Trevor Paglen

Trevor Paglen ( born in 1974 in Maryland ) is an American art photographer, writer and activist of the political left, whose works deal mainly with military and intelligence services of the United States.

Biographical

After a scientific study of religion and in composition at the University of California, Berkeley, and an arts and technology studies at the School of Art in Chicago, received his doctorate in geography, Paglen in 2008, specializing in new media. Since then he has held a teaching position at the University of California. He was honored with numerous awards and participates in international solo and group exhibitions in lectures and public projects.

In 2008 he the Berkeley Art Museum, California dedicated an extensive solo exhibition. In 2009, Paglen participated in the Istanbul Biennial and in 2010 was he in the Vienna Secession. The artist 's work goes according to phenomena that are secret and should remain hidden from the public their existence. In his pictures he documented among other secret bases of the CIA and the military, spy satellites in the night sky, or intelligence activities.

Trevor Paglen lives and works in New York City.

Work and reception

The Astro-photographs by Trevor Paglen show spacecraft against a background of stars and nebulae. For this project he used the observations of an international network of satellite observers. With the help of computer scientists, he developed a software which can represent the orbital motions of the secret spacecraft. His photographs of secret military installations are also formed with the aid of astronomical instruments. The inaccessible facilities are spaciously and are located in unpopulated areas. With precision telescopes, which are equipped with strong focal lengths, created his pictures, which lead the viewer to the limits of vision. The interplay between secrecy and revelation, evidence and abstraction draw Paglen from work. The artist does not want to see them as "evidence", but to attract attention as a means.

Headquarters of the National Reconnaissance Office in Chantilly, Virginia

Headquarters of the National Geospatial -Intelligence Agency in Springfield, Virginia

Publications (selection )

  • Blank Spots on the Map: the Secret Geography of the Pentagon 's Black World. New York, 2009.
  • A Compendium of Secrets, exh. , Ed. v. Ute Riese and Kunsthalle Giessen, 2010.
  • The Last Pictures, University of California Press,, 2012.

Exhibitions (selection)

  • The Other Night Sky, Berkeley Art Museum, 2008
  • A Compendium of Secrets, Cologne, 2009
  • A Hidden Landscape, Aksioma, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2011
  • The Last Pictures, New York, 2012/2013
Chantilly, Oise
629982
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