Drone art at the Corcoran

Drones at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum/Patricia Leslie

An art exhibit on drones closes July 7.
 

At the Corcoran Gallery of Art recently, about 100 turned out to hear Londoner James Bridle, artist, writer, and humanist, deliver a talk, “A Quiet Disposition,” about his self education on drones.  It was the launch for Mr. Bridle's exhibit on "unmanned aerial vehicles," which, among other things, are used to kill, herd livestock, help with land surveys, and assist in fire and crime prevention.

Five research-based projects form the basis of the show which include digital installations and training tools to identify drones.  Mr. Bridle, 33, coined the term new aesthetic.

With its proximity to the White House, the Corcoran makes an excellent drone art site at the corner of 17^th and E where Mr. Bridle, with the aid of Corcoran staff, outlined a drone's silhouette. He is replicating drone sizes and educating people about them around the world. 

At the Corcoran's corner at 17th and E streets with a drone shadow outlined on the sidewalk.  Across the street and to the left are White House grounds/Corcoran Gallery of Art

A drone's shadow in Istanbul, 2012/James Bridle

In his talk Mr. Bridle presented drone images and information, part of his expanding knowledge about them, all of which he obtained from public sources.  

James Bridle speaking at the Corcoran Gallery of Art with a photograph he created. Public photographs of drones firing weapons are not available...unless, unless...Mr. Snowden?/Patricia Leslie

 

 

Rather than an angry mob burning an effigy at the stake, Pakistanis were pictured burning a drone in a photograph Mr. Bridle put up on the screen along with a headline from the Washington Post about America's "kill lists." [One estimate numbers drone attacks in Pakistan over nine+ years to be more than 350.  The number of deaths range from about 2,000 to 3,300.]
 

A lack of visual sense of what drones do is unsettling, Mr. Bridle said, whereas battlefield engagements are photographed and can be widely available.  This is "not a local issue," he said. "These are everywhere." 

The Smithsonian label says this one, the "Predator," flew 196 reconnaissance and attack missions over Afghanistan.  Designed for combat, it also "served" over Iraq and the Balkans/Patricia Leslie

 

 

[In the U.S. 42 state legislatures have debated their use, and six states have enacted drone laws. Click here for a report by the ACLU.]  

 

 

Before his talk Mr. Bridle visited the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum to check out its drones, a visit which he found “a deeply strange experience.” 

This drone, now an "antique," retired in 1999.  It's the RQ-3A "DarkStar," reminiscent of a giant stingray in the sky/Patricia Leslie

 

 

Mr. Bridle has initiated what he terms “dronestagrams” to record drone locations and strikes.  The results are not perfect but fairly close to reality, he said.

 

 

When the military considered honoring drone operators with a medal to be ranked higher than the Purple Heart, veterans objected.  After all, the operators guide their strikes from inside air-conditioned trailers hundreds or thousands of miles away from battlefields where troops fight, die, and are maimed.  However, Mr. Bridle said drone operators experience higher levels of stress. 

This is the X-45A, the first modern UAV, which flew 40 sorties, now at the Air and Space Museum.  Overheard at the museum:  A man said to his wife:  "Honey, come and look.  Here's what they spying on us with."/Patricia Leslie

The X-45A has two weapons bays/Patricia Leslie

Looking up at the X-45A/Patricia Leslie

“What interests the public is not necessarily in the interest of the public,” said Mr. Bridle. 

 

 

After Mr. Bridle's talk he answered questions from the audience, and then everyone walked over to a lovely reception in Gallery 31, the drone site at the Corcoran. It is not a huge show, but an enlightening one where you’ll learn something about drones. It sent me straight to the Air and Space Museum and scared me out of my wits.  What's left.

 

After a lapse of several years of dormancy while it debated mission and location, it is exciting to see the Corcoran come to life again, with an invigorated staff and events and to know it’s staying put, not to be converted to a hotel or drone landing pad at the White House.  

 

 

Welcome, Corcoran, to the new Drone World!  While you were napping, strange things were happening, and even stranger things now.  Please stand by.

 

 

Also at the Corcoran through September 29: War/Photography:  Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath.

What:  A Quiet Disposition

When:  Through July 7, Wednesday - Sunday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., with a late closing on Wednesday night at 9 p.m.

Where: Corcoran College of Art and Design and Gallery of Art, 500 17th Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20006

How much:  Gallery 31 is free, and the Corcoran's Gallery of Art is free on Saturday (in the summer) and on other days (the Corcoran is closed on Monday and Tuesday) admission is $10.75 for students and seniors, and $12.75 for adults via Ticketmaster

For more information: 202-639-1700

Metro stations:  Farragut North or Farragut West

patricialesli@gmail.com

A Sparkling Universe at Air + Space

By the Queen of Free

Most of the lecture was over my head, but the delivery and visuals were fascinating, informative, and beautiful.

Did you know that one of the goals of the International Year of Astronomy (did you know it is celebrated this year?) is to have "everyone" (i.e., everyone) look through a telescope? It is one means to commemorate "400 Years of the Telescope" which happened to be the title of an intriguing film presented last Thursday night at the National Air and Space Museum preceding a talk by Dr. Sandy Faber, "The Milky Way: Why We Need Her (her?) and How She (she?) was Formed." (Is this like hurricanes which used to be perpetual "she's"?)

Had standing room been available, that's what it would have been at the IMAX theatre which was loaded to the universe with young and old for the event. We had to squeeze in tightly to fit everyone in. (It was heavenly seeing so many turn out for a female scientist.)

However, the constant seating of latecomers and the chatter by the staff marred the screening of the film and the Q + A before Dr. Faber's lecture which made it difficult to hear everything. Please, Air and Space: Do not seat latecomers and interrupt the presentations!

Anyway, the Smithsonian official (did not catch his name since it was hard to hear) who introduced Dr. Faber actually quoted Wikipedia, providing more credence to the online encyclopedia. Imagine, a scientist with a Ph.D. uttering “Wikispeakia” out loud. Saying he consulted it. Yeeks!

In a Q+A session before the lecture, Dr. Faber said a tough part of her math studies was "complex variables." Hmmmmm. "We are the children of 'quantum fluctuation,'" she noted. Hmmmmm.

In her unassuming, down-to-earth manner, Dr. Faber said the Milky Way is a band, not curved as photographs commonly suggest. Because of city lights, many have never seen it. The Milky Way is best seen from the Southern Hemisphere.

More facts from Dr. Faber: The universe began about 14 billion years ago with the “Big Bang.” Our sun and planets are about 4.6 billion years old. No two galaxies are alike. Spiral galaxies are flat. Except for dust, stars are very far apart.

The light from the Milky Way is 100,000 light-years across! To shed light on a light year, Dr. Faber mentioned the sun's light takes 8.5 minutes to reach Earth; Jupiter's light is 40 minutes away. (In lay terms, a light-year is the distance light travels in a year or approximately, quoting Wikipedia now, ahem, almost 5.9 trillion miles a year (300,000 kilometers/second). Reflected light from the moon reaches Earth in 1.2 to 1.3 seconds.)

The accompanying film and photographs she presented made you feel like you were peering out from a wide convex front window of a space ship that you calmly steered at a cool trillion MPH while floating and zooming through the Andromeda Galaxy and the Orion and Crab nebulae. (Actually, we would have been going much faster.)

There now, do you have an idea about the size of the Milky Way?

Did I get everything right? No? You are invited to make corrections and/or additions, too.

The lecture was part of the third annual John Bahcall Lecture Series made possible by the Space Telescope Science Institute and the Hubble Space Telescope Program at the Goddard Space Flight Center. Dr. Faber is from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Thanks to all the sponsors for a gorgeous, enlightening evening! (Some information was received; better than none!)