[ecrea] Drone Theory Call for Papers

Drone Theory / Dronedeutung – CfP Deadline 1 December 2015 (apologies
for cross-posting)

The imaginary of modernity hinges on the technological mastery of the
environment. Through technical extension, modern humans appear to
dominate their surroundings. Yet, a specific segment of its milieu
seemed to elude modernity's reach: air space. Breached by fearless
daredevils, wartime pilots and, eventually, opened up to large-scale
travel and transport, air space remains hard to navigate and
inhospitable to human colonisation. As such, it poses an ever-present
affront to modernity's pretensions. From this point of view, drones seem
to offer the fulfillment of an outstanding promise: the further
expansion of human mobility and freedom, bringing air space into the
everyday precisely by unmanning the device of flight and more thoroughly
dominating earth's terrain from the skies. Walter Benjamin seemed
already aware of the promise inherent in such technology:

'The achievements of the first technology might be said to culminate in
human sacrifice; those of the second, in the remote-controlled aircraft
which needs no human crew.' (Benjamin (2002) ‘The Work of Art in the Age
of Its Technological Reproducibility' (Second Version), Selected
Writings Volume 3, p. 107)

Yet, this promise of modernity's drone-assisted conquest of air space is
far from uncomplicated, both technically, politically and aesthetically.
The notion of the drone or Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) becomes more
confusing the more we become aware of its far-reaching implementations.
Drones are primarily associated with attacks and anonymous victims. At
the same time, we hear about drones for picking strawberries, drones for
anti-whaling activism, and the emerging field of 'drone journalism'.

This special issue of Krisis aims at a better understanding of this
object by placing the different kinds of vehicles in their various
social and conceptual contexts. When does a technology become a killer
or a saviour or a service vehicle? Is it a question of usage, of naming,
or a problematic politics embodied in the technology itself? How is the
relation between land, air and space reconfigured? At the same time,
Krisis wants to reflect upon the new kind of concepts and aesthetics
that arise with UAVs. How have artists and technology enthusiasts used
drones in ways that allow for new understanding?

Drone strikes have changed our understandings of war and killing. How do
anonymity and technologically mediated distance operate within the moral
discourse about warfare? What strategies do victims and activists engage
in, as they try to give faces to the faceless victims, for instance by
transmitting them to the drone operator's screen? (Inside Out Project.)
Do drone operators suffer from new forms of Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder? And can we critically evaluate the assumptions behind the word
'unmanned'? Krisis also wishes to better understand the normative
challenges associated with the rise of the drones.

UAVs also change our awareness of our movements, our notions of public
and private space and our perception of being visible, as this becomes
'resolutionary': What happens when becoming invisible requires becoming
smaller than a pixel, as expressed in the work of artist Hito Steyerl?
What kind of legal repertoire is needed to cope with drones, as they do
not easily correspond to previous and more static forms of CCTV
surveillance? Do we need new alarm systems in our homes that are able to
detect robots the size of a fly?

Flight and the aesthetics of flying involve complex emulation and
control of nature. How have the aesthetics of 'wing control', and
animals able to fly in reverse, inspired drone technology? How does this
form also inspire artistic interventions, such as 'Drones for
Filesharing' that repurposes today's most dangerous defense technology
for a form of piracy that painfully disturbs corporate and state actors?

Finally, it is important to take into account the rather massive
attention given to drones in recent years. What to make of this
reception and public imagination - or even drone fetishism - with
regards to UAVs? Might there be something like a drone fatigue coming?
How can we engage with drones without lapsing into a politics of
spectacle and reductionist accounts of technological determinism?


Krisis - Journal for Contemporary Philosophy invites papers for a
special issue on Drones. We invite contributions that combine
philosophical reflection and detailed analysis of:

- the sensory politics and aesthetics involved with the use of UAVs
and/or drones;
- the disentanglement of, and critical evaluation of, the jumble of
words like UAVs (Unmanned Air Vehicles), UASs (Unmanned Aircraft
Systems), RPASs (Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems), Killer Drones and
Combat Drones;
- changing notions of war, trauma and victimization;
- the creative re-appropriation of UAV-associated technology;
- the legal-philosophical consequences of, or proposals for, the use of
UAVs;
- the ethics of technological systems with respect to UAVs and/or drones
and the normative challenges they pose;
- the reception practices of drones within popular media and how to
understand these philosophically;
- the practices of UAV associations and research clusters.

Please find the full Call for Papers here: http://krisis.eu/

We are also looking for book reviews or review essays on these topics.
Krisis also accept Dutch language contributions.

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