Flock of Rogue Drones

Abstract

This story of Natalija is inspired by Evgeny Zubkov’s artwork titled Russia 2046. The piece depicts an old woman feeding breadcrumbs to drones. We imagine that where the drones are now, there once were birds. What are the relations of these various actors and how can we understand this change? For us, the image of Natalija encapsulates the relationships we as humans can form with non-living creatures, the spaces we share and the practices we engage in. Furthermore, it brings into question the separation lines of post-human and non-human life in an age of learning machines. This story as a whole depicts a future where technologies, in this case self-adapting drones, are introduced into an environment but, as time passes, are left to a state of neglect. In the story, the devices learn to interact with their surroundings, leading to contact and interaction between drones and human. While the story is imaginative, there are several reference points to surveillance research, particularly to questions relating to space/place (how is space under surveillance being produced?), agency (what kind of agency surveillance enables or supports; how is surveillance perceived by the user/target?), and technology (what are the varying contextual roles surveillance techniques are able to take?).