Tiny Panda Quotes
Trevor Paglen is a renowned American artist, geographer, and author, celebrated for his pioneering work that intersects art, science, and technology. Born in 1974 in Camp Springs, Maryland, he earned his Ph.D. in Geography, which deeply informs his explorations of surveillance, data, and the hidden political implications of technology. Paglen's art invites viewers to confront the invisible systems shaping our world, using photography and installation to reveal the often unseen workings of government and corporate power. His legacy lies in provoking critical dialogue about privacy, power, and the future of human society.
11 quotes found
"The Internet was supposed to be the greatest tool of global communications and means of sharing knowledge in human history. And it is. But it has also become the most effective instrument of mass surveillance and potentially one of the greatest instruments of totalitarianism in the history of the world."
Trevor Paglen"Religions have always adopted rich symbolic languages to signify the different aspects of their respective forms of faith and mythology."
Trevor Paglen
"The dragon is a very consistent symbol of secret satellite iconography and signals intelligence satellites."
Trevor Paglen
"Digital surveillance programs require concrete data centres; intelligence agencies are based in real buildings. Surveillance systems ultimately consist of technologies, people, and the vast network of material resources that supports them."
Trevor Paglen"If we look in the right places at the right times, we can begin to glimpse America's vast intelligence infrastructure."
Trevor Paglen"We know that, immediately after 9/11, the CIA set up a program to collaborate with 80 foreign countries to varying degrees. The CIA also started funding other intelligence services in order to use them as proxies. We also know that some of these collaborations were kept off the record; supposedly, there is no paper trail."
Trevor Paglen
"Creating artworks, writing and publishing novels, poetry, music, or conducting art-historical research requires support. So does everything else in the world, from physics to fish and wildlife management to human-rights advocacy."
Trevor Paglen"Before Christianity became the Roman Empire's official religion in the 4th Century, 'mystery religions,' organized around a central canon of secret knowledge, were widespread. Membership in such religions was limited to people who had passed through secret initiation rituals and had begun to learn a body of hidden knowledge."
Trevor Paglen"I believe that art can make relevant and progressive contributions to culture and society."
Trevor Paglen
"Show me what society that ever existed that did not use the tools that they had available. Ask any person from East Germany... you will never hear somebody say, 'The Stasi never bothered me because I didn't have anything to hide.' That's not a thing that people say."
Trevor Paglen