News/Research

Architectural Digest Profiles Alum Trevor Paglen

17 Nov, 2017

Architectural Digest Profiles Alum Trevor Paglen

John Gendall of the Architectural Digest sits down with BCNM alum Trevor Paglen to discuss his work, from surveillance to art history to Paglen's upcoming projects.

Paglen comes with an impressive background - after obtaining three degrees, two of which at UC Berkeley (his Bachelor's and a Ph.D. in Geography), he went on to publish multiple books, including Torture Taxi with investigative journalist Adam Clay Thompson, a comprehensive look at the CIA's extraordinary rendition program, and The Last Pictures, a commissioned collaboration with Creative Time and MIT. His photographs and other visual works have been displayed at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, the Andy Warhol Museum of Modern Art, and more. From Gendall's interview:

AD: The subject of your work is so resonant now, with secrecy and surveillance a growing part of our landscape. Can you comment on the political context of your artistic curiosities?

TP: What I want out of art is things that help us see the historical moment we find ourselves living in. I see my job as literally trying to see what the world looks like and learn how to see some of the forces that are strongly shaping it. I think it comes from a commitment to engage with the world. Unlike the abstract painters of yesteryear, I'm not someone who goes in the studio everyday and imagines a world for myself. My projects come out of an engagement with the world "out there."

Read Architectural Digest's complete interview with Paglen here.