Trevor Paglen: Secession

The work of American artist, writer and experimental geographer Trevor Paglen centres on a political and aesthetic engagement with the covert activities of the U.S. secret services and military, collectively known by the name “Black World”. His motto might well be: “Make the invisible visible”. His work is based on attentive observation, meticulous research and extensive data collection.

To realize his works – mostly photographs and video pieces - Paglen uses technologically advanced equipment including the kind of special cameras and precision telescopes utilized in space photography. In this way, he is able to photograph, from great distances, classified military facilities buffered by huge areas of restricted land, or, using long exposures, to document the flight paths – and thus the existence - of satellites. Cooperation with international amateur networks of aircraft and satellite spotters and the information they provide form the basis for identifying the satellites and orbits used by the CIA for its seamless surveillance of the world.

Trevor Paglen is concerned with heightening awareness of the fact that the so-called “Black World” really does exist.

Author: Brian Holmes

German/English

56 pages, 23 x 31 cm, Swiss Book Binding

About the Photographer: 

Trevor Paglen (born 1974 in Maryland, USA) is an artist, writer, and experimental geographer. His publications include Invisible: Covert Operations and Classified Landscapes, Aperture Foundation, New York 2010; Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon’s Secret World, Penguin Publishers, New York 2009; I Could Tell You but Then You Would Have to Be Destroyed by Me: Emblems from the Pentagon’s Black World, Melville House, Brooklyn 2007 und Trevor Paglen & A. C. Thompson, Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA’s Rendition Flights, Melville House, Brooklyn 2006.