September 26, 2006
Center for Advanced Visual Studies
Terminal Air
Center for Advanced Visual Studies MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning :: 265 Massachusetts Ave, 3rd Floor, Cambridge MA 02139 :: 617 253 4415 :: Monday October 2, 7:00 pm. The Center for Advanced Visual Studies presents Terminal Air (Institute for Applied Autonomy and Trevor Paglen).
Tad Hirsch (Institute for Applied Autonomy) and experimental geographer Trevor Paglen will present early research for their new project, Terminal Air, an interactive installation that enables audiences to track a fleet of CIA-operated aircraft around the world. These airplanes, which were first uncovered by an international network of amateur aviation enthusiasts and later reported on by various investigative journalists, are known to be involved in "extraordinary rendition"—the practice of illegally transporting terrorism suspects to secret overseas military bases for torture and interrogation. Paglen will also talk about Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA's Rendition Flights, which he co-wrote with journalist AC Thompson. Andrew Woods of Harvard Law School will also speak. Terminal Air is supported by 2006-2007 commission from Rhizome.org.
Trevor Paglen is an artist, writer, and experimental geographer working out of the Department of Geography at the University of California, Berkeley, where he is currently completing a PhD. His work involves deliberately blurring the lines between social science, contemporary art, and a host of even more obscure disciplines in order to construct unfamiliar, yet meticulously researched ways to interpret the world around us. His most recent projects take up secret military bases, the California prison system, and the CIA’s practice of “extraordinary rendition.” Paglen’s artwork has been shown at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art (2003), the California College of the Arts (2002), MASSMOCA (2006), Halle 14 - Stiftung Federkiel (2006), Diverse Works (2005), and numerous other arts venues, universities, conferences, and public spaces.
Tad Hirsch is a researcher and PhD candidate in the Smart Cities Group at MIT's Media Lab, where his work focuses on the intersections between art, activism, and technology. He is also a 2005-7 graduate affiliate at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies. He has worked with Intel's People and Practices Research Group, Motorola's Advanced Concepts Group and the Interaction Design Studio at Carnegie Mellon University, and has several years experience in the nonprofit sector. Tad is also a frequent collaborator with the Institute for Applied Autonomy, an award-winning arts collective that exhibits throughout the United States and Europe. He publishes and lectures widely on a variety of topics concerning social aspects of technology, and has received several prestigious commissions and awards. Tad holds degrees from Vassar College, Carnegie Mellon University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The Institute for Applied Autonomy (IAA) was founded in 1998 as a technological research and development organization dedicated to the cause of individual and collective self-determination. Their mission is to study the forces and structures which affect self-determination and to provide technologies which extend the autonomy of human activists.
The Center for Advanced Visual Studies is a fellowship program that commissions and produces new artworks and artistic research within the context of MIT. A laboratory for interdisciplinary art practice, the Center facilitates exchange between internationally known contemporary artists and MIT’s faculty, students, and staff through public programs, support for long-term art projects, and residencies for MIT students.
Call 617 253 4415 for more information or to get involved.
Thanks to the MIT Arts Council, the LEF Foundation, the Milton and Sally Avery Foundation, Rhizome.org, and the Loeb Fellowships at Harvard.
Meg Rotzel
Curatorial Associate
Center for Advanced Visual Studies
In the Office M,W,Th
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
265 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
617.253.4415
Posted by jo at September 26, 2006 01:29 PM
