Ballyhooed Space Art By MacArthur Genius ‘Fails To Deploy’

Orbital Reflector, sculptor Trevor Paglen’s 100-foot-long, titanium oxide-coated, $1.5 million diamond-shaped Mylar balloon, was launched into orbit in December and was meant to be visible from the Earth’s surface. But the balloon never inflated and has lost contact with the satellite system that could command it to do so. Paglen blames the January government shutdown. – The Art Newspaper