the gold-plated copper discs were described by NASA as a “time capsule, intended to communicate a story of our world to extraterrestrials.” Containing sounds and images (recorded as audio waveforms) of life on Earth, the discs were attached to NASA’s Voyager I and II space probes and are currently traveling beyond our solar system. The Golden Record comprises greetings spoken in 55 languages; recordings of a train, thunder, and frogs; music by Chuck Berry, Beethoven, and Peruvian panpipe players; and images of Jane Goodall with chimpanzees, the Great Wall of China, and the structure of DNA, among others.

The Golden Record was intended to convey hopeful and positive messages about the planet, so references to violence and injustice were not planned inclusions. In Robleto’s words, his film “examines the implications of this ethos across time and space through new research on a forgotten document: the earliest audio recording of warfare, made in 1918 on the Western Front of WWI.” After learning about the audio recording, Ann Druyan, the creative director for the Golden Record, found a way to include a more expansive message about humanity within the project. She used an electroencephalogram and an electrocardiogram to record her brain waves and her heart’s electrical signals while she thought about war, suffering, hope, and love.

Robleto’s film joins archival imagery and footage with new graphics and animations, and mixes music and sounds with his own poetic narration. In the artist’s words, the film asks, “What is our moral obligation to fully account for our actions—the good and the bad—in perpetuity, off-planet, and to beings we have yet to confirm exist?” After viewing "Ancient Beacons Long for Notice", art critic Sebastian Smee declared the film a “21st-century artistic masterpiece,” and wrote, Robleto “is one of only a handful of artists successfully delivering on the oft-proposed, seldom-accomplished integration of art and science.”

Although Ancient Beacons Long for Notice is part of a trilogy, each film can also stand alone. These films can only be viewed within museum exhibitions or special events like the screening at the Normal Theater.

Artist biography:

Dario Robleto has held positions as an artist-in-residence, research fellow, and lecturer at the Smithsonian Museum of American History, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, SETI Institute, Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, and the Center for Advancement and Study of Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art. He was an artistic consultant for “Breakthrough Message” and a research consultant for Cosmos: Possible Worlds, which aired on National Geographic and Fox. Robleto has served as the Viola Frey Distinguished Visiting Professor at the California College of the Arts; Artist-in-Residence in Neuroaesthetics at the University of Houston’s Cullen College of Engineering; and the Artist-at-Large at Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering and Block Museum of Art.

Robleto’s work has been exhibited at the National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C); Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (Harvard University); Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art (Northwestern University); MASS MoCA (North Adams, Massachusetts); Centre Pompidou (Paris); Nasher Museum of Art (Duke University); Francis Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery (Skidmore College); Whitney Museum of American Art (New York City); Frye Art Museum (Seattle); Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Washington, D.C.); Hammer Museum (University of California, Los Angeles); Amon Carter Museum of American Art (Fort Worth, Texas); Santa Barbara Museum of Art (Santa Barbara, California); and The Renaissance Society (University of Chicago), among many others. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York City); The Menil Collection (Houston); Centre Pompidou (Paris); Harvard Art Museums; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Washington, D.C.); Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts (Houston); National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.); Nasher Museum of Art (Duke University); Spencer Museum of Art (Lawrence, Kansas); and Blanton Museum of Art (University of Texas at Austin), among others. In 2025, Robleto was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Middlebury College and was selected as the Artist of the Year by the Art League, Houston.
- **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/normal/film-screening-of-ancient-beacons-long-for-notice-and-discussion-with-artist-dario-robleto/200029709641158
- **Event Categories**: art, entertainment, exhibitions, fine-arts, theatre
- **Interested Audience**: 
  - total_interested_count: 7

## Ticket Details


## Event venue details

- **city**: Normal
- **state**: IL
- **country**: United States
- **location**: Normal Theater
- **lat**: 40.50921
- **long**: -88.98645
- **full address**: Normal Theater, 209 W North St,Normal,IL,United States

## Event gallery

- **Alt text**: Film Screening of “Ancient Beacons Long for Notice” and Discussion with Artist Dario Robleto
  - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events10/banners/8a8a47d26a3d9bb26268de8589014b671bbbff14dcd614e845ebd9557de8708d-rimg-w1200-h800-dc040404-gmir?v=1771722897

## FAQs

- **Q**: When and where is Film Screening of “Ancient Beacons Long for Notice” and Discussion with Artist Dario Robleto being held?
  - **A:** Film Screening of “Ancient Beacons Long for Notice” and Discussion with Artist Dario Robleto takes place on Tue, 24 Feb, 2026 at 07:00 pm to Tue, 24 Feb, 2026 at 07:00 pm at Normal Theater, 209 W North St,Normal,IL,United States.
- **Q**: Who is organizing Film Screening of “Ancient Beacons Long for Notice” and Discussion with Artist Dario Robleto?
  - **A:** Film Screening of “Ancient Beacons Long for Notice” and Discussion with Artist Dario Robleto is organized by University Galleries of Illinois State University.
- **Q**: Who is this event for? Is it right for me?
  - **A:** Film Screening of “Ancient Beacons Long for Notice” and Discussion with Artist Dario Robleto is ideal for art lovers, collectors, creatives, and anyone inspired by visual arts, installations, and exhibitions. Whether you're a first-time attendee or a longtime enthusiast in Normal, this event is thoughtfully curated to deliver a standout experience worth every moment. If Film Screening of “Ancient Beacons Long for Notice” and Discussion with Artist Dario Robleto sounds like your kind of event, don't wait - spots fill up fast.

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