Henrietta Williams (UCL) - 2015-16 Students
henri@henriettawilliams.com

The Drone’s Eye View: How will military drone technologies transform techniques of surveillance and control within the UK?

The way that the city is surveilled and controlled is poised to change in the imminent future. The use of military-grade drones has already transformed the battlespace. The objective of this research will be to document, analyse, and critique the impact that Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technologies are likely to have on mapping and controlling the civilian sphere. The project will build from Stephen Graham’s ideas of fortress urbanism and Foucault’s theory of the Boomerang Effect, whereby military techniques and technologies are first tested on the ‘other’ and then rolled out in civilian environments. The research is situated at a nexus between the methodologies and practices of art history, urban studies, visual practice and activism, building on the critical projects of other visual practitioners who use the aesthetics of surveillance as a way to generate debate.