“I think I’ve been interested in this question of the visible and the invisible for a very long time. Really, that is something that holds all of my work together as an artist. What happens to an image when you push it to the point where it breaks? When you push vision to the point where it collapses?”—Trevor Paglen
As we head into the 4th of July week, we can’t help but wonder what is going on in America. Trevor Paglen is trying to find out.
Trevor Paglen: Sites Unseen, the first exhibition to present Paglen’s early photographic series alongside his recent sculptural objects and new work with artificial intelligence, is at the Smithsonian American Art Museum through January 6, 2019. In this 2013 video, VICE Creators shows how, using telescopic photography and other methods, artist Trevor Paglen explores the boundaries between visible and invisible, including CIA black sites, secret satellites, and the details of Bradley Manning trial drawings.