The Lizard People: How UFOs, Magic, and Mind-Control Explain Visual Culture in the Age of AI

Name: The Lizard People: How UFOs, Magic, and Mind-Control Explain Visual Culture in the Age of AI
Start: 2026-01-15T19:00:00-06:00
Location: 460 Portage Ave Unit 1, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, Manitoba R3C 0E8

Schedule

Thu, 15 Jan, 2026 at 07:00 pm

UTC-06:00

Location

460 Portage Ave Unit 1, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, Manitoba R3C 0E8 | Winnipeg, MB

Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art invites you to attend a special talk with Trevor Paglen presented by The University of Manitoba on January 15, 2026 at 7PM with a reception to follow.
Something strange has happened to the world of images. In the era of algorithmic feeds, generative excess, and the attention economy, images have ceased to represent. Instead, they activate. Images have become synthetic stimuli, engineered to provoke targeted perceptual, emotional, and behavioral responses in both humans and machines. They’ve become highly refined mind-altering substances. This lecture traces a genealogy of this shift, linking Cold War mind-control experiments and military Psyops with stage magic, UFO mythologies, and contemporary neuro-AI research to expose the deep mechanisms shaping today’s visual culture.
This talk would not be possible without the generous support of University of Manitoba’s Strategic Initiatives Support Fund (SISF), UM Faculty of Arts, UM School of Art, UM Faculty of Architecture and Plug In ICA.