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Observatine
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Observatine is art about the time that we live in. In response to the world of 1997, a few of us were interested in remote-controlled surveillance devices. Marcel van der Peijl. and I thought about a balloon, but after a few tests I realised that they were too impractical, and wrote a proposal for an airplane.
The original partnership was between myself, Marcel and Marko Pelihan from Lludmila who has recently initiated another branch of research on this topic. After three iterations, we have Observatine, and its slightly smaller uncle, the Weight Lifter and the tiny Aero Commander. Each plane carries various instruments and a camera on board that broadcasts a video picture. The camera is pointing towards the landscape. The planes are simply viewing platforms to see things which are hard to see. They watch in a na•ve way, you have to guide them. The longer I have worked on this project, the more I have learnt about embodiment, surveillance, and the way people interact with their own image in a playful sense. Most recently, I've been interested in the different ways people like to involve themselves in being watched. I'm asking questions about whether people want to be imaged into a landscape, see their world from the plane's point of view, or whether simply they like to be under surveillance. Ultimately, I'd like to give people control over their own image through the control of the airplane and see what they do with it. One of the great things about this body of work is that it is a magnet for people to offer new sites over which the plane can fly. Recently decommissioned and declassified zones such as the Royal Aviation Workshops in Farnborough (2004) clearly resonate, but Observatine could equally be shown at the Woomera Rocket Range where a seemingly empty expanse reveals beautiful patterns in the land. |