Book Club: "How to See Like a Machine" by Trevor Paglen

Join us for a conversation around Trevor Paglen's timely and provocative 2026 essay collection on how artificial intelligence has transformed the way images are made, seen, and used.

Paglen — artist, MacArthur Fellow, and one of the most original thinkers working at the intersection of art and technology — argues that we have crossed a threshold: images are no longer made for human eyes alone. Computer vision, generative AI, recommendation algorithms, and surveillance systems now produce and consume pictures at a scale that far exceeds anything we can see or process ourselves. Rather than asking what these images mean, Paglen asks what they do — and what it would take for us to understand a world increasingly shaped by machine perception.

Drawing on psyops, UFO imagery, advertising data, and the history of neural networks, the book is both a sharp critical text and an accessible entry point into one of the defining questions of our visual moment.

What to Expect: Through guided conversation, we'll explore Paglen's key ideas and their implications for how we look at — and participate in — contemporary visual culture, with connections to today's art world and the expanding role of AI in creative practice.

Event Details:

• 4 sessions

• In-person

• Location: The Woodlands, Texas

Interested in participating? Contact me for details and to reserve your spot.