MQ-9 Reaper I (2014)
High Definition 3D animation. 4’39" Ed. 5 + 2AP
Collection of the UQ Art Museum, Brisbane; the Australian Parliament House Art Collection, Canberra
Baden Pailthorpe’s MQ-9 Reaper I (2014) is a surreal exploration of the MQ-9 Reaper drone and its networked human and non-human agents. The work operates in between the reflections and refractions of the contemporary military-industrial complex, corporate warrior culture, war trophies and interior design.
A renovated drone control centre is redeployed from the ground to the air over a mountainous Afghan-American landscape, offering a new kind of luxury for the drone operator/corporate warrior, complete with marble floors, leather couch and cutting-edge contemporary war art. The hydraulic wall can be lowered for entertaining, personal training or surveillance. The slowly rotating unit allows for panoramic views and constant situational awareness.
This speculative, controller architecture is cut with images of that which it controls. Two incarnations of the MQ-9 Reaper drone, the classic General Atomics USAF model, and its own idealised reflection contemplate each other and their increasing sense of semi-autonomous agency.
