Trevor Paglen: The Lizard People

Consider what may be a new age of the Demiurge. In this talk, Lizard People: Psyops, AI, Magick, Mind-Control, UFOs, the Secret of the Ark, and The New Demiurge, artist and author Trevor Paglen weaves a complex web of philosophy, truth, delusion, and hallucination to consider the precedents for exploitations of the human mind at play as we encounter increasingly pervasive artificial intelligences. Paglen’s practice has consistently revealed the mechanisms through which information systems — whether governmental, corporate, or algorithmic — operate beyond human perception yet fundamentally alter our understanding of the world. Drawing from figures across time and discipline from the CIA to magicians and technology innovators, this talk reveals patterns of manipulation that introduce timely reflections on why our supposedly rational minds remain so vulnerable to structured bypasses that access our most primal impulses.

The talk will be followed by a conversation between Paglen and Erin O’Toole, curator and head of photography at SFMOMA. The two will explore connections between the talk’s themes and Paglen’s multifaceted practice spanning photography, sculpture, and installation work that interrogates surveillance, data collection, military geographies, and the increasingly blurred boundaries between human and machine perception.

About the Artist

Trevor Paglen is an artist whose work spans image-making, sculpture, investigative journalism, writing, engineering, and numerous other disciplines. Paglen has launched an artwork into distant orbit around Earth in collaboration with Creative Time and MIT, contributed research and cinematography to the Academy Award–winning film Citizenfour, and created a radioactive public sculpture for the exclusion zone in Fukushima, Japan. His work has been shown nationally and internationally. He is the author of several books and numerous articles on subjects including experimental geography, artificial intelligence, state secrecy, military symbology, photography, and visuality.

Accessibility Information

Accessibility accommodations such as American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation and assisted listening devices are available upon request 10 business days in advance.

Please email publicengagement@sfmoma.org, and we will do our best to fulfill your request.