By Arthur Holland Michel From May 4 to May 7, the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) held its annual Unmanned Systems convention in Atlanta, Georgia. In any given year, Unmanned Systems is likely the largest gathering of drone…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…