COURTESY METRO PICTURES GALLERY, NEW YORK
Trevor Paglen’s photographs often seem very peaceful—until you realize that what you are looking at are very aestheticized views of surveillance technology. With a new exhibition of Paglen’s work coming to Metro Pictures in September, the Chelsea gallery has released a trailer that amps up the creep-out factor of the artist’s work.
The trailer is in line with what fans have come to expect from Paglen’s video- and film-based work. (Paglen also recently did some of the cinematography for Laura Poitras’s award-winning Edward Snowden documentary CITIZENFOUR.) A few static shots show pink and orange sunsets. A diver swims in slow-motion. A bird flies by bulbous-looking buildings. Meanwhile, the slowed-down sound of a dial tone plays. Like the rest of Paglen’s work, it is ominous, tense, and intriguing.
The trailer for Paglen’s show, which opens at Metro Pictures on September 10, follows below.