No Man's Land: Views from a Surveillance State

Marcus DeSieno is a lens-based artist who is interested in how the advancement of photographic technology has changed our relationship to the natural world. DeSieno often combines antiquated and obsolescent photographic processes with contemporary imaging technologies to engage in a critical dialog on the evolution of the photographic medium in relation to seeing. He received his MFA in Studio Art from the University of South Florida and is currently the Visiting Professor of Photography at Marlboro College in Marlboro, Vermont. DeSieno's work has been exhibited nationally at The Center for Fine Art Photography, the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, The Light Factory, Candela Gallery, Rayko Photo Center, The Center for Photography at Woodstock, and various other galleries and museums. His work has also been featured in a variety of publications including FeatureShoot, GUP Magazine, Hyperallergic, Huffington Post, National Geographic's Proof, PDN, Slate, Smithsonian Magazine, and Wired. DeSieno was recently named a selection for Photolucida's Critical Mass 50 and an Emerging Talent by Lensculture for 2016.

Martha A. Sandweiss is a historian of the United States, with particular interests in the history of the American West, visual culture, and public history. She received her Ph.D. in History from Yale University and began her career as a photography curator at the Amon Carter Museum in Ft. Worth, TX. She later taught American Studies and History at Amherst College for twenty years before joining the Princeton faculty in 2009. Sandweiss is the author or editor of numerous books on American history and photography. Her publications include Passing Strange: A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception across the Color Line (2009), a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in History and the National Book Critics Circle Award in Biography, and Print the Legend: Photography and the American West (2002), winner of the Organization of American Historians’ Ray Allen Billington Award for the best book in American frontier history and the William P. Clements Award. Her other works include Laura Gilpin: An Enduring Grace (1986), winner of the George Wittenborn Award for outstanding art book, and the co-edited volume The Oxford History of the American West (1994), winner of the Western Heritage Award and the Caughey Western History Association prize for the outstanding book in western history. At Princeton, Sandweiss teaches courses on the history of the American West and on narrative writing, and currently heads a research project on Princeton and Slavery. She serves as faculty adviser to graduate student groups working in the fields of public history and Native American Studies. The recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Rockefeller Foundation, she consults widely on matters related to history education and the use of visual images for historical research and writing.

Ariel Shanberg is a curator and writer. From 2003-2015 he was the executive director at the Center for Photography at Woodstock (CPW) which, under his leadership, received numerous accolades including the 2009 Spotlight Award for significantly altering the landscape of photography from the Lucie Foundation. In addition to curating dozens of group and solo exhibitions at CPW, Ariel has organized exhibitions at the Light Factory, the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, the Islip Art Museum, the Dorsky Museum, and the Houston Center for Photography. His writing has on the works of various artists, including Lucas Foglia, Hillerbrand + Magsamen, Jon Horvath, Jeff Milstein, Rachel Papo, among others has appeared in such publications as Aspect: The Chronicle for New Media Art, Contact Sheet, European Photography, Exposure, Nueva Luz, and Photograph. Shanberg is a current member of the Board of Directors for the Society for Photographic Education and the Advisory Board of the Center for Photography at Woodstock.