Visibility Machines: A Conversation with Harun Farocki and Trevor Paglen

Artists Harun Farocki and Trevor Paglen in conversation with Niels Van Tomme, visiting curator, Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture, University of Maryland, Baltimore County Artists Harun Farocki (b. 1944, Germany) and Trevor Paglen (b. 1974, United States) will discuss their unique roles as artistic observers of global military operations with curator Niels Van Tomme. Investigating forms of surveillance, espionage, war-making, and weaponry, Farocki and Paglen address the vast implications of such activities for image-making, and the media they are creatively working with, namely film and photography. In which ways have the realities they depict transformed, and politicized, our relationship to images? And, what is ultimately the responsibility of artists in capturing or revealing such processes? This program is coordinated with the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture (CADVC) in conjunction with the exhibition "Visibility Machines: Harun Farocki and Trevor Paglen," on view at the CADVC from October 24, 2013, through February 22, 2014.