Trevor Paglen

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A suite of nine albumen prints and three carbon prints, in an edition of 5 plus one artist's proof, one printer's proof and one BAT.

Tissack, or the Half Dome, Simple Blob Detector, albumen print, 16x20 inches on a 20x24 sheet, 2020.

Near Tahoma, Circle Hough Transform, albumen print, 16x20 inches on a 20x24 sheet, 2020.

Camel Butte, SURF (Speeded-Up Robust Features), albumen print, 16x20 inches on a 20x24 sheet, 2020.

The Golden Canyon, SIFT (Scale-Invariant Feature Transform), albumen print, 16x20 inches on a 20x24 sheet, 2020.

From Maricopa Point, Maximally Stable Extremal Regions, albumen print, 16x20 inches on a 20x24 sheet, 2020.

Near Point Arena, Haar, albumen print, 16x20 inches on a 20x24 sheet, 2020.

View of the Sun, Harris Corner Detector, carbon print, 16x20 inches on a 20x24 sheet, 2020.

View of the Moon, Scale-Invariant Feature Transform, carbon print, 16x20 inches on a 20x24 sheet, 2020.

View of Cygnus, Brute-Force k-Nearest Neighbors Matching of Scale-Invariant Feature Transform Descriptors, carbon print, 16x20 inches on a 20x24 sheet, 2020.

Time Study (Predator; Indian Springs, NV). Set of eight albumen prints, each 5x7 inches. 2010.

Trevor Paglen's new photographs position the origins of computer vision, facial recognition, and artificial intelligence in the tradition of landscape photography of the American West. Examining histories of seeing in relation to technological advancements, Paglen reveals underlying structures of power and the changing role of the image.

 

Capturing dramatic vistas shot around Yosemite, Black Canyon, the California Coast, and other iconic landscapes, Paglen refers to classic works by Muybridge, O'Sullivan, Watkins, Hillers, and other 19th century "frontier" photographers. While we often encounter these historical referents in a museum setting today, many of these seminal images were originally produced for the US Department of War on military "reconnaissance" surveys and are embedded with the colonial narratives of Western Expansion. What would a contemporary iteration of frontier photography reveal about our current structures of power?

 

With the advent of computer vision and artificial intelligence, the role of images and photographs has changed dramatically. From industrial fabrication and self-driving cars to facial recognition and biometric surveillance, computer vision algorithms are working invisibly in our daily lives. Paglen investigates the formal and conceptual logics of computer vision and AI by using modified machine vision software to produce images revealing the internal mechanisms of the algorithms. Returning to the western landscapes captured by his predecessors, Paglen translates his 8x10 negatives into digital files that can be read by AI. He then overlays lines, circles and strokes that signify how computer vision algorithms attempt to "see" by creating mathematical abstractions from images.

 

 

 

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eight landscape photographs over period of time documenting presence of distant Predator drones in the sky above Indian Springs, Nevada
The ƒ/Ø Project [f-zero] masthead
eight landscape photographs over period of time documenting presence of distant Predator drones in the sky above Indian Springs, Nevada
landscape photograph with predator drone high in sky over landscape Indian Springs, Nevada
The ƒ/Ø Project monogram; fzero, f-zero, f/0
landscape photograph of Golden Canyon with computer vision algorithm overlayed to detect, describe, and match local features in images
landscape photograph of Maricopa Point with MSER object recognition algorithm overlayed to find correspondences betwen elements from two images
landscape photograph near Point Arena overlayed with facial recognition classifiers from computer vision algorithm
photograph of the Sun in the sky overlayed with detection operator used in computer vision algorithms to extract corners and infer features of a
photograph of cygnus constellation on the plane of the Milky Way overlayed with feature matching and objection detection algorithm (SIFT)
eight landscape photographs over period of time documenting presence of distant Predator drones in the sky above Indian Springs, Nevada
landscape photograph with predator drone high in sky over landscape Indian Springs, Nevada
eight landscape photographs over period of time documenting presence of distant Predator drones in the sky above Indian Springs, Nevada
landscape photograph of Golden Canyon with computer vision algorithm overlayed to detect, describe, and match local features in images
landscape photograph of Maricopa Point with MSER object recognition algorithm overlayed to find correspondences betwen elements from two images
landscape photograph near Point Arena overlayed with facial recognition classifiers from computer vision algorithm
photograph of the Sun in the sky overlayed with detection operator used in computer vision algorithms to extract corners and infer features of a
photograph of cygnus constellation on the plane of the Milky Way overlayed with feature matching and objection detection algorithm (SIFT)
eight landscape photographs over period of time documenting presence of distant Predator drones in the sky above Indian Springs, Nevada
landscape photograph with predator drone high in sky over landscape Indian Springs, Nevada
The ƒ/Ø Project [f-zero] masthead
eight landscape photographs over period of time documenting presence of distant Predator drones in the sky above Indian Springs, Nevada
landscape photograph of Golden Canyon with computer vision algorithm overlayed to detect, describe, and match local features in images
landscape photograph of Maricopa Point with MSER object recognition algorithm overlayed to find correspondences betwen elements from two images
landscape photograph near Point Arena overlayed with facial recognition classifiers from computer vision algorithm
landscape photograph of Tissack overlayed with computer vision algorithm aimed at detecting regions in a digital image for object recognition
landscape photograph over with computer vision algorithm to extract features in a digital photograph to detect circles in imperfect images
landscape photograph of Camel Butte overlayed with local feature detector and descriptor used for object recognition
photograph of the Sun in the sky overlayed with detection operator used in computer vision algorithms to extract corners and infer features of a
Photograph of the moon overlayed with a computer vision algorithm to detect, describe, and match local features in images for object recognition
photograph of cygnus constellation on the plane of the Milky Way overlayed with feature matching and objection detection algorithm (SIFT)
eight landscape photographs over period of time documenting presence of distant Predator drones in the sky above Indian Springs, Nevada
landscape photograph with predator drone high in sky over landscape Indian Springs, Nevada
landscape photograph of Golden Canyon with computer vision algorithm overlayed to detect, describe, and match local features in images

The Golden Canyon, SIFT (Scale-Invariant Feature Transform), albumen print, 16x20 inches on a 20x24 sheet, 2020.

landscape photograph of Maricopa Point with MSER object recognition algorithm overlayed to find correspondences between elements from two images

From Maricopa Point, Maximally Stable Extremal Regions, albumen print, 16x20 inches on a 20x24 sheet, 2020.

landscape photograph near Point Arena overlayed with facial recognition classifiers from computer vision algorithm

Near Point Arena, Haar, albumen print, 16x20 inches on a 20x24 sheet, 2020.

landscape photograph of Tissack overlayed with computer vision algorithm aimed at detecting regions in a digital image for object recognition

Tissack, or the Half Dome, Simple Blob Detector, albumen print, 16x20 inches on a 20x24 sheet, 2020.

landscape photograph over with computer vision algorithm to extract features in a digital photograph to detect circles in imperfect images

Near Tahoma, Circle Hough Transform, albumen print, 16x20 inches on a 20x24 sheet, 2020.

landscape photograph of Camel Butte overlayed with local feature detector and descriptor used for object recognition

Camel Butte, SURF (Speeded-Up Robust Features), albumen print, 16x20 inches on a 20x24 sheet, 2020.

photograph of the Sun in the sky overlayed with detection operator used in computer vision algorithms to extract corners and infer features of a

View of the Sun, Harris Corner Detector, carbon print, 16x20 inches on a 20x24 sheet, 2020.

Photograph of the moon overlayed with a computer vision algorithm to detect, describe, and match local features in images for object recognition

View of the Moon, Scale-Invariant Feature Transform, carbon print, 16x20 inches on a 20x24 sheet, 2020.

photograph of cygnus constellation on the plane of the Milky Way overlayed with feature matching and objection detection algorithm (SIFT)

View of Cygnus, Brute-Force k-Nearest Neighbors Matching of Scale-Invariant Feature Transform Descriptors, carbon print, 16x20 inches on a 20x24 sheet, 2020.

eight landscape photographs over period of time documenting presence of distant Predator drones in the sky above Indian Springs, Nevada

Time Study (Predator; Indian Springs, NV). Set of eight albumen prints, each 5x7 inches. 2010.