This essay appears in Social Research: An International Quarterly︎︎︎ (volume 89, number 4, winter 2022), published by The New School for Social Research and distributed by Johns Hopkins University Press. Guest edited by Paul A. Kottman, the issue’s theme is Photography and Film as Evidence︎︎︎ and it includes essays by David Levi Strauss and Diana Allan, among other writers.

The journal is available on Project MUSE︎︎︎ and hard copies can be ordered online︎︎︎. An excerpt of my essay is published at Public Seminar︎︎︎ and the full text is below for those without institutional access.

Abstract: As computer vision and artificial intelligence exert increasing influence on day-to-day affairs, and as surveillance and data profiling invade more spheres of contemporary life, a loose group of artists reveals the invisible images at the center of these systems. Trevor Paglen, Hito Steyerl, Teju Cole, Mishka Henner, Michael Wolf, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Forensic Architecture and others work to expose the hidden mechanisms that operate outside of public view—and are therefore not subject to the commons—yet nonetheless define politics, society and culture.

︎ An Atlas of Invisible Images (PDF)︎︎︎