George Barber : The Freestone Drone

2 Feb-23 Mar 2013

Overview

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles – drones – have become an everyday feature of military activity, replacing humans in reconnaissance flights and combat missions. Consisting of video, domestic objects and washing lines, The Freestone Drone follows a mission from the point of view of a machine. The drone’s camera surveys cityscapes, encounters individuals, reports, and in flight becomes aware of its own utility and destiny. The video combines found and made footage to produce an uneasy, seductive montage, anchored on the drone’s private thoughts. Engendered with human consciousness and independence, the drone is a poet, a child within a machine. In the legacy of Godard and Marker, the work proposes the meeting place of poetry and philosophy as a site to consider contemporary ethical and political concerns.