Clean 2 — Magazine
paglen.studio
Trevor Paglen
Est. 1974

Palladium
Variation 40

Large-format photographs investigating the aesthetics of surveillance infrastructure — rendering invisible orbital systems as luminous abstract forms.

Archival pigment print · 152 × 122 cm · Edition of 3 + 2 AP
Now Showing
Palladium Variations — Kunsthalle Wien
Through April 2024
New Essay
The Visible and the Secret — Frieze
Issue 238, November 2023
Upcoming Talk
Royal Academy of Arts, London
14 March 2024 · Keynote

Selected Works

All works →
UNKNOWN 85237
C-print · 2023
The Last Pictures
Silicon disc · 2012
Palladian Variation 42
2023
UNKNOWN 89161
2023
Palladium Variation 44
2023

Talks & Lectures

All appearances →
14Mar 2024
Seeing Like a Machine: Computer Vision and the Politics of Images
Royal Academy of Arts, London
Keynote
08Nov 2023
Art & Surveillance: Making Visible the Invisible
Data & Society Summit, New York
Keynote
22Sep 2023
The Geography of Secrets
Princeton University, School of Architecture
Lecture
05Jun 2023
From the Panopticon to the Algorithmic Gaze
Tate Modern, London
Public Talk

Books

Invisible Images
Invisible Images
Verso Books, 2021
Order →
Blank Spots
Blank Spots on the Map
Dutton, 2009
Order →
I Could Tell You…
I Could Tell You But Then…
Melville House, 2008
Order →

Recent Writing

Essay
The Visible and the Secret
Frieze · Nov 2023
Essay
Training Data: How AI Systems Learn to See
NYT Magazine · Sep 2023
Catalogue Essay
Orbital Drift
Kunsthalle Wien · 2024
Essay
The Last Pictures: A Meditation on Deep Time
Artforum · Mar 2022
Trevor Paglen
About

Artist, writer, and investigator of hidden systems

Trevor Paglen is an artist and author whose work investigates mass surveillance, data collection, and the hidden infrastructures of contemporary power.

His work has been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tate Modern, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Walker Art Center.

Full Biography → Curriculum Vitae → Press Materials →
As seen in
The New York Times The Guardian Artforum Frieze The New Yorker Wired

Available for speaking, commissions, and research collaborations

For lecture bookings, exhibition inquiries, press requests, or studio visits, please get in touch.

Contact the Studio Download Press Kit