Greg Richards
Autopilot
Press release / Catalogue text
What goes up must come down. However, what if that which goes up costs in the order of twenty million dollars and is an unmanned high-altitude spy plane?
This question is what inspired Richards' recent work, titled Autopilot, at Ocular Lab Inc.
For this exhibition, Richards has produced a scale-model of the Global Hawk surveillance plane that the Australian government is considering for use in its' defence strategies (such as coastal monitoring) and installed it in the space. However, in consideration of the above question, his response was to make the plane appear as though, for some reason, it has just plummeted out of the sky and crashed nose-down into the gallery - a wrecked and impotent manifestation of this thing designed to 'save' us from terror.
The allure of technology continues to provide new ways of 'seeing' (surveillance); the seductive design of the defence mechanism lures the population (the marketplace); and this high-flying xenophobic eye is intended to provide a solution to the continuing rise in hysteria about border control and security. We are told it will perform to all expectations... but that is, only when it works. Malfunctions, accidents and other mishaps with flying machines have been known to create their own outcomes and paranoias.
Richards' elegantly mischievous installation is being exhibited at Ocular Lab Inc. between 26 February - 6 March, highlighting the paradox between the safety promised by this 'model' defence-system and the reality we may confront one day as we walk down the street...
