Untitled (Predators; Indian Springs, NV) © Trevor Paglen © Galerie Thomas Zandler
A monotonous sky is interrupted by a blurry aircraft on its left corner; a forest landscape spreading wide in the horizon reveals scintillating but undefined architectural objects in its middle part.
The main intrigue in Paglen's photographs comes from their distant viewpoint : what are we watching ? where is the scene taken from ? where is the viewer positioned in relation to the event ?
Who is watching what ?
They watched the moon © Trevor Paglen © Altman Siegle gallery
The skies photographs Predators reveal the secret activities of Drones : Paglen uses data from amateur satellite watchers to track and photograph classified aircrafts - spy satellites and predator drones -, photographing them photographing him, watching those who are watching us as he puts it.
In They watched the moon, a super strenght telescope reveals a 'listening station', a top-secret U.S. governmental site, a covert base so remote it cannot be seen by unaided civilian eye from any point on earth.
Physical intersection between Earth and the Universe, the station listens to communications from the Earth as they escape towards the moon and bounce back towards the Earth, in an auditive mise-en-abyme.
