Seeing machines

The cluster Seeing Machines (SITUATIONS #9 to #19) explores the way that technologies of seeing are increasingly devoid of human agency. Inspired by a blog written for Fotomuseum by Trevor Paglen, seeing machines today comprise a vastly expanded field – everything from satellites, to drones, to automatic number plate recognition devices, to sophisticated screening software. They include the machines themselves, the data they capture as well as the ‘script’ they support, the mode of ‘seeing’ they develop. Moving beyond an exclusive concern with drone surveillance, this cluster engages with the history of seeing machines, their more everyday uses, as well as strategies developed to subvert their control. Bearing in mind the unprecedented powers of algorithmic vision, does it make sense any more to speak about photography?