Artist

Trevor Paglen

Born in Camp Springs, 1974 and lives in New York, USA

Trained as a geographer and photographer,Trevor Paglen makes the invisible visible by documenting the American surveillance state of the 21st century. From his vantage points at various public locations he photographs distant military facilities, capturing extreme telephoto images of stealth drones. Turning his vision to the night sky, he traces the paths of information-gathering satellites. In his series of Mylar satellites, Paglen applies advanced engineering to the creation of non-functional objects, stripping technology of its intended purpose and hoping to launch his own time capsule of photographs into geostationary orbit. Tracing the ways in which the convergence of aesthetics, industrial design, and politics influence how we see and understand the world, he shows us images of the American West, originally photographed for military use and now considered examples of classic photography. In images that go beyond straightforward journalistic documentation, Paglen gives voice to shifting ideas of the landscape of the American West, humankind’s place in the cosmos, and the surveillance state.
Trevor Paglen received a BA from the University of California at Berkeley (1996), an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2002), and a PhD in Geography from the University of California at Berkeley (2008). He has had residencies at Artpace (2013) and MIT (2011), and his honors include a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship (2011); Aperture West Prize (2008); SFMoMA SECA Award (2008); Art Matters Grant (2008); and an Artadia Grant (2007).

Exhibitions
Exhibitions
Age of You
On view at Jameel Arts Centre, the exhibition explores the perception of self in the 21st century
29 Jan 2021 - 14 Aug 2021
Jameel Arts Centre
Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi
Exhibitions
Trevor Paglen: Unseen Stars
The exhibition is part of the CONTINUUM programme, a weekend of art, music and performances.
10 Oct 2020 - 10 Jan 2021
OGR Torino
Turin
Exhibitions
Youth Forum selects from the Hiscox collection
During the lockdown, while confined in their homes, Whitechapel Gallery’s Youth Forum, Duchamp &...
31 Aug 2020 - 03 Jan 2021
Whitechapel Gallery
London
Exhibitions
Trevor Paglen: Bloom
Paglen's works initiate from data computing technologies shaping contemporary society
10 Sep 2020 - 10 Nov 2020
Pace London
London
Exhibitions
Art in the Age of Anxiety
Curated by Omar Kholeif, this is the most ambitious exhibition to date in the region exploring art in the age of the internet. The exhibition takes place in Gallery 1,2 and 3.
21 Mar 2020 - 21 Jun 2020
Sharjah Art Foundation
Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi
Exhibitions
Watched! Surveillance, Art & Photography
C/O Berlin presents “Watched! Surveillance, Art & Photography”, a group exhibition,...
18 Feb 2017 - 23 Apr 2017
Berlin
Exhibitions
Time, Forward!
The exhibition seeks to question the notion and function of time and how it relates to new forms of consciousness,...
11 May 2019 - 20 Oct 2019
V–A–C Foundation Venice
Venice
Exhibitions
Entangled Realities. Living with Artificial Intelligence
HeK presents an international group exhibition “Entangled Realities”, focusing on artificial...
09 May 2019 - 11 Aug 2019
HEK (House of Electronic Arts)
Basel
Exhibitions
Kate Crawford and Trevor Paglen: Training Humans
“Training Humans” is the first major photographic exhibition dedicated to training images:...
12 Sep 2019 - 24 Feb 2020
Fondazione Prada Osservatorio
Milan
Art Spaces
Pace Gallery Geneva
Galleries in Geneva
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