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North America

Trevor Paglen
NSA-Tapped Fiber Optic Cable Landing Site, Mastic Beach, New York, USA

Delving into themes of surveillance and privacy, NSA-Tapped Fiber Optic Cable Landing Site, Mastic Beach, New York, USA by Trevor Paglen is a diptych that pairs a chromogenic print of Mastic Beach in New York with various ephemera on a navigational chart of the region. This artwork captures a seemingly mundane landscape – a serene beach at sunset – which, upon closer examination, reveals the deeper, unsettling reality of hidden surveillance infrastructures. Paglen’s photograph is part of his broader project to expose the physical manifestations of state surveillance. By choosing a site where the NSA taps into global communications, Paglen highlights the tension between the visible and the invisible, the ordinary and the extraordinary. The image itself is visually striking, with its rich hues and tranquil composition, yet it evokes a sense of unease as the viewer becomes aware of the covert activities taking place beneath the surface—a reflection of the implications of living in a world where privacy is continually compromised. The artwork serves as a critical commentary on the pervasive reach of surveillance technologies, raising questions about the erosion of privacy in the digital age. Paglen’s meticulous documentation and presentation encourage viewers to reconsider the landscapes around them, recognizing that the infrastructure of surveillance is often hidden in plain sight.

Trevor Paglen's work combines the knowledge-base of an artist, geographer, and activist. He is primarily concerned with "learning how to see the historical moment we live in and developing the means to imagine alternative futures." Through unique processes like long distance photography, and conducting research like an investigative journalist, Paglen has presented artworks that live at the very edge of the known and the possible, in the zone of facts-stranger-than-fiction. He's contributed research and cinematography to the Academy Award-winning film Citizenfour, and created a radioactive public sculpture for the exclusion zone in Fukushima, Japan. He is the author of five books and numerous articles on subjects ranging from experimental geography to military symbology, from the CIA's extraordinary rendition program to machine-made images.