Trevor Paglen Wins LG Guggenheim Award: Reflecting on the Ethical Meaning of Technology

Discovering Artists Engaged in Innovative, Technology-Based Art

This Year’s Recipient, Paglen: Visualizing AI Power Structures and Surveillance Systems

On March 25, LG and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in the United States announced that American media artist Trevor Paglen has been selected as the recipient of the "LG Guggenheim Award," which is presented to artists who utilize advanced technology in their work.

Trevor Paglen, winner of the 2026 LG Guggenheim Award. LG

The LG Guggenheim Award was established to discover and support artists engaged in innovative, technology-based artistic activities. The recipient receives a prize of 100,000 dollars and a trophy.

This year marks the fourth edition of the award. Trevor Paglen, this year’s recipient, is an American geographer and media artist. He has been visualizing the power structures and surveillance systems embedded in artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technologies through various mediums such as photography, video, and sculpture.

One of his representative works, "Faces of ImageNet" (2022), uses the algorithms that AI employs to classify people in photographs in reverse to demonstrate how AI, trained on biased data, can judge people in a discriminatory manner. When an audience member stands in front of the camera, the AI shows in real time the category it assigns to that individual.

Trevor Paglen has also delved deeply into invisible political and social issues through his photographic works on military facilities and surveillance systems. As a counterpoint to satellites used for warfare, he created and launched the "Orbital Reflector" (2018), a harmless satellite with no military, commercial, or scientific function, into space.

The LG Guggenheim Award’s international panel of judges stated, "Trevor Paglen has consistently raised profound questions about the power structures and interactions surrounding technology. In particular, since the rise of large language models (LLMs) and modern AI systems, he has broadened the discussion on how we perceive the world. His critical exploration of technology, commitment to public responsibility, and emphasis on ethical values have enabled him to continually build a distinctive body of work. For these reasons, he is recognized as one of the most influential artists of our time."

Trevor Paglen commented, "Images, algorithms, and technological infrastructures are now more than mere tools—they are active participants shaping our identity, culture, and history. I am grateful to LG and the Guggenheim for supporting artists who work at the intersection of technology and art."

An LG representative stated, "The questions reflected in Trevor Paglen’s works are aligned with the issues LG has been contemplating. We also believe that as we strengthen our AI capabilities, transparency, accountability, and a human-centered approach to technology are the true foundations of innovation."

Trevor Paglen received the Nam June Paik Art Center International Art Award in 2018 and was selected for the "MacArthur Fellowship," known as the "Genius Grant," in 2017. His works are part of the collections of leading museums around the world, including the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.