Public Speaking

CIA Rendition Flights 2001-2006, Trevor Paglen, 2006
Photo: Clockshop

CIA Rendition Flights 2001-2006

Trevor Paglen, 2006

Artist Trevor Paglen’s CIA Rendition Flights 2001-2006 is composed from flight data provided by the Federal Aviation Administration and Eurocontrol. The map is a visualization of the movements of aircraft owned or operated by known CIA front companies. The work illustrates some of the more obscure relationships that have been forged between the United States and other countries over the course of the war on terror.

This installation ran from September 11 – October 8, 2006.

Trevor Paglen’s work deliberately blurs lines between science, contemporary art, journalism, and other disciplines to construct unfamiliar, yet meticulously researched ways to see and interpret the world around us. Paglen’s visual work has been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Tate Modern, London; The Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis; The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the 2008 Taipei Biennial; the 2009 Istanbul Biennial; the 2012 Liverpool Biennial, and numerous other solo and group exhibitions. He is the author of five books and numerous articles on subjects including experimental geography, state secrecy, military symbology, photography, and visuality. His most recent book, The Last Pictures is a meditation on the intersections of deep-time, politics, and art. Paglen has received grants and awards from the Smithsonian, Art Matters, Artadia, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the LUMA foundation, the Eyebeam Center for Art and Technology, and the Aperture Foundation. Paglen holds a B.A. from U.C. Berkeley, an MFA from the Art Institute of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in Geography from U.C. Berkeley. Trevor Paglen lives and works in New York.