His Majesty's Drone FAIL

For Current LA|Water Public Art Biennale, August 2016, I created a "drone" from wood and paper. It could be flown as a kite but had helium balloons that allowed it to float directly overhead with no wind. The appearance was intended as oppositely ornamental and ominous.

The concept was related to a previous work called "Her Majesty's Azimuth". For this earlier work, I rented a helicopter and flew over the Queen Mary (ship) docked in Long Beach, CA. I hired two actors to play sailors and to operate a two-sided fabric signal flag. (made by Connie Cramer-Curry). The flag could be seen by the helicopter pilot. There was a radio near the sailors tuned to a local station. Each time the song or commercial changed, the sailors flipped over the flag. I was in the helicopter with a camera, while the pilot watched the signal flag. My camera was pointed at the ship on the other side of the dock. When the white-side of the flag was visible to the pilot, he raised the helicopter's altitude; red-side, he lowered. This chain of communication caused the angle-of-view of the ship (azimuth) to change. There was also a camera on the ground recording the sailors. The work was presented as a synchronized 2-channel video piece at London Street Projects in Los Angeles, in 2003. A composite of the work can be seen here

When LA Public Biennale invited me to propose an outdoor work, I learned that one location option was Point Fermin, in San Pedro. This prompted an updated version of the earlier piece. Instead renting a helicopter, I created the paper, balloon assisted drone, and attached a camera to it. Instead of two male sailors, I hired two female sailors. Taking the place of the Queen Mary, another actor played a drunken and overbearing king, who would operate the drone and surveil the sailors. There was again a speaker, this time giving commands to the sailors in how they were to interact with the flag. This updated performance was about the control, subversion of free choice, surveillance, and the hopelessness of being controlled by reckless idiots.

Outdoor tests of the "drone" near my studio went very well, and I expected the performance to follow. I reinforced the drone on performance day to survive the strongest winds. However, the Point Fermin winds were dead to sudden enormously. In an abrupt gust, the balloons, ripped off the drone, and tore it apart. I was not concerned about the sculpture, the balloons that were set loose into the environment.

This was a particularly regretful failure, as the premise of this Public Biennale was about conservation and environmentalism. Regretting the results of this redux project, I believe it is important to occasionally discuss certain failed works. To learn from regret, not to dwell, is to embrace the distancing of failure in artist identity.