Trevor Paglen's Metro Pictures Exhibition Exposes NSA Surveillance Infrastructure Through Video and Photography

From September 10 to October 24, 2015, Metro Pictures in New York City hosted a solo exhibition by Trevor Paglen focused on the theme of government surveillance. The highlight of the show was Eighty Nine Landscapes (2015), which features films capturing locations where internet and phone traffic is intercepted. Among the large-scale photographs are images of undersea fiber optic cables located in the Caribbean and Atlantic Oceans. Additionally, two diptychs merge seascape imagery with nautical charts and articles regarding cable surveillance. Code Names of the Surveillance State (2015) presented NSA codenames across four screens. Another piece, Autonomy Cube (2015), is a Plexiglass router linked to the TOR network, accompanied by wall text proclaiming, "RESISTANCE IS FUTILE." The exhibition examines NSA's surveillance of worldwide communications, fusing documentary and artistic aspects in the aftermath of Snowden.