Fact Box
Client
Lighthouse & The Brighton Festival
Location
Madeira Drive, Brighton
Works
Life-size outline of Military Drone Aircraft
Materials
Temporary Road Paint
If we were to say we had done some work at the Brighton Festival you would be forgiven for thinking that it would be yellow lines or perhaps parking areas. The project though was much more serious. Artist James Bridle working with Hi-Way Services.
Artist and writer James Bridle was commissioned by digital culture agency, Lighthouse to create a piece of street art to encourage festival goers to imagine the reality of a military drone entering the airspace above their home town.
Military drones are increasingly used by both the American and British forces. They have been used to carry out reconnaissance and attack missions in places like Afghanistan and Pakistan.
James has been studying the use of these machines and wanted to make people engage with the technology in the hope of sparking a more informed debate about their use.
The first step in bringing home the reality of these machines is to show people what they look like and the scale of the aircraft. To do this he decided to draw a life size outline of a Reaper drone on the sea front at Brighton to bring the stark reality of these machines into people’s daily lives.
Working with Brighton Festival, Lighthouse asked Hi-Way Services to help bring the project to life.
“It was another slightly unusual request but we’re used to those!” Said Danny O’Reilly of Hi-Way Services. “James had experimented marking out a drone in a car park last year and had refined the design to one he was happy with. We then had the challenge of translating the drawings into a life size outline across the road and pavement on Brighton sea front.”
“We were very happy to be involved in helping to create the installation. We hope that the Brighton Festival is a huge success.”“Working with Hi-Way Services on this project was a pleasure. Paul, Pete and Luke were consummate professionals, who took a real pride in their work. We were delighted with the result, and wouldn’t hesitate to work with them again”, commented Honor Harger, Artistic Director of Lighthouse, commissioner of the work.
The Film below depicting the installation on May Day 2013 below was directed by Brian
YOUTUBE – Under the Shadow of the Drone
