By Arthur Holland Michel On Thursday March 19, the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, home to such iconic aircraft as the Enola Gay, the Spirit of St. Louis, the SR-71 Blackbird (which travelled from Los Angeles to its final home in D.C. in 1 hour, 4 minutes, and 20 …
By Arthur Holland Michel On February 5, 2003, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell addressed the United Nations General Assembly in order to describe in detail the weapons of mass destruction that Saddam Hussein was supposedly developing in Iraq. This speech is now infamous, and the the inaccurate statements about …
By Arthur Holland Michel As the February 27 deadline for Congress to approve an appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security approaches, and the prospect of a last-minute deal becomes smaller, it is worth considering whether a DHS shutdown would affect the Customs and Border Protection drone program. The …
By Arthur Holland Michel Last Sunday, the Federal Aviation Administration unveiled a draft set of rules for the non-recreational use of drones in domestic U.S. airspace. The FAA recognizes that its proposed rules are not perfect, and that they could be greatly improved with a little help of the public. …
By Arthur Holland Michel In 1916, the 1st Aero Squadron of the U.S. Army crossed the U.S. border into Mexico in pursuit of Pancho Villa. Their mission was to provide aerial reconnaissance for General Pershing’s cavalry force. It was the first time the United States used aircraft in support of …
A conversation with Addie Wagenknecht In 2007, Addie Wagenknecht had the idea of using drones as a paintbrush. The resulting works—which manage to be both abstract and orderly, playful and sinister—hold a firm place in the drone art canon. If artists ever begin to replace their studio assistants with quadcopters, …
Richard Whittle knows a great deal about the Predator. Not the 1987 movie; rather, the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator surveillance and strike drone, which Whittle contends started the drone revolution. Indeed, the Predator’s distinctive profile has become a symbol for drones in general: ask the average person what a drone …
By Dan Gettinger and Arthur Holland Michel Between October 5 and October 11, the United States launched eight reported drone strikes in Pakistan. The strikes took place in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA); four in the Shawal Valley that borders the regions of North and South Waziristan, three in …
By Arthur Holland Michel and Dan Gettinger On September 30, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bill that is aimed, at least in part, at preventing paparazzi from using drones to snoop on celebrities. While the text of A.B. 2306 does not include the word “drone” or “UAV” …
High & Low Bureau is a curatorial duo comprised of Yael Messer and Gilad Reich. Their work explores how power, technology, and activism interact in the 21st Century. Their latest show, Decolonized Skies, explores the ways in which artists and activists have worked to reappropriate the aerial view from the surveillance …
by Dan Gettinger and Arthur Holland Michel When the news broke that the Israeli Iron Dome anti-missile system had downed a Hamas-operated, possibly weaponized drone, the internet exploded. But the news hardly comes as a surprise. Hamas and Hezbollah have been developing and operating drones targeted at Israel for almost …
Tomas van Houtryve is a prolific photojournalist who explores conflict and state-sponsored surveillance. In March, Harpers Magazine published a folio of his photographs titled “Blue Sky Days,” the longest folio in the magazine’s 164 year history. The photos, which van Houtryve took with a small drone over everyday spaces and scenes in …
