INTL-I400 Capstone Thesis Spring 2015

The Art of Drone Warfare:

Artistic Representations of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Alex Colley Hart

Dr. Nicole Kousaleous (instructor)

Dr. Margaret Graves (mentor)

Spring 2015

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Executive Summary

Drone warfare has become one of the most important and highly controversial elements

of American counterterrorism strategy and foreign policy. During the Cold War drones were

used for surveillance purposes and were eventually weaponized in the 1990s. Since the

beginning of the Global War on Terror, drones have been used in targeted strikes against alleged

terrorists across the globe and without the limits brought about by traditional notions of nations,

states, and boundaries. Not much is known about the specifics of drone warfare since the US

government refuses to comment on the basis of national security. Thus, other sources must be

used to better understand the consequences of such advanced and potential powerful weapons.

One such source is art. Many artists have created works that explore the underlying ideas

surrounding the use of drones. Through a survey of artistic depictions of drones and subsequent

visual analysis, distance within art and drone warfare is analyze using both a political science

framework and aesthetic philosophy. As a result, it is found that there exist complementary

power relations between art (artist, subject, and viewer) and drone warfare (drone operator,

victim, and government official).

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Introduction

Unmanned aerial vehicles, known more commonly as drones, have become a cornerstone

of Obama’s foreign policy and counterterrorism strategy. With the remaining threat of terrorism

and growing unpopularity of war among public opinion, the United States government has

increasingly turned towards the use of drone technology. Drones are used for both surveillance

and targeted strikes in countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen. Since

the beginning of the US-led Global War on Terror, American drone strikes have killed thousands

of alleged terrorists and innocent men, women, and children. Though their legal status is

uncertain and highly contentious, the cultural impacts of drone strikes are not easy to overlook.

As with all wars, artists have used their works to analyze the new and increasingly central role of

drones in modern warfare. My analysis will demonstrate that drones are more than just weapons.

Drones are tools that have profound impacts beyond their immediate functions, and art can serve

as channel through which to explore such consequences. Thus, among the many complex themes

explored in artistic representations of drone warfare, the notion of distance is one that regularly

reappears. My thesis will seek to explore the various kinds of distance, including aesthetic and

political, present in artistic representations of drones.

The use of terrorist tactics and the subsequent Global War on Terror have been a

dominant force in global politics of the 21st century. The War on Terror was coined by former

US President George W. Bush to describe the United States’ and its allies’ military response to

the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001. It is an umbrella term that includes the War in

Afghanistan, the War in Iraq, and other covert actions across the Middle East and North Africa to

combat terrorists and terrorist organizations. Although President Barack Obama does not actively

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use the term, in many ways the War on Terror is still being fought for Obama continues to

pursue many of his predecessor’s initiates to combat terrorism on a global scale, particularly

through the use of drones. The War on Terror is in its 14th year, spans dozens of countries, and

has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. The continued use of drone strikes

to further combat terrorism globally shows few signs of subsiding any time soon. The US has

officially recognized the use of drones in the warzones of Afghanistan and Iraq as well as in

Pakistan, but it is also well documented that the United States has utilized drones across the

Middle East, the Philippines, Indonesia, and have specifically been used to carry out strikes in

Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen. Thus, the current usage of drones may only foreshadow the way

countries engage in the wars of tomorrow.

Furthermore, one key characteristic of drones is that they are remotely operated. The

drone operator may be thousands of miles away from the actual drone, and the drone’s target

may also be a hundred miles from the actual drone. They are able go to wherever suspected

terrorists are regardless of national boundaries or internationally recognized warzones. In

addition to arms, drones can be equipped with highly advanced image, heat, and infrared

capturing cameras. These surveillance capabilities may decrease the feeling of distance an

operator feels when flying a drone, but subsequently increase the actual distance between the

drone and its target. This complex contradiction is one that is little explored, but is readily

present in artistic representations of drones for in many ways the relationships surrounding a

work of art and drone are highly symmetrical. This essay will explore these relationships.

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Art, Drones, and Nations, States, and Boundaries

There is no steadfast definition of what exactly constitutes a nation. Ethnicity, geography,

ideology, language, race, and religion are all qualities that can be used to separate one nation

from another. Yet perhaps one of the greatest signifiers of a nation is culture, and one of the

greatest signifiers of culture is art. Thus, though art is of course constructed around individual

identities of the artist, it can arguably serve as a channel through which to understand nations,

national identity, and even why nations go to war.

Moreover, nations have traditionally been theorized as distinct entities divided from one

another by mutually agreed upon borders. Therefore, nations have always been separated by

some degree of physical distance. Modernity has since challenged this traditional theory of

physically distant nations through the advent of globalization and new technologies.

Globalization has in many ways threatened traditional notions of national boundaries by

connecting the world through international governing and trade organizations. New technologies,

such as the Internet, mobile phones, social media, and drones, have similarly connected the

people of the world with one another. Drones can fight a war while being operated by a person

located on the opposite side of the globe. More so, drones can fly wherever their pilot guides

them regardless of national boundaries (though a commercial drone manufacturer has remotely

disabled their drones from flying in the heart of Washington, DC, after one reportedly crashed

into the White House). Because militarized drones are such a new weapon, their exists very little

international regulation on their use thus allowing those nations that do have them a great deal of

leeway in their operations. In many regards, drones epitomize the complexities that arise from a

world grappling with globalization and traditional notions of national boundaries.

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Literature Review

Historical Background

Drones are not an entirely new technology. They have been around since the dawn of

aviation, albeit for drastically different reasons. This section will provide a brief overview of the

trajectory of drone technology, from their use as a tool for situational awareness to offensive

combat weapon in the Global War on Terror.

In his history of UAVs entitled Birds of Prey, Bill Yenne argues that the first flying

machines ever invented are by definition UAVs in that they were not initially built to carry a

pilot.1 However, UAVs took to the periphery of aviation technologies when the Wright brothers

proved that aircraft could in fact carry a pilot in 1903. During World War One, several radio-

controlled UAV projects were initiated by the US government but never finished. Yenne claims

that it was the toy and hobby industry that ultimately developed and honed UAV technology,

which was later bought by the US military to use in training exercises as “Target Drones” during

World War Two.2 The US government also developed technology to retrofit planes to fly

themselves into targets after the pilot had ejected thus turning the plane into a crude cruise

missile. It was not until the 1950s that a commercially successful jet-propelled drone was

created. Known as the Firebee, these drones were initially built to be used as targets like their

predecessors, but were eventually able to carry out reconnaissance missions capturing

photographs and later videos as cameras became smaller and more efficient. When the Cold War

intensified around the globe, the US Air Force began experimenting with armed UAVs, and on

December 14th, 1971, a missile was successfully launched from a Firebee drone, thus beginning

the phenomenon of armed drone attacks. The Cold War period, specifically the Vietnam War,

                                                                                                               1 Yenne, Bill. 2010. Birds Of Prey. North Branch, MN: Specialty Press. 2 Ibid.

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saw an increased interest in further improving reconnaissance drone technologies, though there

was a great deal of competition from newly developed spy satellites from the ongoing space race

between the US and the USSR. Yenne argues that it was only in the late 1990s when drones were

fully embraced and valued by the leaders of the US military and seen as more than just

superfluous toys.3

After the end of the Cold War, the US shifted its military focus to that of terrorism,

particularly in the Middle East and North Africa. In her book Drone Warfare, human rights

activist Madea Benjamin claims it was the US’ response to the terrorist attacks of September

11th, 2001 that really accelerated the popularity and use of armed drones.4 The subsequent Global

War on Terror, in which George W Bush sought to fight terrorists wherever they are, demanded

an influx of spending on military and weapon development. In 2000, the Pentagon had fewer

than 50 UAVs, yet by 2010 it had more than 7,500 (though most of them are for surveillance).

According to the joint New York University and Stanford University study Living Under

Drones, the first drone strike in Afghanistan occurred in February 2002. In addition, Benjamin

believes one of the defining qualities of the Global War on Terror was the enemy’s ability to

hide amongst civilian populations or in the vast and often sparsely populated lands of

Afghanistan and Iraq. This required an unprecedented need by the US military to monitor and

survey combat zones for enemy targets. Therefore, Benjamin argues that UAVs were a natural fit

for the US’ efforts in the Global War on Terror.5

The two main types of UAVs used by the US are the Predator MQ-1B and Reaper MQ-9

drones. The Predator can spend 24 hours in the air at an altitude of up to 26,000 feet. The Reaper

                                                                                                               3 Yenne, Bill. 2010. Birds Of Prey. North Branch, MN: Specialty Press. 4 Benjamin, Medea. 2013. Drone Warfare. London: Verso. 5 Ibid.

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is larger and more powerful than the Predator, but is more easily noticed by radar and from the

ground. Both of these drones operate as part of a larger weapons system. A drone’s weapons

system refers to the network of various components and entities needed to successfully operate

it. This includes people such as the pilot, intelligence operatives, weapons personnel, and

maintenance crews as well as other technological devices such as satellites, relay stations, and

various transmitters to different military and intelligence agencies. According to a top-secret

document obtained by The Intercept, American drones require a global communications system.6

Drones send signals to satellites, which relay the information through Ramstein Air Force Base

in Germany to the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Battlelab at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada.

From Creech Air Force Base, data or even live feeds are sent to a dozen other sites across the

US. Benjamin claims that 168 people are needed to fully operate a Predator drone for 24 hours

with other models requiring upwards of 300 people.7 The fact the UAVs need so many external

people and devices to fully operate are one of the many inherent paradoxes associated with drone

technology.

Due to the current secretive nature of drone strikes carried out by the US, publicly

accessible information is largely incomplete and somewhat inaccurate. As previously mentioned,

drones were regularly used in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq for both combat and surveillance.

Yet, drones have also been used extensively outside of these warzones in covert operations as

part of the broader War on Terror. Covert drone strikes are UAV attacks which occur outside

officially declared and internationally recognized warzones. President Barack Obama only first

publicly acknowledged his administration’s use of covert drone strikes in a speech he made in

                                                                                                               6 Scahill, Jeremy. 2015. 'Germany Is The Tell-Tale Heart Of America's Drone War'. The Intercept. https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/04/17/ramstein/. 7 Benjamin, Medea. 2013. Drone Warfare. London: Verso.

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May 2013 to the National Defense University. The London-based nonprofit research

organization called the Bureau of Investigative Journalism compiles the most complete set of

data on covert drone strikes (see the following table for a complete overview on reported deaths

and injuries from drone strikes in Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen).

Reported Deaths and Injuries from Drone Strikes (The Bureau of Investigative Journalism)

Political Distance

The contemporary construct of nations and their political environments has also greatly

influenced the current use of drones. For example, the context in which war is understood is in a

constant state of flux and tension. Depending on the worldview of the people or entities waging

war, one may better understand their actions and the type of warfare in which they engage.

However, this leads to another important complication in the study of war. A common tool used

in the political sciences to explain war is that of understanding a given phenomenon using

varying levels of analysis, which include the individual, national, and systemic levels. For the

individual level, one would analyze the individual motivations, personality, or psychology of

prominent figures. At the national, or state, level, one would analyze the domestic political

Pakistan (2004-2015)

Somalia (2007-2015)

Yemen (2002-2015

Total strikes 415 9 to 13 90 to 109 Total killed 2,449 to 3,949 23 to 105 431 to 639 Civilians killed 421 to 960 0 to 5 65 to 96 Children killed 172 to 207 0 8 Injured 1,144 to 1,722 2 to 7 86 to 215

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environment of a country to explain the phenomenon. This could include branches of

government, interest groups, or political parties. Finally, the systemic level of analysis refers to

the broader international political environment in which the phenomenon exists. This includes

analyzing the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of international organizations such the United

Nations or the International Criminal Court. Using these three levels of analysis (individual,

national, and systemic) allow for an organized way in which a complex and multifaceted issue,

like drone warfare, can be investigated.

Aesthetic Distance

As part of the broader philosophy of art and aesthetics, Edward Bullough’s notion of

psychical distance is of particular note to this study of artistic representations of drone warfare.8

Bullough asserts that, “Distance is a factor in all Art,” and identifies four notions of distance that

all exist simultaneously within art. These include “actual spatial distance, “represented spatial

distance”, “temporal distance”, and “psychical distance.” Actual spatial distance refers to the

distance between the viewer and the work of art. Represented spatial distance refers to the

distance depicted within the work of art. Temporal distance refers to the difference in time

between what is represented in the work of art and the present time of the viewer’s existence.

Most relevant to the following analysis of art is the theory of psychical distance, which refers to

how close a viewer feels or relates to a piece of art. For instance, Bullough famously uses the

example of a ship in fog. He states,

Imagine a fog at sea; for most people it is an experience of acute unpleasantness. Apart

from the physical annoyance and remoter forms of discomfort such as delays, it is apt to                                                                                                                8 Bullough, Edward. 1912. 'Psychical Distance As A Factor In Art And As An Aesthetic Principle'. British Journal Of Psychology 5: 87-117.

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produce feelings of peculiar anxiety, fears of invisible dangers, strains of watching and

listening for distant and unlocalised signals…Nevertheless, a fog at sea can be a source of

intense relish and enjoyment…a flavour of such concentrated poignancy and delight as to

contrast sharply with the blind and distempered anxiety of its other aspects.9

Though fog is potentially devastating for a ship, its ephemeral beauty can still be admired. A

viewer can emote what is depicted in an artwork in a detached yet simultaneously engaged

manner by regarding the scene “objectively.” Bullough states,

This contrast, often emerging with startling suddenness, is like a momentary switching on

of some new current, or the passing ray of a brighter light, illuminating the outlook upon

perhaps the most ordinary and familiar objects—an impression which we experience

sometimes in instants of direct extremity, when our practical interest snaps like a wire

from sheer over-tension, and we watch the consummation of some impending catastrophe

with the marvelling unconcern of a mere spectator.10

Another example Bullough uses is that of someone watching a play.11 The audience knows the

play is not reality but is still able to feel for the actors on stage as if they were real people. In a

similar way, an artist can use their art to trigger emotions within a viewer, though, in Bullough’s

opinion, the artist risks diminishing the impact of their art by causing such inward reflection.

                                                                                                               9 Bullough, Edward. 1912. 'Psychical Distance As A Factor In Art And As An Aesthetic Principle'. British Journal Of Psychology 5: 87-88. 10 Ibid., 88. 11 It is interesting to note that although Bullough predates modern media technologies, his theory of psychical distance closely relates to theories of psychoanalysis used to explain the ways in which people consume media. In a way, Bullough’s media is art, not television.

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Methodology:

To explore the varying notions of distance in artistic depictions of drones, I will first

identify the major pieces of art associated with drone warfare. I selected works of art that

represent a wide variety of mediums including painting, street art, photography, installation, and

web-based. I also made an effort to select artists from countries involved in drone warfare. I will

then analyze how distance is portrayed in each work in order to better understand how individual

artists view the broader political and cultural implications of relationships within drone warfare.

This will constitute my case study. Thus, my thesis will touch upon topics as varied yet

interconnected as history, political science, ethics, technology, and art. I will also utilize both

theoretical and visual analysis from which I will seek to draw my final conclusions.

Before beginning my in-depth exploration of artistic depictions of drone warfare, I must

first acknowledge my personal biases that will influence my proceeding analysis. This thesis is

written from the perspective of a viewer of art. I have never seen a military drone in person, and

I have never been to the places where the United States flies drones. The only exposure I have to

drone technology occurred while studying abroad in Sydney, Australia, where I saw hobbyists

flying drones on the beach. Therefore, it is important to note that I can only extrapolate from

firsthand accounts what it is like to operate a drone and experience the aftermath of a drone

strike. Additionally, because of the covert nature of drone warfare, a great deal is not publicly

known about their current use in the Global War on Terror. What information is available has

come from witnesses and journalists and has not been provided nor confirmed by any

governments. This secrecy surrounding the use of drones is one of the many reasons they are

such powerful weapons for the United States’ military and interesting subject matter for artists,

yet makes them a difficult topic for an academic investigation.

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Case Study and Analysis

The following survey of artworks seeks to explore the portrayal and meaning of distance

in artistic representations of drone warfare across a variety of mediums. The artwork is organized

by medium (painting, photography, textile, installation, and web-based) then chronologically so

that the proliferation of drone warfare can be accurately traced and analyzed. For each artwork,

please refer to the corresponding image in the appendix at the end of this essay.

Painting

One of the earliest examples of painters exploring the use of drones as a tool for creating

art was computer scientist and conceptual artist Addie Wagenknecht. In her series Black Hawk

Paint, which she started in 2007 and continues to this day, Wagenknecht uses remote-controlled

toy drones to smear and splatter black or hot pink paint across white canvas or vellum.12 For

example, in the work Black Hawk Paint from September 2008 (see image 1), Wagenknecht uses

viscous black acrylic paint to create two thick horizontal lines across the lower portion of the

canvas. The two lines end in a swirling explosion that seems to have flung paint towards the

outer extremeties of the canvas. Wagenknecht is making obvious allusions to the art abstract

expressionists such as Jackson Pollock, who is best known for his large chaotic yet rhythmic

splatter paintings. Moreover, just as in Black Hawk Paint, one of the most important elements of

abstract expressionist art was the actions and movements of the artist used to create the work.

Wagenknecht’s art also has more insidious connotations for the paint marks in this painting look

similar to that of blood splatter surrounding a viciously killed murder victim. It looks as though

Wagenknecht’s drone fired at some target on the canvas causing it to violently explode across

                                                                                                               12 Wagenknecht, Addie. 2015. 'Black Hawk Paint : ADDIE WAGENKNECHT'. Placesiveneverbeen.Com. http://placesiveneverbeen.com/index.php/black-hawk-paint/.

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the surface of the painting. As with military drone strikes, the public only ever sees the violent

aftermath of the strike. Drone strike victims are rarely identified because, more often than not,

there exists no coherent body to analyze. Wagenknecht’s Black Hawk Paint causes the viewer to

come face-to-face with an actual scene of a drone strike, albeit an artistically simulated one. The

artistically simulated drone strike produces psychical distance in the way it causes the viewer to

simultaneously appreciate the beauty and violence of the scene before them.

Another contemporary artist who uses drones as a type of paintbrush is the contemporary

artist KATSU. KATSU is a self-described artist, vandal, and hacker who rose to fame within

New York’s underground graffiti scene during the 1990s.13 In a series entitled dronescape,

KATSU also uses remote-controlled toy drones, but instead uses them to paint landscapes with

cans of spray-paint. In dronescape 3 (day) (see image 2), the result is highly ethereal and

certainly impressionistic. KATSU’s landscape seems reminiscent of Seurat’s pointillism, but

unlike Seurat, KATSU could have painted the entire piece without ever touching the surface of

the canvas thus creating a witty inversion of impressionism. Though the resulting image is far

less precise than Seurat’s highly detailed paintings, dronescape 3 (day) serves as a powerful

example of the capabilities of even a hobbyist’s drone. However, the evident lack of control

KATSU must have had reminds the viewer of the limited capabilities of drones even when used

by a skilled artist for the landscape depicts an ambiguous location free of any recognizable

identifiers. KATSU’s deceptively simple artwork causes the viewer to contemplate the connected

yet sometimes clumsy relationship between the drone operator (or artist) and drone.

                                                                                                               13 Artsy.net,. 2015. 'KATSU | Dronescape 3 (Day) (2014) | Artsy'. https://www.artsy.net/artwork/katsu-dronescape-3-day.

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The artwork of Mahwish Chishty provides an important foil to the Western narratives of

drone warfare. As a native of Pakistan, Chishty became enthralled with the United States’ use of

drones in the border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan. She seeks to, “…challenge the

grotesque reality of modern warfare,” and is primarily, “…interested in the juxtaposition of

terror with the representation of cultural beauty.”14 After returning to Pakistan in 2011, Chishty

began a series of paintings depicting military drones decorated in the traditional style of

Pakistani trucks.15 The resulting paintings are both beautiful and haunting. For example, in MQ-

9/1 (see image 3), Chishty depicts a MQ-9 Reaper drone, which is commonly used by the US

military to carry out targeted strikes in Pakistan.16 The drone is painted brightly in traditional

Pakistani designs, and the gold border of the painting and Qur’anic quotations are similar to that

of older miniature manuscript painting that was once prolific in Mughal art. Using the national

level of analysis, Chishty is using the drone, which usually operates over very conservative and

traditional tribal lands of Pakistan, as a way to reclaim Pakistani identity. She has collapsed

temporal distance by turning a symbol of death into a symbol of cultural pride. It is through this

process of reclamation that Chishty’s art reminds the viewer to contemplate the power cultural

impact of drone warfare on Pakistani society.

Street art has also played an important and rather different role in the response to US

drone strikes in the Middle East. Because graffiti exists outside the white walls of contemporary

art galleries and in full view of the general public, the distance between artist, subject, and

viewer is greatly reduced. For example, in Yemen, a country subjected to numerous US drone

                                                                                                               14 Chrishty, Mahwish. 2015. 'Drone Paintings'. Mahachishty.Com. http://www.mahachishty.com/About.aspx. 15 Harkinson, Josh. 2015. 'Friendly Fire: Drones As Folk Art'. Mother Jones. http://www.motherjones.com/media/2013/06/pakistani-drone-art-mahwish-chishty 16 Yenne, Bill. 2010. Birds Of Prey. North Branch, MN: Specialty Press.

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strikes, graffiti has been used to bring about greater attention to the issues surrounding drone

warfare and subsequently protest their use in an incredibly overt manner. Murad Subay is one of

the best-known street artists, particularly for his work made during the Arab Spring. One of

Subay’s paintings depicts a seven foot-long silhouette of a drone hovering in the sky above a

child painting the words, “Why did you kill me family?” written in English and Arabic (see

image 4).17 Subay’s image focuses on the profound impact drone strikes have on not only their

victims, but also their families and community at large. The drone is clearly marked as a “US

Drone”, yet is cast in a dark shadow that contrasts sharply against a bright sky. It is also

important to note that Subay’s work emphasizes the perspective of the individual victim over that

of the drone or its operator and utilizes psychical distance by causing the viewer to share in the

sadness and fear that accompanies the relatives of the victims of drone strikes.

Photography

In Trevor Paglen’s Reaper in the Sun (2013) (see image 5), distant and shadowy

mountains are set against a beautiful clear blue sky. The sun dominates the center of the picture,

fully lighting the atmosphere, yet upon closer inspection the viewer can a tiny airplane above and

to the right of the sun. Appearing smaller than a fly, the airplane is in fact a very distant Reaper

drone. Thus, artist and photojournalist Paglen places the viewer in the shoes of someone who

sees a drone from the ground. A joint report by the New York University School of Law and the

Stanford Law School entitled Living Under Drones claims that the constant fear of drones has

                                                                                                               17 Root, Tik. 2013. 'Yemen’s New Ways Of Protesting Drone Strikes: Graffiti And Poetry'. TIME. http://world.time.com/2013/11/30/yemens-new-ways-of-protesting-drone-strikes-graffiti-and-poetry/.

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caused psychological harm to locals.18 Paglen produces a similar feeling within the viewer by

subtly contaminating a scene of natural peace and serenity with a weapon of war. In addition,

Paglen’s composition suggests that like the sun, the Reaper drone is all-seeing, even god-like in

its vision and power.

Installation

Among the most famous examples of anti-drone art, the #NotABugSplat (see image 6)

installation was set up in rural Pakistan where many US drone strikes take place.19 The

installation depicted large portraits of Pakistani children who were wrongly killed by drone

strikes. However, the portraits were so large that they could only be seen from a great height,

such as from a plane. Thus, the artists sought to protest drone strikes by collapsing physical

distance and appealing directly to the drone operators. By magnifying the previous mistakes of

drone operators and connecting them with the usually distant lives of innocent people on the

ground, #NotABugSplat reverses the notion of distance that usually separates drone operator and

victim.

Iraqi artist Wafaa Bilal also created another well-known installation entitled Domestic

Tension (2007) (see image 7), which he elaborates on in his book Shoot an Iraqi.20 In Domestic

Tension, Bilal lived for a month in a room with 24-hour video surveillance that could be

                                                                                                               18 Living Under Drones: Death, Injury, And Trauma To Civilians From US Drone Practices In Pakistan. 2012. NYU School of Law and Stanford Law School. http://www.livingunderdrones.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Stanford-NYU-Living-Under-Drones.pdf. 19 #NotABugSplat. 2014. 'A Giant Art Installation Targets Predator Drone Operators'. http://notabugsplat.com. 20 Bilal, Wafaa, and Kari Lydersen. 2008. Shoot An Iraqi. San Francisco, CA: City Lights.

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accessed by the public from the Internet. People could interact with Bilal through a live web-cam

and chat room. More strikingly, viewers could also choose to shoot Bilal with a paintball gun.

Thus, Bilal’s installation explored the dichotomy between the virtual and the real. Domestic

Tension was a direct protest of the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq as part of President

Bush’s Global War on Terror. Viewers could act like drone operators and shoot a person as if

playing a video game. However, unlike drone operators, the viewers could then go and view in

person the real consequences of the remotely controlled actions. The power relations between

Bilal and the viewer also perfectly mirror the relationship between the target of a drone strike

and a drone operator: both a detached yet connected through technology.

Web-Based Art

With the increasingly popular and technologically advanced smart phones, a new medium

for art has emerged that allows new ways for people to visualize and even experience data

firsthand. One example is the app created by data artist Josh Begley called Metadata+ (2014)

(see image 8). Using data compiled by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Metadata+ is a

mobile app that sends alerts to a user’s phone whenever a drone strike occurs. Mobile phones,

like drones, are highly portable due to their ability to wirelessly connect to the Internet. Thus,

like drone strikes, the push notifications come as a surprise to the user, interrupting their daily

life. Similarly, the Instagram account Dronestagram (2012), run by James Bridle, provides

Google Maps satellite images of the location of recent drone strikes. The satellite images mirror

the type of images seen by drone operators. Both Metadata+ and Dronestagram provide users

with insights into the different roles of those engaged in drone warfare. More so, they remind

users of the power inherent in drones in their ability to see and strike wherever needed.

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Analysis of Artworks

Each of the previously identified artworks depicts drone warfare in a wide variety of

means and medium. The one common theme among all these works is that of power relations

resulting from distance. Using the individual level of analysis, I propose that the relationship

between artist, subject, and viewer closely correlates to the relationship between drone operator,

victim, and government official (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Visual Representation of Relationships in Art and Drone Warfare

The artist, like a drone operator, is the master of their tools. They both control how the

viewer perceives the subject of a work of art or victim of a drone strike. In the case of drone

warfare, a government official is the viewer of drone warfare. I argue that the public is not the

viewer of drone warfare because of the covert nature of drone operations. Since both a

government official and drone strike victim are separated by an enormous physical distance, the

Artist

SubjectViewer

Drone Operator

VictimGovernment Official

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drone operator exerts a great deal of power in the way a government official perceives a victim.

This omnipotent power to control perception is a feeling regularly felt by drone operators.21 It is

this control that makes drone operators an artist with their medium being a drone. Similarly,

neither the artist nor drone operator can work completely detached from their subject or victim.

This is because very presence of the artist and drone operator affects the behavior of the subject

and victim, respectively. Furthermore, the government officials that monitor and consume the

information provided by drones play a very similar role to that of a viewer of a piece of art. The

government official and viewer are both equally engaged and distanced for an artist can create

art to better suit the tastes of their viewer just as the drone operator can function within the needs

of government officials.

Though each actor within these networks is separated by different kinds of distance in

varying degrees, the impact generated by psychical distance is most intriguing. Psychical

distance explains how the viewer can relate to a work of art while remaining detached. Perhaps

something similar can be said about the way in which a government official views the images

generated by a drone operator. One certainly hope that a government official can relate to the

hopes, fears, and desires of a potential drone strike victim before ordering the drone operator to

strike. However, psychical distance can explain how the government official can utilize their

objectivity to suppress these feelings and reservations to view a potential victim as merely a

threatening, inhuman target. A drone operator, depending on their skill and intentions, can either

exacerbate or undermine such feelings just like an artist. This mirrored relationship between art

and drone warfare prove how aesthetic philosophy, particularly Bullough’s notion of psychical

distance, can have a surprising amount of relevance to the study of drone warfare.

                                                                                                               21  Martin, Matt J, and Charles W Sasser. 2010. Predator. Minneapolis, MN: Zenith Press.

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Conclusion:

Drone warfare appears to be establishing itself as a cornerstone of American foreign

policy and national security strategy. As with all new weapons, technology often precedes

understanding. The consequences of drone warfare, be they positive or negative, are surely too

important to ignore. As this essay has shown, art can serve as a lens through which to view drone

warfare. Many interesting correlations can be drawn between the nature of distance in art and

drone warfare and the type of complex, interconnected yet detached relationships that can result.

It would be interesting to further investigate how aesthetic philosophy and art more generally can

help us better understand terrorism and modern warfare. Though art is often created in response

to pressing issues of its day, it seems as though it is unnecessarily distanced from other fields of

academic inquiry. In my opinion, such distance is curious and certainly problematic.

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Images

Image 1

Black Hawk Paint by Addie Wagenknecht. September 2008. 80x100 cm, acrylic on canvas.

bitforms gallery, New York City

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Image 2

dronescape 3 (day) by KATSU. 2014. 48x60 in, enamel on canvas. The Hole, New York City

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Image 3

MQ-9/1 by Mahwish  Chishty. 2011. 8x28.5 in, gouache, tea stain, and gold leaf on paper.

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Image 4

Why did you kill my family? by Murad Subay. 2013. Sana’a, Yemen.

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Image 5

Reaper in the Sun by Trevor Paglen. 2013. 68x81.5 in, C-print. Metro Pictures, New York City.

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Image 6

#NotABugSplat. 2014. Pakistan.

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Image 7

Domestic Tension by Wafaa Bilal. May 2007. Installation. FlatFile Galleries, Chicago.

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Image 8

Metadata+ by Josh Begley. February 2014. iPhone Application.

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Image 9

Dronestagram by James Bridle. October 2012. Instagram Account.

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