Look to the Skies: Drone Art in the Age of Telepresence
摘要
In an interview from 2011, Mark Maybury, the Chief Scientist of the United States Air Force, stated the following: “Remotely piloted aircrafts [are] one of the most important developments since 9/11” (Roughton, Rise of the Drones—UAVs After 9–11, Armed with Science, 2011). Since September 12, 2001, remotely piloted aircrafts (RPAs), also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones, have provided the United States Department of Defense with the ability to employ long-range surveillance and weaponized air strikes while reducing the presence of ground troops in combat zones. Outlined by Grégoire Chamayou in A Theory of the Drone and Roger Stahl in Through the Crosshairs: War, Visual Culture, and the Weaponized Gaze, weaponized drones manipulate the public’s perception of the modern warzone by presenting sanitized footage of airstrikes through the lens of the machine, rather than the victim. Using Chamayou and Stahl’s criticisms involving drone use since 9/11, I interrogate how the visual arts can magnify human rights violations created by telepresent technology. I examine artworks that expose, subvert, and criticize weaponized drone technology in regions where civilian deaths are unreported. #NotABugSplat by French artist JR, James Bridle’s Dronestagram, and Mahwish Chishty’s The Reaper and The Predator each work to expose the consequential after-effects of drone strikes on noncombatants living in spaces of conflict. How do #NotABugSplat, Dronestagram, and The Reaper and The Predator address the complexity of drone use during periods of active and inactive warfare? How can each work be used to expose ethical and political violations? In each piece, participants are encouraged to actively engage, either through direct collaboration with the artist or through telepresent participation via the Internet.