Ascension Ceiling
3 min 12 sec
animation & projection
2014

 

Ascension Ceiling was inspired by Baroque illusionistic painting and explores the omnipotent viewpoint of drone operators.
The work is a response to the continued use of local airspace for the testing of military drones based at the West Wales UAV centre in Aberporth near the Artist’s home. It makes use of audio testimony from military UAV operators, particularly that of former U.S. Air Force pilot Brandon Bryant who served as a sensor operator for the Predator program from 2007 to 2011.
It raises questions of observation and complicity, constructing an animated re-imagining of the world ‘Di sotto in sù’ (seen from below).

Ascension Ceiling was originally presented as part of a National Theatre Wales Assembly event in Cardigan on 29/4/14. It was back projected onto a horizontal ceiling mounted screen above the heads of the audience, after they had been unexpectedly plunged into darkness.