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Depictions of drone warfare in Western and American media diverge widely, sometimes diametrically, from the imagery used by artists to describe life under drone warfare, creating a stark duality of image experience. The medium and presentation of these images, whether analog or digital, capture and express the fractured perspectives on the subject.
Featuring:
Hajra Waheed, artist;
Aziz Hazara, artist;
Saks Afridi & Ali Rez, artists and collaborators;
Moderated by Muheb Esmat, writer and curator.
Remote Control: Surveying Drones and Culture Today
This event is part of the symposium Remote Control: Surveying Drones and Culture Today, organized by High Line Art and the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School, in collaboration with writer and researcher Arthur Holland Michel. The symposium is convened by High Line Art in the context of artist Sam Durant‘s High Line Plinth commission Untitled (drone) and the Vera List Center's As for Protocols Focus Theme and was preceded by As for Protocols Seminar 7: Drones and the Bird’s-Eye View, September 20, 2021.Â
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The Vera List Center’s participation in Remote Control is made possible, in part, by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Arts, the Ford Foundation, and the Kettering Fund, as well as the members of the Vera List Center Board and The New School.
Lead support for High Line Art comes from Amanda and Don Mullen. Major support is provided by Shelley Fox Aarons and Philip E. Aarons, The Brown Foundation, Inc. of Houston, and Charina Endowment Fund. Additional support is provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. High Line Art is supported in part, with a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts and with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council, under the leadership of Speaker Corey Johnson.
Major support for the High Line Plinth is provided by members of the High Line Plinth Committee and contemporary art leaders committed to realizing major commissions and engaging in the public success of the Plinth: Shelley Fox Aarons and Philip E. Aarons, Jennifer and Jonathan Allan Soros, Elizabeth Belfer, Suzanne Deal Booth, Fairfax Dorn, Steve Ells, Kerianne Flynn, Andy and Christine Hall, Hermine Riegerl Heller and David B. Heller, J. Tomilson and Janine Hill, The Holly Peterson Foundation, Annie Hubbard and Harvey Schwartz, Miyoung Lee and Neil Simpkins, Dorothy Lichtenstein, Amanda and Don Mullen, Douglas Oliver and Sherry Brous, Mario Palumbo and Stefan Gargiulo, Susan and Stephen Scherr, Susan and David Viniar, and Anonymous.
Presented by the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at the Schools of Public Engagement and High Line Art.
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The Vera List Center is committed to ensuring that our programs are accessible to and inclusive of all. As part of that commitment, this event will feature live captioning subtitles. Please let us know when registering if you need this or any additional accommodations, or send an email to vlc@newschool.edu.
Saks Afridi is a designer and artist from Peshawar, Pakistan currently based in New York City. Afridi's work exists in ‘Sci-Fi Sufism’, by fusing mysticism and storytelling and making art objects in multiple mediums that draw inspiration from Sufi poetry, Afrofuturism, South Asian folklore, Islamic mythology, Science Fiction, Architecture and Calligraphy...
Muheb Esmat is a writer and curator based in New York. Muheb’s research broadly explores visual and digital culture in Afghanistan. He has written on contemporary and modern architecture in Kabul, popular car decals as representative of social realities, and live streams as a space for building community in exile.
The visual exploration of Hazara's works takes shape across a variety of artistic media, from participatory installations to soundscape, from video to photography, from text to programmed languages. His interest in the issues of memory, archive, surveillance, the panopticon and the politics of representation, is deeply entrenched in the geopolitics...
Ali Rez is the Regional Executive Creative Director of Impact BBDO MENAP. Ranked amongst the Top 10 Executive Creative Directors in the world on the World Creative Rankings for 2021, and named South Asia Creative of the Year twice by Campaign magazine. He has won more than 500 international accolades in his career spanning four continents. Ali Rez’s work has been instrumental in Impact BBDO being named the No.2 most creative agency in the world in 2021, and has brought positive impact to business and social causes alike...
Hajra Waheed’s multidisciplinary practice ranges from painting and drawing to video, sound, sculpture and installation. Amongst other issues, she explores the nexus between security, surveillance and the covert networks of power that structure lives while also addressing the traumas and alienation of displaced subjects affected by legacies of colonial and state violence...
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Hajra Waheed’s multidisciplinary practice ranges from painting and drawing to video, sound, sculpture and installation. Amongst other issues, she explores the nexus between security, surveillance and the covert networks of power that structure lives while also addressing the traumas and alienation of displaced subjects affected by legacies of colonial and state violence. Waheed has exhibited worldwide including: Portikus, Frankfurt (2020); Lahore Biennial 02 (2020); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2020); The Power Plant, Toronto (2019); 57th Venice Biennale (2017); 11th Gwangju Biennale, South Korea (2016); BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead (2016); and KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2015). Her works can be found in permanent collections including the Museum of Modern Art; British Museum, the National Gallery of Canada; the Centre Pompidou; Burger Collection; and Devi Art Foundation.
The visual exploration of Hazara's works takes shape across a variety of artistic media, from participatory installations to soundscape, from video to photography, from text to programmed languages. His interest in the issues of memory, archive, surveillance, the panopticon and the politics of representation, is deeply entrenched in the geopolitics and the never-ending conflict that afflicts my native Afghanistan. The relevance of such issues however overcomes geographical specificities and appeals to contemporary conditions that are globally shared.
Muheb Esmat is a writer and curator based in New York. Muheb’s research broadly explores visual and digital culture in Afghanistan. He has written on contemporary and modern architecture in Kabul, popular car decals as representative of social realities, and live streams as a space for building community in exile.
Ali Rez is the Regional Executive Creative Director of Impact BBDO MENAP. Ranked amongst the Top 10 Executive Creative Directors in the world on the World Creative Rankings for 2021, and named South Asia Creative of the Year twice by Campaign magazine. He has won more than 500 international accolades in his career spanning four continents. Ali Rez’s work has been instrumental in Impact BBDO being named the No.2 most creative agency in the world in 2021, and has brought positive impact to business and social causes alike. Besides lecturing at Oxford University and St.Martin’s College, Rez has exhibited at Tate UK, spoken at Tedx, captained a cricket county team in California, and - being a firm believer that curiosity leads to creativity - has traveled to 132 countries.
Saks Afridi is a designer and artist from Peshawar, Pakistan currently based in New York City. Afridi's work exists in ‘Sci-Fi Sufism’, by fusing mysticism and storytelling and making art objects in multiple mediums that draw inspiration from Sufi poetry, Afrofuturism, South Asian folklore, Islamic mythology, Science Fiction, Architecture and Calligraphy. Afridi has exhibited worldwide including: Ford Foundation Gallery, New York (2019); Something Else – Off Biennale, Cairo (2018); National Art Gallery, Islamabad, Pakistan (2017); Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Netherlands (2014). Afridi is a proud recipient of Cannes Lion Awards, D&AD Pencils, OneShow pencils and a United Nations Award for Peace & Understanding. His work has been featured in Artforum, The New York Times, BBC, Al Jazeera, CNN, and Stephen Colbert.
