Vigipirate Cuadqcopter Drone
Interview and work commissioned for Diaspora project. 2015-2022.
Interview and work commissioned for Diaspora project. 2015-2022.
VIGIPIRATE (French: Plan Vigipirate) is France's national security alert system. Created in 1978 by President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, it has been updated three times: in 1995 (following a terror bombing campaign), in 2000, and in 2004 (Source: Wikipedia).
We have entered an era where information transformed into data is the highest value of society. It seems clear that technology is becoming what humans have always desired. The future is here: the Internet owns our lives, there is no such thing as privacy; being connected is a necessity, to the point that we are capable of becoming biotech humans. Most importantly, wars are now directed by drones.
I have been exploring how drones can affect art or, conversely, how art can use or create drone prototypes for artistic needs. As a human being, I come from political, economic, and cultural backgrounds that have changed my concept of democracy and freedom in a few years, as well as how I will survive. How will my art survive if tomorrow I am labeled a terrorist simply for seeking freedom?
In 2012, Hugo Chavez introduced a law that labeled any person opposing his government as a “terrorist” or a “traitor to the homeland.” The foundations of this law are vague, allowing the state to easily decide who can be judged. In 2014, Nicolas Maduro, a member of the same political party, adapted this intimidating law to include artists and any “cultural promoters.”
I was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. I am Caribbean, but I live in France with a status where I am not a tourist, not European, not illegal, yet not legal. Dealing with this reality, I developed a project that allows me to understand not only how the concept of “terrorism” is managed in Europe, especially in France, but also how these actions can be translated into Media Art. In 2014, the Venezuelan government labeled my work as an act of violence against the Nicolas Maduro regime.
As Wikipedia describes, Vigipirate is a national security alert system divided into five levels of threat represented by colors:
White: No danger
Yellow: Vague threat / raise vigilance
Orange: Possible threat / prevent terrorist action
Red: High chance of threat / prevent serious attack
Scarlet: Definite threat / prevent major attack
The small drone prototype presented in this project represents the second level of security on the plan Vigipirate. The small object was modified to contain an encrypted SD card with a collection of my artistic work, information, passwords, audio conversations, images, and other data I collected while working for the Venezuelan Government between 2011-2013. According to Venezuelan law, any action against the government can be considered an act of “terrorism” or “treason.” However, outside their jurisdiction, I protect my work and content.
Since 2014, this algorithm has been designed to collect images and videos from the web related to the Venezuelan political situation in real time. Powered by a Python Google search script and fed by different search engines, this database holds information based on selected sources, metadata, and hashtags published in mainstream media. This script seeks reliable information on the major crisis tearing the country apart, acknowledging that numerous fake news stories are regularly broadcast. see the project @ Web Residencies by Solitude ZKM
This level defines drone protocols, scripts, and hardware modifications. The red level corresponds to the Quadcopter Drone F14892-B, in which all the information gleaned is archived in dependable wireless storage protected within the drone.
The scarlet level, the last and most severe, involves an order designed for the PIC (pilot in command) to control the drone via SMS. If the artist feels in danger, they will command the drone to take off. The drone is equipped with a Flysky FS-i6 transmitter and a GPS APM 2.8, receiving waypoints via SMS text message. It completes the “mission” without any user intervention. Mission waypoints are defined by the drone, which processes data during flight and communicates with an app (Android) on the phone used as the “ground station” (powered by ADRpy - Aircraft Design Recipes in Python, CASCADE project public code) to send the final location coordinates.