Art critic Ida Hiršenfelder interviews Trevor Paglen, a radical geographer with an academic background, muckraking author and outlaw artist who has been exploring the secret activities of the U.S. military and intelligence agencies for several years. Hiršenfelder and Paglen discuss here four projects: Simbology (2006) – a collection of insignia and patches used in secret operations, Missing Persons – a list of fake names used to cover up CIA agents in the war on terror, Code Names – a catalogue of words, phrases and terms employed for active military programs, and Limit Telephotography Project, which unveils the geographies of classified ...

In this issue, Alessandra Franetovich and Trevor Paglen discuss Orbital Reflector, Paglen’s reflective sculpture launched into low-earth orbit as a satellite. Housed in a small box-like structure, the lightweight reflective material of the sculpture was meant to deploy and self-inflate like a balloon and reflect sunlight towards earth, making it visible to our eyes as a nearby artificial star. Unfortunately, at the critical moment of the sculpture’s release in 2018, the US government was on shutdown, with all agencies held hostage in order to force Congress to fund Trump’s gigantic border wall between the US and Mexico. There was no ...

Organized in collaboration with Antje Ehmann and Doreen Mende, this issue of e-flux journal pays tribute to Harun Farocki (January 9, 1944–July 30, 2014) with a series of essays and reflections on his work and life by friends, collaborators, film scholars, and admirers. Those who knew Harun personally remember not only the epic influence of his work, but also his generosity as a friend and collaborator. As for us, we have never before dedicated a full issue of e-flux journal to a single artist… Editorial—Harun Farocki Julieta Aranda, Brian Kuan Wood, Anton Vidokle A Question They Never Stop Asking Kodwo Eshun Also of Things: Notes for a Film Remembering ...

Some time around 1882, God was pronounced dead. For certain Russian thinkers of the era, this loss provided a building opportunity: where the place of one god closes, space for another one opens. Unlike most established schools of thought, Russian cosmism does not present a singular vision, a consistent epistemology, or a unified theory. On the contrary: the ideas of its nineteenth- to early-twentieth-century protagonists are often so divergent and contradictory that they appear incoherent, paradoxical, or delirious… Editorial—Russian Cosmism Editors Timeline of Russian Cosmism Anastasia Gacheva, Arseny Zhilyaev, and Anton Vidokle The Stofflichkeit of the Universe: Alexander Bogdanov and the Soviet Avant-Garde Maria Chehonadskih Optimists of ...

Automated facial recognition algorithms are increasingly intervening in society. This book offers a unique analysis of these algorithms from a critical visual culture studies perspective. The first part of this study examines the example of an early facial recognition algorithm called “eigenface” and traces a history of the merging of statistics and vision. The second part addresses contemporary artistic engagements with facial recognition technology in the work of Thomas Ruff, Zach Blas, and Trevor Paglen. This book argues that we must take a closer look at the technology of automated facial recognition and claims that its forms of representation are ...

Small Gods deconstructs the mythology of the drone: as soothing sound, aerial spy, and killing machine. When we say ‘drone technology,’ we can mean the tanpura, a plucked-string instrument originating in 16th century India, or the Gorgon Stare, an aerial surveillance technology designed by the US military – and evoke competing notions of terror and transcendence. Small Gods leans into this ambiguity. As each chapter focuses on the work of an artist with a unique understanding of ‘the drone’, the book illuminates myriad facets of these entangled technological entities. Opening with William Basinki’s first glimpse of the ash-clouds of 9/11 – ...

Vertical Atlas is a new publication on the geopolitics of digital technology. How to navigate the rapidly changing digital geopolitics of the world today? How to make sense of digital transformations and their many social, political, cultural, and environmental implications at different locations around the world? Vertical Atlas brings together the insights of a diverse group of internationally renowned artists, scientists and technologists from different backgrounds and places. From an investigation into the lithium mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo to maps of the fiber-optic submarine cables in the Atlantic and the ride-hailing platforms of China. Vertical Atlas is not ...