VORTEX 3 in Sextans (Inactive Signals Intelligence Spacecraft)

The VORTEX constellation of American signals intelligence (SIGINT) spacecraft remain in a geosynchronous orbit despite the fact that they were retired in favor of more advanced surveillance platforms such as MENTOR/ADVANCED ORION, MERCURY, and INTRUDER.

Like other American SIGINT spacecraft, VORTEX 3 is shaped like a giant umbrella with a 38m diameter dish antenna. SIGINT spacecraft act as massive electromagnetic “vacuums” designed to collect electronic communications such as telephone conversations and relay them to the National Security Agency for collation and analysis.

Although the spacecraft is no longer active, VORTEX 3 will remain in orbit 36,000 kilometers above the Earth for more than a million years, potentially one human civilization’s longest-lasting artifacts.

In this image, VORTEX 3 appears in the lower right of the image. In the center of the image are two other objects forming an “x” shape. The line from the lower left to upper right is a leftover rocket body from a Russian Proton rocket.  The object bisecting that line is a spent rocket body from an American Delta launch.

- From the series "The Other Night Sky." This and other new images will be at the Frieze Fair in October where I will be showing with Altman-Siegel Gallery.

NEWS:

- A Night Sky of Mystery and Wonder: Review of Toronto Star Party; Installation on view at the Power Plant

- The Istanbul Biennial is now open. My work is on view there until November.

- Spring 2010 - I will publish a book of photography and art work with Aperture.

- A new article about my work and process in the March 2009 issue of ART FORUM

- Video of me speaking at Google now online.

- UTNE READER names Paglen one of "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World"

- Art Papers reviews "The Other Night Sky"

“Trevor Paglen set out to map the darkest corners of the U. S. national security apparatus. He’s done that and more. The result is a fascinating, deeply troubling, and absolutely essential book.”
—Andrew J. Bacevich

“A chillingly literal tour de force. Paglen doesn’t so much fill in the blanks as trace their outlines and give their shifting shapes a density that says as much about the future of democracy as it does about the dismal confines of the black world.”
—Derek Gregory, Professor of Geography, University of British Columbia

“What could be more delightful—and unsettling—than turning loose a group of contemporary surrealists, disguised as vagabonds and artists, in the ripe fields of the hyper-real? Experimental Geography isn’t about space; it is about terminal strangeness.”
—Mike Davis, author of City of Quartz and Ecology of Fear