Trevor Paglen

Paglen earned a B.A. degree in religious studies in 1998 from the University of California at Berkeley, a M.F.A. degree in 2002 from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in Geography in 2008 from the University of California at Berkeley.{{cite web|url=https://www.macfound.org/fellows/994/|title=Trevor Paglen|publisher=MacArthur Foundation|access-date=2017-10-13|archive-date=2017-10-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171013173321/https://www.macfound.org/fellows/994/|url-status=live}}

While at UC Berkeley, Paglen lived in the Berkeley Student Cooperative, residing in Chateau, Fenwick, and Rochdale co-ops.{{Cite web|last=Loh|first=Madeline|title=Alumni in the News|url=https://bsc.coop/docs/alumni-newsletter/2018-Spring-BSC-Alumni-Newsletter.pdf|access-date=2021-08-27|archive-date=2021-08-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210827124135/https://bsc.coop/docs/alumni-newsletter/2018-Spring-BSC-Alumni-Newsletter.pdf|url-status=live}}

Sean O'Hagan, writing in The Guardian in 2015, said that Paglen, whose "ongoing grand project [is] the murky world of global state surveillance and the ethics of drone warfare", "is one of the most conceptually adventurous political artists working today, and has collaborated with scientists and human rights activists on his always ambitious multimedia projects." His visual work such as his "Limit Telephotography" and "The Other Night Sky" series have received widespread attention for both his technical innovations and for his conceptual project that involves simultaneously making and negating documentary-style truth-claims.Keenan, Tom. "Disappearances: The Photographs of Trevor Paglen" Aperture, No. 191. Summer 2008 The contrasts between secrecy and revelation, evidence and abstraction distinguish Paglen's work. With that the artist presents not so much "evidence" as admonitions to awareness.{{Cite news|title=6 November 2013|work=Süddeutsche Zeitung}}{{Cite web|last=Greenberger|first=Alex|date=8 June 2016|title=Trevor Paglen|url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/actual-revolution-chelseas-jack-shainman-gallery-transforms-into-headquarters-for-an-artist-run-super-pac-6488/attachment/trevor-paglen/|access-date=30 August 2020|website=ARTnews|language=en-US|archive-date=5 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805142047/https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/actual-revolution-chelseas-jack-shainman-gallery-transforms-into-headquarters-for-an-artist-run-super-pac-6488/attachment/trevor-paglen/|url-status=live}}

He was an Eyebeam Commissioned Artist in 2007.

In 2008 the Berkeley Art Museum devoted a comprehensive solo exhibition to his work. In the next year, Paglen took part in the Istanbul Biennial, and in 2010 he exhibited at the Vienna Secession.{{Cite web|title=Trevor Paglen, November 26, 2010 – February 13, 2011|url=https://www.secession.at/en/exhibition/trevor-paglen-2/|access-date=30 August 2020|website=Secession|archive-date=October 19, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019205737/https://www.secession.at/en/exhibition/trevor-paglen-2/|url-status=live}}

Autonomy Cube was a project by Paglen and Jacob Appelbaum that placed relays for the anonymous communication network Tor in traditional art museums.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/mar/13/trevor-paglen-art-review-nsa-surveillance-systems|title=Trevor Paglen review: turning the NSA's data combing into high-concept art|last=Helfand|first=Glen|date=2015-03-13|website=The Guardian|access-date=2016-05-25}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/11/arts/international/art-technology-and-online-identity.html|title=Art, Technology and Online Identity|last=Sharp|first=Rob|date=2016-02-10|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=2016-05-25|archive-date=2016-02-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160224234024/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/11/arts/international/art-technology-and-online-identity.html|url-status=live}}

He contributed to the Oscar-winning documentary film Citizenfour (2014), directed by Laura Poitras.

Paglen features in the nerd-culture documentary Traceroute (2016).

Orbital Reflector was a reflective, mylar sculpture by Paglen intended to be the first "purely artistic" object in space. The temporary satellite, containing an inflatable mylar balloon with reflective surface, launched into space 3 December 2018.{{Cite news |last1=Knapton |first1=Sarah |title=Heavens to shine with new 'star' as first space sculpture prepares for launch |work=The Telegraph |date=2018-08-12 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2018/08/11/heavens-shine-new-star-first-space-sculpture-prepares-launch/ |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235 |df=mdy-all |access-date=2021-09-09 |archive-date=2021-09-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210909063551/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2018/08/11/heavens-shine-new-star-first-space-sculpture-prepares-launch/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite magazine |last1=Sohn |first1=Timothy |title=SpaceX Is Launching a Piece of Art Into Orbit |magazine=Wired |date=2018-11-28 |url=https://www.wired.com/story/spacex-is-launching-a-piece-of-art-into-orbit/ |issn=1059-1028 |df=mdy-all |access-date=2021-09-09 |archive-date=2021-10-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211016224612/https://www.wired.com/story/spacex-is-launching-a-piece-of-art-into-orbit/ |url-status=live }}

A mid-career survey in 2018–2019, Trevor Paglen: Sites Unseen, was a traveling exhibition shown at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington DC and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.{{Cite web|last=Catlin|first=Roger|title=This Artist Dwells in the Clandestine World of Classified Secrets and Surveillance|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/artist-dwells-clandestine-world-classified-secrets-and-surveillance-180969742/|access-date=2020-08-17|website=Smithsonian Magazine|language=en|archive-date=2020-09-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926042447/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/artist-dwells-clandestine-world-classified-secrets-and-surveillance-180969742/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|date=2018-07-16|title=Trevor Paglen in Washington, D.C.|url=https://www.apollo-magazine.com/trevor-paglen-reveals-the-hidden-networks-that-rule-our-lives/|access-date=2020-08-17|website=Apollo Magazine|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-04-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420181656/https://www.apollo-magazine.com/trevor-paglen-reveals-the-hidden-networks-that-rule-our-lives/|url-status=live}}

In September 2020, Pace Gallery in London held an exhibition of Paglen's work, exploring "the weird, partial ways computers look back at us".{{Cite web|date=2020-11-25|title=Textures of Life, Death, and Data in Trevor Paglen's 'Bloom'|url=https://ocula.com/magazine/features/trevor-paglen/|access-date=2020-11-25|website=ocula.com|language=en|archive-date=2020-10-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023214619/https://ocula.com/magazine/features/trevor-paglen/|url-status=live}}

His work is included in the permanent collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,{{Cite web|title=Trevor Paglen · SFMOMA|url=https://www.sfmoma.org/artist/Trevor_Paglen|access-date=2016-05-12|archive-date=2016-06-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603051941/https://www.sfmoma.org/artist/Trevor_Paglen|url-status=live}} the Columbus Museum of Art,{{Cite web|title=Columbus Museum of Art acquires Andy Warhol and Trevor Paglen works of art|url=http://artdaily.com/news/73989/Columbus-Museum-of-Art-acquires-Andy-Warhol-and-Trevor-Paglen-works-of-art#.VzQyUHqKDfY|access-date=2016-05-12|archive-date=2016-10-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161010171718/http://artdaily.com/news/73989/Columbus-Museum-of-Art-acquires-Andy-Warhol-and-Trevor-Paglen-works-of-art#.VzQyUHqKDfY|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|date=2016-01-27|title=Embark Collection|url=http://www.columbusmuseum.org/embark-collection/pages/Art31337/?sid=3847&x=8611789|access-date=2016-05-12|archive-date=2016-08-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160806163034/http://www.columbusmuseum.org/embark-collection/pages/Art31337/?sid=3847&x=8611789|url-status=live}} and the Metropolitan Museum.{{cite web |title=Keyhole Improved Crystal from Glacier Point |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/296323 |website=www.metmuseum.org |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |access-date=27 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709202800/https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/296323 |archive-date=2021-07-09 |language=en |date=2008 |url-status=live}}

Paglen is credited with coining the term "Experimental Geography" to describe practices coupling experimental cultural production and art-making with ideas from critical human geography about the production of space, materialism, and praxis. The 2009 book Experimental Geography: Radical Approaches to Landscape, Cartography, and Urbanism is largely inspired by Paglen's work.{{Cite news|last=Smallwood|first=Christine|date=2009-01-28|title=Back Talk: Nato Thompson|journal=The Nation|language=en-US|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/back-talk-nato-thompson/|access-date=2021-10-28|issn=0027-8378|archive-date=2021-10-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211028032612/https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/back-talk-nato-thompson/|url-status=live}}

Paglen has published a number of books. Torture Taxi (2006) (co-authored with investigative journalist A. C. Thompson) was the first book to comprehensively describe the CIA's extraordinary rendition program. I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to be Destroyed by Me (2007), is a look at the world of black projects through unit patches and memorabilia created for top-secret programs.[http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/01/healthscience/01patc.php Logos offer a guide to secret military programs] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080402083356/http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/01/healthscience/01patc.php |date=2008-04-02 }}, International Herald Tribune, April 2, 2008. Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon's Secret World (2009) is a broader look at secrecy in the United States.Paglen, Trevor "Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon's Secret World" New York: Dutton, 2009 The Last Pictures (2012) is a collection of 100 images to be placed on permanent media and launched into space on EchoStar XVI, as a repository available for future civilizations (alien or human) to find.{{Cite web|title=The Book|url=http://creativetime.org/projects/the-last-pictures/the-book/|access-date=2012-10-06|archive-date=2012-09-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120923175835/http://creativetime.org/projects/the-last-pictures/the-book/|url-status=live}}

• I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to be Destroyed by Me. Brooklyn, NY: Melville House, 2007. {{ISBN|1-933633-32-8}}.
• Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon's Secret World. New York: Dutton, 2009. {{ISBN|9781101011492}}.
• Invisible: Covert Operations and Classified Landscapes, Photographs by Trevor Paglen. New York: Aperture, 2010. {{ISBN|9781597111300}}. With an essay by Rebecca Solnit.
• The Last Pictures. Oakland, CA: University of California, 2012. {{ISBN|9780520275003}}.
• Trevor Paglen. London: Phaidon, 2018. {{ISBN|0714873446}}. With essays by Laren Cornell, Julia Bryan-Wilson, Omar Kholeif.

• Torture Taxi. Co-authored with A. C. Thompson. Brooklyn, NY: Melville House Publishing, 2006. {{ISBN|1-933633-09-3}}.
• Icon, 2007. {{ISBN|9781840468304}}.

• Experimental Geography: Radical Approaches to Landscape, Cartography, and Urbanism. Brooklyn, NY: Melville House, 2009. {{ISBN|978-0091636586}}. Edited by Nato Thompson. With essays by Paglen, Thompson, and Jeffrey Kastner.
• Trevor Paglen and Jacob Appelbaum – Autonomy Cube. Revolver, 2016. {{ISBN|978-3957633026}}. Essays by Luke Skrebowski and Keller Easterling on Autonomy Cube, a piece of sculpture by Paglen and Jacob Appelbaum. In English and German.

Paglen has shown photography and other visual works.

• Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, Massachusetts{{Citation needed|date=April 2016}}
• Andy Warhol Museum of Modern Art, Medzilaborce, Slovakia{{Citation needed|date=April 2016}}
• San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA{{Citation needed|date=April 2016}}
• Bellwether Gallery, New York, November–December 2006{{Cite web |url=http://www.bellwethergallery.com/archive_01.cfm?fid=305 |title=Trevor Paglen show at Bellwether Gallery in 2006 |access-date=2008-04-26 |archive-date=2022-12-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205021951/http://www.bellwethergallery.com/archive_01.cfm?fid=305 |url-status=live }}
• The Other Night Sky, Berkeley Art Museum, 2008
• A Compendium of Secrets, Cologne
• Still Revolution: Suspended in Time, Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Toronto, May–June 2009. Group exhibition with Paglen, Barbara Astman, Walead Beshty, Mat Collishaw, Stan Douglas, Idris Khan, Martha Rosler, and Mikhael Subotzky{{cite web | url = http://museumofcontemporaryart.ca/still-revolution-suspended-in-time/ | date = 28 April 2009 | accessdate = 2 September 2016 | publisher = Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art | title = Still Revolution: Suspended in Time | archive-date = 11 September 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160911141243/http://museumofcontemporaryart.ca/still-revolution-suspended-in-time/ | url-status = live }}
• A Hidden Landscape, Aksioma, Ljubljana, Slowenia
• Geographies of Seeing, Lighthouse, Brighton, England, October–November 2012{{Cite web |url=http://www.lighthouse.org.uk/programme/trevor-paglen-geographies-of-seeing |title=Trevor Paglen show at Lighthouse in 2012 |access-date=2012-10-06 |archive-date=2019-10-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191023155249/http://www.lighthouse.org.uk/programme/trevor-paglen-geographies-of-seeing |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web | url=http://www.bpb.org.uk/2012/whats_on/trevor-paglen/ | title=Geographies of Seeing | access-date=2016-05-12 | archive-date=2020-09-22 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922010023/http://www.bpb.org.uk/2012/whats_on/trevor-paglen/ | url-status=dead }}{{Cite magazine| url=https://www.wired.com/2012/10/trevor-paglen-at-lighthouse-in-brighton/| title=Trevor Paglen at Lighthouse in Brighton| magazine=Wired| date=2012-10-07| access-date=2017-03-12| archive-date=2016-12-22| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222101404/https://www.wired.com/2012/10/trevor-paglen-at-lighthouse-in-brighton/| url-status=live}}{{cite news | url = https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/aug/16/photography-preview-autumn-winter-2012 | date = 16 August 2012 | access-date = 14 September 2016 | first = Sean | last = O'Hagan | author-link = Sean O'Hagan (journalist) | work = The Guardian | location = London | title = Political, provocative, personal: photography to look forward to}}
• The Last Pictures, New York, 2012–13
• Trevor Paglen, Altman Siegel gallery, San Francisco, CA, March–May 2015{{Cite web | url=http://www.altmansiegel.com/exhibitions/trevor-paglen-3/ | title=Trevor Paglen | Altman Siegel | access-date=2016-04-26 | archive-date=2016-03-27 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160327030419/http://altmansiegel.com/exhibitions/trevor-paglen-3/ | url-status=live }}{{Cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/mar/13/trevor-paglen-art-review-nsa-surveillance-systems | title=Trevor Paglen review: Turning the NSA's data combing into high-concept art| newspaper=The Guardian| date=2015-03-13| last1=Helfand| first1=Glen}}
• The Octopus, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt am Main, 2015
• Autonomy Cube, Edith-Russ-Haus, Oldenburg, Germany, October 2015 – January 2016. Sculpture by Paglen and Jacob Appelbaum.{{Cite web |url=http://www.edith-russ-haus.de/no_cache/en/exhibitions/exhibitions/archive.html?tx_kdvzerhapplications_pi4[exhibition]=198&tx_kdvzerhapplications_pi4[action]=show&tx_kdvzerhapplications_pi4[controller]=Exhibition |title=Archived copy |access-date=2016-04-26 |archive-date=2021-10-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211028085127/https://www.edith-russ-haus.de/no_cache/en/exhibitions/exhibitions/archive.html?tx_kdvzerhapplications_pi4%5Bexhibition%5D=198&tx_kdvzerhapplications_pi4%5Baction%5D=show&tx_kdvzerhapplications_pi4%5Bcontroller%5D=Exhibition |url-status=dead }}{{Cite magazine| url=https://www.wired.com/2016/04/sculpture-lets-museums-amplify-tors-anonymity-network/| title=The Artist Using Museums to Amplify Tor's Anonymity Network| magazine=Wired| date=April 2016| access-date=2017-03-12| archive-date=2016-07-28| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160728222858/https://www.wired.com/2016/04/sculpture-lets-museums-amplify-tors-anonymity-network/| url-status=live}}
• Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2016, The Photographers' Gallery, London, April–July 2016. Deutsche Börse Photography Prize shortlist with Paglen, Erik Kessels, Laura El-Tantawy, and Tobias Zielony.
• Radical Landscapes, di Rosa, Napa, February–April 2016{{Cite web| url=http://www.dirosaart.org/radical-landscapes/| title=Radical Landscapes| date=January 2016| access-date=2016-11-03| archive-date=2016-11-04| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104013214/http://www.dirosaart.org/radical-landscapes/| url-status=live}}
• L’Image volée, Americas II, Bahamas Internet Cable System (BICS-1) and Globenet, Fondazione Prada, Milan (group exhibition), 2016"Nehmt ihnen die Bilder wieder weg!" Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung 20 March 2016: page 47.
• A Study of Invisible Images, Metro Pictures, New York, September–October 2017{{Cite web | url=http://www.metropictures.com/exhibitions/trevor-paglen4 | title=Trevor Paglen - Exhibitions - Metro Pictures | access-date=2017-09-06 | archive-date=2017-09-07 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170907041609/http://www.metropictures.com/exhibitions/trevor-paglen4 | url-status=live }}

• 2014: Pioneer Award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.{{cite web|url=https://www.eff.org/awards/pioneer/2014|title=EFF Pioneer Awards 2014|access-date=2018-06-20|archive-date=2016-09-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160911090325/https://www.eff.org/awards/pioneer/2014|url-status=live}}
• 2015: The Cultural Award from the German Society for Photography (DGPh)
• 2015: Academy Award as cameraman and director for the documentary film Citzenfour.
• 2016: Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize
• 2017: MacArthur Fellowship, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Chicago, IL{{cite web|title=Meet the 2017 MacArthur Fellows|url=https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class/class-2017/|website=MacArthur Foundation|accessdate=19 October 2017|archive-date=15 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115143627/https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class/class-2017/|url-status=live}}
• 2018: Nam June Paik Art Center Prize{{cite web|url=http://www.artnews.com/2018/11/02/trevor-paglen-wins-2018-nam-june-paik-art-center-prize/|title=Trevor Paglen Wins 2018 Nam June Paik Art Center Prize|date=2 November 2018|access-date=10 March 2019|archive-date=26 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190226213928/http://www.artnews.com/2018/11/02/trevor-paglen-wins-2018-nam-june-paik-art-center-prize/|url-status=live}}

• Unseen Skies (2021)

File:National Security Agency, 2013.jpg|Headquarters of the National Security Agency on Fort Meade, Maryland

File:National Reconnaissance Office, 2013.jpg|Headquarters of the National Reconnaissance Office in Chantilly, Virginia

File:National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, 2013.jpg|Headquarters of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in Springfield, Virginia

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Trevor Paglen}}

• {{official website}}
• [http://therumpus.net/2009/04/trevor-paglen-reveals-the-blank-spots-on-the-map/ April 2009 interview with Trevor Paglen].
• [http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/165020/april-07-2008/trevor-paglen Trevor Paglen's appearance on the Colbert Report] from April 7. 2008.
• [http://bombmagazine.org/article/7700229/trevor-paglen-and-jacob-appelbaum Trevor Paglen and Jacob Appelbaum] Bomb

{{Digital art}}

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Category:Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize winners