THEATRE OF WAR: DROMO-DOMAIN

 Theatre of War: Dromo-Domain Oil on linen 90 x 100 cm 2021

CLAUSEWITZ

I think this is my 14th or 15th Theatre of War painting. I was inspired to start this ever-growing series by late 18th/early 19th century Prussian General, Carl Von Clausewitz's famous tome On War. He often mentions the term 'theatre of war'. Reading through the text, I get the impression he thought it involved a number of factors, but geography was a central theme. 

I think about what 'theatre of war' might mean in the 21st century, the age of digital and cyber technology, drones, drone swarms, ubiquitous surveillance and increasingly autonomous systems. Regular readers will know I am probably a bit dystopian in my outlook. This is because I 'see' contemporary networked, interconnected and inter-operable technology as an homogenising and standardising force that enables the 'theatre of war' to extend not only beyond geography, but also traditional ideas of military activity and reach.* Because of the shared nature of technological platforms and systems I am particularly concerned about, and interested in, the militarise-ability of civilian technology. Here, increasing military interest in the electromagnetic spectrum [EMS] as an enabler of technology, a type of fires, a manoeuvre space and a domain is a key concern. Why? Because civilian technology also relies upon access to the EMS. Information and cyber warfare, and terms such grey-zone and hybrid warfare, all 'speak' to permeable military-civilian boundaries. I am also interested in the militarisation of imagination, time and speed. So, you can see, my ideas of the contemporary 'theatre of war' encompass almost - maybe all of- everything!

DROMO - SPEED

Theatre of War: Dromo-Domain is a visual spin on Paul Virilio's thoughts on speed and the term he coined, dromology ie: the logic of speed applied to contemporary society. Virilio, in a number of books and articles*, argued and observed that speed and accelerating speeds of technological operation and development play major roles in societal, political and geopolitical stability. As developments in networked and interconnected digital and cyber technologies have accelerated, light-speed [or near light-speed] signal transmissions introduce speed as a necessary advantage for both civilian and military technology. It is commercially, politically and militarily tactical to use speed as an advantage. One of my favourite quotes from Virilio is  "The fact of having reached the light barrier, the speed of light, is a historic event, one which disorients history and also disorients the relation of human beings to the world. If that point is not stressed, then people are being disinformed, they are being lied to. For it has enormous importance. It poses a threat to geopolitics and geostrategy.” (1)

HOW TO VISUALISE SPEED

I have grappled with how to visually convey speed as an overarching dromo-domain that encompasses civilian and military technology in a pervasive and persistent 'theatre of war' that extends from Earth to orbiting satellites. 

In Theatre of War: Dromo-Domain I have repeatedly painted the symbol for light speed ie: c, to form a circle around the Earth. I love how the cs look like the spurs on a spinning cog, and that a sense of speed is created. The Earth is the 'pale blue dot'. This circle of cs represents the major satellite orbiting zones around the Earth. From these orbits to Earth, is our sphere of influence, where the EMS is harnessed for an array of communication, operative and inter-operative civilian and military technological functions. How are we managing this sphere of influence? I 'see' it as a volumetrically occupied and techno-colonised space. 

In Theatre of War: Dromo-Domain the multiple overlapping white circles are indicative of civilian and military activities and domains. Clearly the term dual-use is inadequate in the era of speed, where networking, interconnectivity and interoperability scaffold us all in invisible webs of signals. This is a militarised space - a dromo-domain that enables and cradles more traditional military domains of land, sea and air. It is the meta-domain.

IMAGINATIONAL METAVEILLANCE

The cosmic-like background in Theatre of War: Dromo-Domain continues my quest to stimulate flight, your flight and mine [in imagination], to places where we can gain new perspectives. I call this 'imaginational metaveillance' - a kind of veillance that does not rely on EMS-enabled technology, thus it is untethered from it. The cosmic landscape also alludes to universal history, which includes the history of the EMS. All frequencies in the EMS are made up of photons, traveling in waves at light speed. The photon appeared around 10 seconds after the Big Bang. This kind of cosmological history really gets me thinking about how, in our sphere of influence, are we using a natural universal resource. 

* Paul Virilio and Jean Baudrillard inform my ideas here.

Cheers,

Kathryn

PS. Related recent posts/paintings include:

Theatre of War: Plague Cloud
Theatre of War: Infrared

(1) Paul Virilio, “Red Alert in Cyberspace,” trans. Malcolm Imrie, Radical Philosophy (Nov/Dec 1995): 2.

* Just a small few examples of Virilio's work

Paul Virilio, Speed and Politics, first published 1977.

Paul Virilio, The Original Accident, trans. Julie Rose (2007

Paul Virilio, The Great Accelerator, trans. Julie Rose (2012)

THEATRE OF WAR: PLAGUE CLOUD

 Theatre of War: Plague Cloud Oil on linen 112 x 92 cm 2021

Theatre of War: Plague Cloud is number 13 or 14 in a growing Theatre of War series of paintings [oil paintings and works on paper]. It is also one of a number of cloud paintings ie: 'playing' with real clouds and The Cloud - the 21st century pervasive techno-network.

The Cloud

As noted in a recent post for another painting Theatre of War: The Cloud I have been researching the idea of the cloud as a metaphor. Here, John Ruskin's observations, made in two speeches at the London Institute in 1884, of 'plague clouds' and 'plague winds' have helped me think critically about The Cloud. I ask, is militarisation of technology, including the militarise-ability of civilian technology, like a 'plague wind' blowing through the electromagnetic spectrum [EMS]? Given that the EMS operatively enables contemporary technological connectivity, interconnectivity and networking, could The Cloud, therefore, be a 'plague cloud'? 

Contagion

In Theatre of War: Plague Cloud I have repeated some of the motifs I used in Theatre of War: Everywhere Cloud where circles contain elements of military hardware or systems used underwater, on the water, on land, in the sky and in space. These systems 'peek' out of their 'cloudy' domains, but all of them are drawn into a larger 'cloud' of repeated circles that represent interconnectivity, networked systems, interoperability and joint force operations. This large 'cloud' extends beyond the painting. Like an airborne contagion it threatens to wrap its techno-tentacles around the globe, potentially drawing each military and civilian device into its 'cloudy' web. 

Theatre of War: Plague Cloud's background, painted with a combination of blue and rust red, appears 'dirtier' than some of my other 'cloudy' paintings. This helps to channel the idea of a plague that infects the environment. Here, I note Ruskin's observations of dirtier looking skies and clouds painted by artists, such at J. M. W Turner, who responded to a changing environment during the early 19th century industrial revolution. It also demonstrates a vulnerability, because once the world is techno-wrapped, can we unwrap ourselves or be unwrapped? What happens if The Cloud fails and it spontaneously unwraps - unravels - as connections falter, its 'promise' of persistence, resilience, connectivity and speed, broken? 

I wonder what it might be like to be uncontrollably jettisoned from the web! 

On that happy note!

Cheers,

Kathryn

LETHAL LITTER

Lethal Litter Oil on linen 36 x 112 cm 2021

 

I'm not going to write much. But, suffice to say, the word litter in the title Lethal Litter was deliberately chosen for its multiple meanings. 

This 'litter' of  three weaponised quadruped robots (I refuse to call them dogs) scope the landscape, which is dotted with geolocating graphics. After all, landscape must be geo-mapped for robotic systems, especially those with autonomous abilities to move within and through a landscape/environment. This does not mean the robots have autonomous functionality regarding their weapons though. Some would add the word - 'yet'. 

Increasingly, robotic systems and platforms are assemblages of autonomous functions and remotely operated functions. For example movement in a rugged landscape or an unmapped urban environment can require a robot, or robots, to move autonomously, especially if remote operators are not close. Google 'robotic dogs', 'military robotic quadrupeds' etc and you'll find some fascinating and also scary videos! 

Like my other recent painting Biped and Quadruped: Warfighters, Lethal Litter was inspired by news of  experiments where robotic quadruped were weaponised. 

My last post Dogs, Quadrupeds and Robots features a few more paintings, but mostly with real dogs. 

Cheers,

Kathryn

DOGS, QUADRUPEDS AND ROBOTS

1. Content Tagging: A Spoof Watercolur on paper 30 x 42 cm 2020

This is another fun post, albeit with a dark side. My last post Face Database: Kathryn's Dataset Map was fun, but also dark.

Dogs, Quadrupeds and Robots is a collection of recent paintings where I depict dogs, one a weaponised robotic quadruped. I refuse to call the quadruped robots, dogs! 

* Since writing this post, I have created another quadruped painting, this time called Lethal Litter. 

The last photograph is me with our family dog - an Australian kelpie. You will see she is the model for my real dog renditions.

ROBOT THAT 'WAGGED' ITS TAIL

I have 'met' a robot quadruped (Boston Dynamics). I met this robot quadruped at the Australian Army's Landforces Exposition this year, in Brisbane. The robot was 'wandering' around the expo, its remote controller nearby. It caused quite an excited stir, with people responding to it, as it wagged its tail, went up to them and moved with dog-like movements. 

I was both surprised and not surprised by people's reactions. I was not surprised because this quadruped could certainly mimic some doggy behaviour, and living dogs are lovely! Yet, this robot was clearly a robot - and here I was, witnessing multiple adults responding quite excitedly to a non-living robotic quadruped, almost as if it was a real dog. The experience left me feeling somewhat uneasy. 

When the robot quadruped encountered me, it approached, and its tail was wagged. I refused to respond, but it was hard not to wag back! Its wagging so reminded me of our kelpie's wagging tail movements! Because I just stood there and did not respond, it moved away. The remote operator, who I had located out of the corner of my eye, seemed a bit disappointed. A few seconds later the robot stumbled, tripping on something as it turned a corner. The remote controller turned it off. While robot quadrupeds are supposed to be great on rough and difficult terrain, they're not so good at expos - for now anyway.

GREAT ARTICLE

This great article "See Spot save lives: fear, humanitarianism, and war in the development of robot quadrupeds" was recently published by Dr. Geoff Ford and Dr. Jeremy Moses. The article goes into the history of Boston Dynamic’s robot 'Spot', plus tracks public responses to images, videos and news stories about 'Spot'. The article really opens up the dilemma of civilian - military robotic use. Robots [including drones] have many good purposes, but they can be militarised, as the recent case of the weaponised quadruped developed by Ghost Robotics shows. Ford and Moses mention this weaponised quadruped in their article too. 

Regular readers will know why I found Ford and Moses's article interesting - because the militarise-ability of civilian technology needs critical attention. It is not a simple matter of dual-use. 

Clearly there's more to say, but I will leave you to think about it...

Cheers,

Kathryn

P>S Update. Another quadruped post Verification Error: Identity Crisis

2. Walking the Dog in the Drone Age  Oil on linen 82 x 102 cm 2020

Walking the Dog in the Drone Age was inspired by an early Covid story of a person in lockdown in Malta using a drone to walk their dog.   

3. Strange Times Gouache on paper

4. Border Crossing Watercolour on paper 24 x 32 cm 2020

This painting was inspired by border restrictions imposed between Australian states during the ongoing COVID19 pandemic. 

5. Biped and Quadruped: Warfighters Oil on linen 60 x 110 cm 2021

The robot quadruped is weaponised...

6. Lethal Litter Oil on linen 36 x 112 cm 2021

 

Dark play on the word litter - rubbish or a litter of puppies!

7. Future Memory Oil on linen 122 x 137 cm 2021

Future Memory does not feature a dog. It does, however, relate to Walking the Dog in the Drone Age, above. In Future Memory a human is being walked by a drone. Maybe we human beings will be the future pets?

 

8. Me with our family dog - an Australian kelpie.

KATHRYN'S DATASET MAP OF FACIAL EXPRESSIONS

Face Database: Kathryn's Dataset Map Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2021

This is a bit of fun - playing with the concept of face datasets that assist in training AI for facial recognition and expression analysis. I've mapped correlations between my various faces eg: check out the links I make to the mansplaining face! 

For artists who use face datasets, or any kind of dataset created by others for an array of purposes, it is important to investigate legal and ethical issues relating to use, appropriation, exhibition, publication  and so on. These issues are particularly relevant for artists who use digital and cyber new media platforms, and who may use images or datasets from other sources. There seems to be a cascading array of issues relating to use, appropriation, privacy, copyright etc in a world of digital images, distributed or accessed via the internet. 

That's why I paint! That's why I use paint to parody and critique. I love painting!

Please enjoy Kathryn's Dataset Map. It kind of channels the emoji look, but also Humpty Dumpty and other Egg Heads   

Cheers, Kathryn😁

SPECTRUM: ONLINE EXHIBITION

Data Data Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2016

ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM

Regular readers know that I have been thinking about the increasing interest militaries around the world are paying to the electromagnetic spectrum [EMS], as an enabler of technology, a type of fires, a manoeuvre space and a domain. The fact that EMS is a shared civilian - military resource problematises military desires to dominate, appropriate and ensure access. 

In the techno-world in which we live, we are all reliant on the EMS to enable digital and cyber technologies, to allow networking and interconnectivity, and also interoperability. 

I've been interested in the EMS for some time. 

When I started painting airborne drones in 2015, I also started visualising the normally invisible signals that connect the drones to remote controllers and to GPS satellites. I also visualised sensor detection, targeting and transmission arrays. These paintings were informed by my Master of Philosophy research at the University of Queensland. I completed my M. Phil in 2017. My paintings from 2020 are inspired by my PhD research, Curtin University, Western Australia

ONLINE EXHIBITION

This online exhibition of fifteen paintings tracks my interest in the EMS and my ideas of the 'spectrum warfighter'. This fighter could be human, an enhanced human, a robot, an algorithm, an avatar in a simulated wargame. One question I think about a lot is - how doe we memorialise when the warfighter is no longer human? This question has lead me to another question - how do we memorialise when the warfighter was never alive?

Please click on the hyperlinked titles to read the previous posts for each painting.

Cheers,

Kathryn

Not a Game Gouache and watercolour on paper 57 x 76.5 cm 2016

Space Net Gouache on paper 56 x76 cm 2017

New Star-False Star Oil on linen 97 x 112 cm 2018

Charting the Invisible gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2019

01010111 01000001 01010010 WAR Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm 2021

Theatre of War-Spectrum Gouache on paper 56 x 76 cm 2021

Spectrum Warfighter Gouache and watercolour on paper 30 x 42 cm 2021

Theatre of War-Domain Dominance Gouache on paper 56x76 cm 2021

Theatre of War-Spectrum Access Gouache on paper 56 x 76 cm 2021

Theatre of War-Infrared Gouache on paper 56 x 76 cm 2021

The Tree Asks, What Can't You See? Gouache on paper 30 42 cm 2021

Theatre of War-Photon Gouache on paper 56 x 76 cm 2021

Spectrum Warfighter 2 Oil on linen 61 x 66 cm 21

Theatre of War - Photons Do Not Care Oil on linen 92 x 112 cm 2021

 

SPECTRUM WARFIGHTER 2: HUMAN, ROBOT, ALGORITHM OR AVATAR?

Spectrum Warfighter 2 Oil on linen 61 x 66 cm 2021

Spectrum warfighters and the Electromagnetic Spectrum
I've got this thing in my head - a picture of a spectrum warfighter. Is it human, is it an enhanced human or is it a robot? The term 'warfighter' can be applied to a living and non-living entity, even an algorithm. The term 'warfighter' is actually a loaded term!

I have painted a few spectrum warfighters recently* - for me, they are entities that use the electromagnetic spectrum [EMS] as a means of fighting wars, in the broadest sense. This could mean as a fixed or moving enabling node in a networked system of interoperable systems and hardware. It could also mean something more, for example, as a disseminator of information or disinformation. It could mean jamming or interrupting an adversary's signals. The spectrum warfighter, whether human or not, is an integral part of contemporary war, in all its iterative and often concurrent manifestations - grey zone, hybrid, cyber. information and kinetic warfare. 

Spectrum Warfighter 2
In my new painting Spectrum Warfighter 2 I have painted VR [virtual reality] goggles that wrap around the warfighter's head. This reflects upon military interest in augmented and integrated visual aides for things like improved situational awareness. Integrated means that the goggles can be, for example, wifi connected to other sensors carried by the warfighter, and also connected to other close or remote warfighters/hardware. Goggles can also be connected to firearms...

 My spectrum warfighter hovers, as if suspended in the sky or space, or maybe its an image on a computer screen? The warfighter's body is not complete. Maybe its torso is a visual metaphor for a system of warfighting, like a logo? Maybe my warfighter is injured, a real or metaphoric casualty? Maybe the warfighter is simply appearing out of a mist? I'll let you wonder on about the possibilities!

Spectrum Warfighting and the Metaverse
My warfighter also has no face or facial features that can help us work out whether it is human, robotic or an avatar. Facial features are obscured by the augmenting goggles, and what might be a balaclava-like hood. Who knows! Your guess is as good as mine!

If my spectrum warfighter is a 'portrait' of an avatar, maybe it is ready for wars in the Metaverse?  

*More Spectrum Warfighters:

Biped and Quadruped Warfighters
Theatre of War: Spectrum Access
Spectrum Warfighting: Invisibility

Cheers,

Kathryn

BIPED AND QUADRUPED: WARFIGHTERS

Biped and Quadruped: Warfighters Oil on linen 60 x 110 cm 2021

 

Recent news of a weaponised quadruped robot caught my interest - and dismay.

But, was I surprised?  No. 

Biped and Quadruped: Warfighters 
My new painting Biped and Quadruped Warfighters places two figures in circles against a violent red background 'landscape'. The human-like torso is equipped with multiple sensors and antennae. Here, I have also 'played' with Microsoft's recently touted networkable military grade goggles that use an 'Integrated Visual Augmentation System' to enhance soldier situational awareness. The other figure is a robotic weaponised quadruped - I refuse to call it a dog!

Is the human-like torso actually a human being, or is it also a robot, or an anthropomorphised representation of a system? You decide!

I placed each figure in a circle to denote their compliance with a network, with a 'cloud'. This refers to a few other recent paintings. Two examples are Theatre of War: Infrared and Theatre of War: Everywhere Cloud 

The quadruped warfighter seems to lead the other warfighter - they both face the same direction. The quadruped leads as a lethal scout.

Recurring Question
I have lots more to say! - but a recurring question I have is - How do we memorialise when the warfighter was never alive?

And, just in case you missed it!

THE DEAD PRUSSIAN PODCAST

My interview with Mick Cook from The Dead Prussian Podcast is live! We discuss my work, research, creative practice and the future of war. I am thrilled to be given opportunities like this! 

The term 'Dead Prussian' refers to nineteenth century General Carl von Clausewitz, who wrote the famous tome On War. Regular readers will know that I reference Clausewitz in my Theatre of War series of paintings. Clausewitz uses the term 'theatre of war' variously and often in On War.

Cheers,
Kathryn

THEATRE OF WAR: EVERYWHERE CLOUD

Theatre of War: Everywhere Cloud Oil on linen 92 x 112 cm 2021

 

NEWS

THE DEAD PRUSSIAN PODCAST

My interview with Mick Cook from the Dead Prussian Podcast  is live. We discuss my work, research, creative practice and the future of war. I am thrilled to be given opportunities like this! 

The term 'Dead Prussian' refers to nineteenth century General Carl von Clausewitz, who wrote the famous tome On War. Regular readers will know that I reference Clausewitz in my Theatre of War series of paintings. Clausewitz uses the term 'theatre of war' variously and often in On War.

Theatre of War: Everywhere Cloud 

My new painting Theatre of War: Everywhere Cloud is number 12 or 13 in my series Theatre of War. Clausewitz has been a great inspiration! The title also refers to Derek Gregory's idea of the everywhere war ie: war has reached beyond geography into the cyber world and space. 

Gregory's concern for people on the ground, the victims of war, is obvious in his very detailed analyses of events, such as a 2010 US drone attack that killed 23 Afghan civilians. You can hear him describe and talk about his forensic analysis of the attack in his recorded keynote speech for the Aesthetics of Drone Warfare conference, University of Sheffield, February 2020. I spoke at, and attended, this conference too - just before the pandemic derailed the planet! Gregory's keynote was riveting and disturbing - a detailed analysis of US forces' misunderstanding of data, lack of experienced personnel and more.

Clouds

Theatre of War: Everywhere Cloud is preceded by a number of other paintings that 'speak' to the idea of The Cloud, fake clouds, notions of interoperability, networking, interconnection and military joint force. Three of my most recent paintings are Paradox  and Theatre of War: The Cloud and Theatre of War: Infrared

Come Fly With Me!

As with my other two paintings, and indeed, most of my paintings, the viewer is invited to fly in imagination. Are you above, below, beside or inside the 'cloud'? I call this an act of imaginational metaveillance. 

Glimpses of technology are visible from behind cloud-like formations. They are painted red to indicate blood, danger, violence, fear, contagion. The red colour connects them visually across their multiple domains, from under the sea to space. Red and white circles, denoting the use of, and reliance upon, frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum draw everything into the war-play, the theatre of war - everywhere. With light-speed signal transmission within networked systems, I argue that Gregory's notion of the everywhere war needs now to be extended in to time and speed.

If you would like to know more about what I think of speed, time and contemporary war, please listen to my Dead Prussian Podcast - Mick asks all his guest the same last question - which is - Can you please finish this sentence "War is......" 

Cheers,

Kathryn

PS. Oh, and another podcast - this time my interview with Dr. Beryl Pong. lead researcher for the Aesthetics of Drone Warfare project, University of Sheffield. 

PARADOX

Paradox Gouache and watercolour on paper 56 x76 cm 2021

THE DEAD PRUSSIAN PODCAST

Before I write about Paradox - an alert! 

Yesterday my interview with Mick Cook from the Dead Prussian Podcast went live. We discuss my work, research, creative practice and the future of war. You can listen to my interview HERE  I am thrilled to be given opportunities like this! 

You can see the list of other great interviews on The Dead Prussian Podcast site. I have listened to quite a few, and they are always interesting, with a diverse number of topics and interviewees. 

The term 'Dead Prussian' refers to nineteenth century General Carl von Clausewitz, who wrote the famous tome On War. Regular readers will know that I reference Clausewitz in my Theatre of War series of paintings. Clausewitz uses the term 'theatre of war' variously and often in On War.

THE STORY OF PARADOX

Paradox is the result of a commission from Group Captain Jo Brick, Royal Australian Air Force. We met when I exhibited paintings at the Australian Defence College in Canberra. Group Capt Brick had written an essay "Kill the Enemy, and Don't Forget to Buy Milk on the Way Home" which had won 'Category 2: ADF Officers' section of the Jamie Cullens Defence Leadership and Ethics Essay Competition in 2019. We discussed that I would respond to the essay. Given that the essay is a reflection on the operation of airborne drones, regular readers will know this commission was right up my alley!

Group Capt Brick's thoughtful and hard hitting essay stimulated four paintings - all works on paper. Paradox is the painting she chose. I am delighted!

Below is my artist's statement, written to accompany Paradox

PARADOX

Gouache & Watercolour on Paper 2021

Artist’s Statement: Kathryn Brimblecombe-Fox

Paradox was inspired by Group Captain Jo Brick’s essay “Kill the Enemy, and Don’t Forget to Buy Milk on the Way Home”. The painting evokes the sense of liminality experienced by remote drone pilots who fight wars and insurgencies in distant countries from inside home-based ground control stations. While inside these bunkers they are at war. Upon leaving the bunker, they re-enter domestic life. As Brick notes “their psychological existence occupies both war and peace”. The ongoing rhythm of this existence creates a liminal zone where the pilot’s psyche grapples with seemingly unreconcilable paradoxes. This agitation is deepened by experiences of witnessing, perpetrating and perpetuating scopic intimacies of surveillance, identification, targeting and killing.

The circles in Paradox link and overlap in ways that draw the drone pilot, the drone, and the surveilled or targeted, together. This occurs against a vast sky, or could it be a seascape? This depends on the viewer’s perspective. A sense of flying, hovering, floating is suggested. Are you a pilot, maybe a drone, a bird or even an intergalactic space traveler passing by Earth? Perhaps you are a target, living a precarious life on the edge of life and death? A melancholic kind of resignation is felt as clouds semi-obscure details. These clouds act as visual metaphors for liminality. They also act as metaphors for the contemporary ‘cloud’ of networked, interconnected and interoperable militarised and militarise-able technologies. This techno-cloud is the drone pilot’s operational space. The colour red disrupts melancholia with warnings of violence. The red squares denote computer screens, ‘windows’ into the scoped lives of the targeted. The red tinged clouds speak to violence, blood and death; reminding us of corporeality in a techno-world. The human-like outline indicates the presence of a human in the loop, but can we be sure of this? It may be a robot.

Cheers,

Kathryn

THEATRE OF WAR: INFRARED

Theatre of War: Infrared Gouache on paper 56 x 76 cm 2021

I've lost count of how may paintings are now in my Theatre of War series. I think maybe 12 or 13. 

Theatre of War: Infrared continues my investigation into how Clausewitz's ideas of the theatre of war can inform critical approaches to contemporary war. I am also interested in how Clausewitz's ideas may reach their limits with the contemporary mutation of war into a kind of everywhere-ness - like a contagion. In my first Theatre of War post and painting, I explain my interest in Clausewitz. 

Theatre of War: Infrared is also a continuation of my research into the increasing military interest in the electromagnetic spectrum [EMS], as an enabler of technology, a type of fires, a manoeuvre space and a domain. I have painted a cloud-like array of circles against a red sky. Signals transmitted by various frequencies in the EMS are indicated by full lines or dotted lines. These lines visualise a signalic occupation of our extended environment, from land to space-based assets. I 'see' this as a force of techno-colonisation. The fake clouds are a clue!

The red background could be many things, a fiery war zone, a heated planet, or the use of infrared frequencies for communication, high energy lasers or detecting warm things. The latter feeds into surveillance and targeting. Ever since my pest controller showed me how his infrared camera could detect pests, the association of infrared with pest control has stuck in my mind. With this in mind,  surveillance and targeting using infrared technology could be described as acts of an exterminator.  

NEWS

* Please check out Dr Beryl Pong's article "The Aesthetics of Drone Warfare", The British Academy, September 2021. Happy to say she mentions my work, which was included in an exhibition Dr. Pong curated last year. I also presented at the Aesthetics of Drone Warfare conference at Sheffield University in February 2020 [when we could still go places!]. Dr. Pong leads the Aesthetics of Drone Warfare research project.  

* My work is also mentioned in  “Coda: the life, death, and rebirth of drone art” by Arthur Holland Michel, in DroneImaginaries: The Power of Remote Vision, Manchester Uni Press, edited by Andreas Immanuel Graafe and Kathrin Maurer.

AND

If you have not had a look at my last post Wingman: Online Exhibition please do!

Cheers,

Kathryn

WINGMAN (MQ-28 GHOST BAT): ONLINE EXHIBITION

                                             Wingman (MQ-28 Ghost Bat) Oil on linen 97 x 115 cm 2020

This online 'exhibition' was launched in September 2021. Since then I have made a few updates. In late March 2022 the Loyal Wingman drone was renamed the MQ-28 Ghost Bat. Here's a Boeing Youtube Video  and an article in Defence Connect online about the rename.

2024 UPDATE:

I have added two more paintings that feature my versions of Ghost Bat drones. One is Force Multiplication  and the other Ghost Sky .

2023 UPDATE: 

February 2023, I have added a new painting Ghost Shadows. 

WINGMAN (MQ-28 GHOST BAT): Online exhibition.

September 2021

What prompted me to curate this online exhibition?

A few days ago it was announced that the Royal Australian Air Force and Boeing jointly developed Loyal Wingman drone [MQ-28 Ghost Bat] is proposed to be assembled at the Aerospace and Defence precinct at Wellcamp airport, near Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. You can read the Queensland Government media statement here.  

Wellcamp - Toowoomba
I know the Wellcamp area, but it has changed a lot in recent years! Since local Toowoomba company Wagners built the international airport at Wellcamp, Toowoomba has become a major hub, other than for boarding schools, retired country folk, and specialist medical help. I grew up on my parent's grain farm outside Dalby, about an hour west of Toowoomba. I went to school in Toowoomba for the last part of my secondary schooling. My maternal grandfather's family had a property at Drayton, not far from Wellcamp. My paternal grandmother grew up on a farm very close to Wellcamp, on the other side of Gowrie Mt. My paternal grandfather's first property, after returning from WW1 [Light Horse], was also close by. 

Research
As regular readers know I have been researching airborne drones, surveillance systems, and increasingly autonomous systems, for over six years [Update 2024: now nine years]. My current PhD [conferred December 2023] research examines [examined] increasing military interest in the electromagnetic spectrum [EMS] as an enabler of technology, a type of fires [weapon], a manoeuvre space and a domain. The EMS is also an enabler of civilian technology ie: communication, GPS, Internet, Cloud storage, security systems and so much more. So, my PhD research also examines [examined] how signal-enabled connectivity, interconnectivity, and interoperability of systems and devices exposes civilian technology to appropriation by state or non-state militarising forces. 

* My PhD thesis is available at Curtin University's [Western Australia] e-space, Drones, Signals, and the Techno-Colonisation of Landscape.

Wingman (Ghost Bat) Paintings
Last year [2020] I started painting images that included the Loyal Wingman drone, Australia's first manufactured military aircraft in over fifty years. Described as a 'gamechanger' in drone technology, the Loyal Wingman [MQ-28 Ghost Bat] is designed to accompany crewed fighter jets. There is a plethora of online commentary about the Ghost Bat drone's capabilities, which include, autonomous functions, enhanced electronic and electromagnetic capabilities, advanced multi-sensor capabilities, and stealth design. Interchangeable nose-cones will provide payload dexterity across a crewed and uncrewed teamed mission. The drone is also export-able. 

In 2019 I wrote a post Pay Attention: The Drones Are Here where I first mention the Loyal Wingman drone. 

WINGMAN - GHOST BAT

THE EXHIBITION 

While informed by extensive research, my paintings are speculative and imaginative. They are the result of what I call 'imaginational metaveillance', a 'flight' into imagined cosmic perspectives. This 'flight' is taken without the aid of augmenting or simulation technology. With the benefit of imagined distance, what anomalies can we see as we fly around and beyond drones and their support infrastructure? I say we because I invite you to 'fly' in your imagination too. 

The paintings are chronologically displayed, from the first to the most recent

Each painting in the exhibition has a hyperlinked title. Please click on these to read my previous posts about each painting. 

Theatre of War Gouache and watercolour on paper 56 x 76 cm 2020

Theatre of War: Terrain Visualisation Gouache on paper 56 x 76 cm 2020

Theatre of War: Smart Team Gouache on paper 56 c 76 cm 2020

Theatre of War: Pattern Recognition Gouache on paper 56 x 76 cm 2020

Verified Landing Site Oil on linen 92 x 112 cm 2021

Future Memory Oil on linen 122 x 137 cm 2021

Artificial Trees: Pulling the Future Towards Us Oil on linen 92 x 112 cm 2021

                                  Theatre of War: Photons Do Not Care Oil on linen 92 x 112 cm 2021

Ghost Shadows Oil on linen 92 x 112 cm 2023

Ghost Sky oil on linen 65 x 112 cm 2023

Force Multiplication Gouache on paper 56 x 76 cm 2023

WINGMAN: List of Paintings

Wingman April 2020

Theatre of War September 2020

Theatre of War: Terrain Visualisation October 5 2020

Theatre of War: Smart Team October 10 2020

Theatre of War: Pattern Recognition October 27 2020

Verified Landing Site  April 2021

Future Memory May 2021

Artificial Trees: Pulling the Future Towards Us June 2021

Theatre of War: Photons Do Not Care  July 2021

Ghost Shadows February 2023

Ghost Sky  November 2023

Force Multiplication  December 2023

Thank you for viewing,

Kathryn