Art installation brings drone killings to life

August 16, 2015

It can often be hard to grasp what numbers really represent. The thousands of deaths caused by drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, and elsewhere over the years are easily obscured when they're communicated simply as black print in a newspaper.

A new installation by Los Angeles artist Jonathan Fletcher Moore seeks to make drone killings a bit less abstract. It's called Artificial Killing Machine, and, as he writes, the goal of the project "is to make visible the invisible or that which is too concealed to perceive."

The installation is made up of an array of 15 digitally-actuated toy cap guns dangling from the ceiling. A small receiver unit controls the guns autonomously. The toy guns sit dormant until a message comes over the wire from The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which collects data on drone strikes. When a strike occurs, the guns abruptly pop into action, and a thermal printer clinically records the strike onto a ledger that dangles to the floor.

It's a very smart way to simulate the reality of drone strikes. The impending danger silently floats above. The killing is performed by a "toy" that's controlled remotely. And the killings are soullessly recorded. One can even sit under the installation for the full experience.

Moore calls the installation a "data visualization project," adding that it explores the ideas of "people as statistics" and "the concept of game and childhood-play to express the uncertainty of war, technology, and social progress."

August 16, 2015

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