How Machines See Us—and Why
Trevor Paglen’s art reveals the human bias and unchecked power wielded by the watchful eye of mass surveillance.
Trevor Paglen throws himself into James Bond-like adventures to make art that exposes mass surveillance and its impact on society. He’s a disrupter, shining his camera on those who secretly watch us, documenting what invisibility looks like.
He tracked drones high in the sky and learned to scuba dive to photograph government-tapped fiber-optic internet cables resting deep in the ocean. He chartered a helicopter to capture the rarely photographed National Security Agency headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland (he called and gave the NSA a heads-up, asking them not to shoot). He uncovered secrets behind facial recognition software, which creates pictures we never see and makes conclusions we can’t dispute.
