Thermal Aesthetics: Beyond Visuality in Drone Technology

This chapter reflects on the use of thermal imaging for remote sensing purposes by exploring how this technology affects human perception. Thermal imaging is employed nowadays to detect heat from large numbers of people in many (military and non-military) contexts, showing the increasing presence of a non-human perception in public spaces. The thermal sensing capabilities of the drone allow for a thermal relationship and engagement with the environment that would otherwise remain latent in human perception. It suggests not only that this technology may establish a view of the body as quantified, atomised, and governable but also that drone thermal imaging has the potential to disclose new forms of atmospheric mediation between bodies by opening up a multisensorial aesthetic. In its conclusion, the chapter discusses that thermal images produced by drones implement our ability to sense-making the dynamics of heat between the environment and bodies by implementing more-than-human perceptions into human visibility.