Document:Q16219

LowDrone is a hybrid net art piece that remixes the cultural significance of lowriders with the surveillance capabilities of drones, allowing users to remotely pilot a virtual vehicle that embodies both technologies. At LowDrone.com, participants control a customized lowrider—a car outfitted with hydraulics that enable it to "hop"—over one of the most surveilled regions in the world: the U.S./Mexico border between Tijuana and San Diego. This project critiques the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) along the border, where they have become central to surveillance and even attack operations.

Originally designed for military purposes, drones are now deployed by the U.S. Border Patrol and groups like the American Border Patrol, which first used drones to monitor for "illegal invaders." These UAVs represent a growing presence of state surveillance in Latino neighborhoods, where residents often find themselves under constant observation. Through LowDrone, users confront the notion that the skies belong solely to military and border enforcement agencies. By transforming a drone into a lowrider, the artwork honors the history of aesthetic resistance in Latino communities and advocates for a future where technology serves diverse populations. Nevarez and Rivera seek to introduce a murky transaction between the observer and the observed which connects to other long-distance operations that have arised as these devices (UAVs and others) have become more elusive to the point where their presence has almost become invisible.