Artists David Birkin and Mahwish Chisty, along with exhibition curator Jennifer Ward, lead a tour of our current exhibition SENSOR.
This informal, free tour is a great way to experience the exhibition and get some more information on the artists and the works.
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SENSOR is on view from Thursday, March 27 through Saturday, May 9, 2015, at FotoFest at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, Houston, Texas 77007.
Admission to FotoFest exhibits and programs are free.
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SENSOR is a new, original, multi-media exhibition of works from an international mix of artists, and activists. The dynamic group of artists address the United States military and intelligence agencies' use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, (UAVs or “drones”).
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs, or more colloquially, “drones”) are a controversial technology. Though the earliest versions (remote operated aircraft) originated during WW I, and saw important and deadly innovation through WW II and the Vietnam War, they only came to greater widespread public knowledge within the last decade and a half, as the post 9/11 wars on terror expanded in Afghanistan and Iraq, and drones strikes reach into Pakistan, Yemen, and now Syria.
Used for both surveillance and weapons delivery, they are an integrated part of modern warfare and intelligence gathering. UAVs are prized for their efficiency, efficacy, and safety, and praised for creating a more “humane war”. They are airborne for days at a time, over conflict zones, controlled by pilots sitting safely at their screens, 8,000 miles away in air-conditioned trailers outside of Las Vegas, Nevada.
Many Pakistanis understand that their government lacks the capability to suppress the Taliban, and therefore accept CIA drone strikes as a temporary, if unsavory necessity. In the West, as the public’s awareness of drone usage increases, questions are being raised about the ethics and implementation of the technology. Concerns about the distance, both geographically and psychologically, between the operators and the targets; between the justifications and the decision makers; and between the all-seeing eye of the drone camera and real cultural understanding, are also being raised. This international group of artists, engineers, writers and activists are among those asking those questions and expressing those concerns. They are all searching for greater accountability.
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