Trevor Paglen
Subtitle: sites unseen
By: John P. Jacob, Luke Skrebowski ; with contributions by Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, Kate Crawford
Contributors: Paglen, Trevor, artist; Skrebowski, Luke, author; Chun, Wendy Hui Kyong, 1969- contributor; Crawford, Kate, contributor; Smithsonian American Art Museum
Publisher: Smithsonian American Art Museum; in association with D Giles Limited
Published: 2018
Language: eng
Number of pages: 252
ISBN-13: 9781911282334
Subjects: Exhibitions
Other titles: Sites unseen.
Description: Trevor Paglen is an American artist, geographer, and author. "What I want from art," says Paglen, "is to help see the historical moment we live in." His photographs make visible things we're not meant to see; he regards this invisibility as emblematic of that moment. Looking toward the earth, sea, or sky as earlier artists have, Paglen captures the same horizon seen by Turner in the nineteenth century or by Ansel Adams in the twentieth. Only in Paglen's images, a drone or classified communications satellite is also visible. "For me," Paglen observes, "seeing the drone in the twenty-first century is a bit like Turner seeing the train in the nineteenth century." Turner was less interested in the technology than its effects on perception, by its ability to accelerate human motion. Paglen is interested in our evolving perception in space. Standing in the Western landscape where Adams worked, Paglen photographs the drone as it photographs him. His images suggest that our conceptions of space and visuality are undergoing radical change; the physical limits of vision are no longer a reliable measure of what is visible to (often mechanical) others.
Notes: Published in conjunction with the exhibition held at the Smithsonian American Art Museum from June 21, 2018 through January 6, 2019 ; and at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Feb. 21 thru June 2, 2019.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Foreword / Stephanie Stebich; title: Invisible Images and Impossible Objects / John P. Jacob; title: Resistance at a Moment of Danger: On Trevor Paglen's Recent Work / Luke Skrebowski; title: Conversation with Trevor Paglen / John Jacob, Trevor Paglen, Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, Kate Crawford.