Thomas Stubblefield
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Signature strikes, drone art and world-making
in Drone imaginaries
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In their focus on possible identities, meanings and events, the martial networks of US drones enact a shift from producing a definitive world picture to overseeing the ground from which such representations emerge. The mobilization of data that makes this possible, conflicts with the historical goals of surveillance and reconnaissance operations. Rather than identifying discrete individuals, the kill chain collects the partial traces of metadata in order to produce the actors necessary for a strike. These relations allow drones to penetrate the world directly, to work through and as instead of upon its objects. In this way, drone power shifts from the symbolic to the ontological; its operations become one of world-making. Using work by Trevor Paglen, Noor Behram and others, this chapter examines the ways in which the above relations resurface in the context of drone art and the larger attempt of this genre to reimagine its subject by way of this convergence.

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Drone imaginaries

The power of remote vision

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