Elana Mann and I have a new work, Drone Duet, for the Culver Center of the Arts Digital Mural Project series at UC Riverside. It considers the way drones have infiltrated our lives as toys, weapons, spooky friends, accomplices, listeners, watches, and enemies. My drone poem was written in 2013 through a cell phone, an implicit “friendly” drone. The poem alternates between a sense of playfulness and gravity, revealing the haunting and inevitable presence of drones in our lives. Mann’s animation translates a typical day of drone activity: from afternoon, to evening, to stormy morning. The animation shows drones in the “natural habitat,” highlighting their unique flying abilities, unmatched maneuverability, and deadly accuracy.
Curated by Jeff Cain