Entering public consciousness in the '90s as the noisy experimental outfit known as Noisegate, artist Trevor Paglen has diversified his field of vision to encompass a world of black hats and blue corpses: that of the military and intelligence agencies and these here United States. As such, over eight years he's gathered a book of photographs that may or may not be off-limits. Working with San Francisco–based activist and writer Rebecca Solnit, he's collected the images that appear in his book Invisible: Covert Operations and Classified Landscapes (Aperture, $49.95). Tonight, Paglen will discuss tracking down CIA front companies, photographing classified military installations, tracking secret spy satellites and hacking Predator drones. Not that he's necessarily done any of these things himself, but rather, the capability for both control and anarchy exist at the same time, and the line between the wielders of both aspects of power has become blurred over time into an increasingly amorphous off-beige soup of dangerous intrigue.

Tue., Feb. 15, 7 p.m., 2011

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