The Institute for Applied Autonomy
Terminal Air Installation This project uses an interactive mapping website and installation to
document the American CIA's practice of using secret airplanes to
transport suspected terrorists to secret "dark" prisons in foreign
countries, where they can be interrogated and tortured outside the
reach of international human rights conventions. Thanks to a network
of plane enthusiasts, many of these planes have been identified by
their serial numbers and can be tracked as the move between airports. The installation stems from the idea that this program must somewhere
have an office from which it is organized. This office essentially
functions as a kind of CIA travel agency where air transportation can
be arranged for people and materials without anyone knowing about it. In the installation we present an imagined CIA travel office,
complete with desks, chairs, telephones, fake plants, etc. On the
wall, two video monitors display an animated map of the world showing
the movements of the 30+ known CIA planes during that last 5 years.
Periodically, the telephones ring and a voice message announces the
arrival or departure of a known CIA plane as it lands or takes off
from one of the many CIA friendly airports world-wide. Posters on the
wall advertise the services of the various "front-companies" that the
CIA uses (ex: "Premiere Executive Transport") and the locations that
they provide travel to: Syria, Afghanistan, Cuba, etc.
Commemorative Plaque The Institute for Applied Autonomy also proposes to install a historic marker
commemorating the first "extraordinary rendition" flight to land in UK
territory, and honoring the ongoing 'special relationship' between our
two countries. The term extraordinary rendition describes the now common
practice of illegally kidnapping suspected terrorists and flying them to
secret bases in foreign countries for torture and interrogation. Since
2001, CIA-operated airplanes have been stopping in several European
countries, including the United Kingdom, for service and refueling
during extraordinary rendition flights. Although officials in these
countries have so far denied knowledge of this practice, a recent
European Commission report suggests that there has been substantial
cooperation between European leaders and their American counterparts. Plymouth has been selected as the site for a historic marker because of
its unique historical position symbolizing linkages between the US and
UK. From the initial voyage of the Mayflower from Plymouth Harbor, to
the imprisonment of American patriots in Plymouth Goal during the
American War for Independence, to the loading of the transatlantic cable
in Plymouth dockyards, Plymouth has been a key node in symbolic,
historical, and physical linkages between our two countries. As such, it
is an ideal location to represent the current manifestation of the
so-called 'special relationship' between the Blair and Bush
administrations. Through this project, we hope also to express
solidarity between US and UK dissident and resistance movements. Bronze Plaque text:
"On March 9th, 1858 HMS Agamemnon and the USS Niagara sailed from
Plymouth harbor to lay the transatlantic telegraph cable, the world's
first transcontinental communications network linking Great Britain
and the United States. This marker is presented to the city of
Plymouth by the Institute for Applied Autonomy on September 1, 2007
to commemorate the 149th anniversary of the first global
communications network crash - which occurred 3 weeks after the
cable's inauguration, the result of a misguided attempt at increasing
transmission speed by electrician Edward Orange Wildman Whitehouse."
Technical Installation Requirements: Electronic Equipment
- 2 x 21" Flat LCD Displays (wall mounted map and flight listing
displays)
- Recent Mac or PC with 2 video outs
- 2 x Desktop computers w/ displays and internet (these machines need
not be terribly new. Anything made in the last 5 or 6 years should be
sufficient)
- Reliable highspeed Internet connection
- 2 x office phones
- Working phone line Office Furnishings
- 2 x matched desks
- 4 x matched chairs
- 3 x matched wall clocks
- 3 x fake plants
- 5m x 5m Drop Ceiling
- Watercooler
- Letter board (the boards with push letters at the front of office
buildings that often show office numbers etc).
- Brochure rack Custom Materials
- 4 x Printed posters and appropriate mountings (1.5m x 1m)
- Neon sign for front window showing "Terminal Air"
- 500 x 2-sided glossy brochures, A4 size Commemorative Plaque:
The local manufacturer of historical markers or someone with similar
skills will need to be procured for the production of the plaque. Text
will be provided by the Institute for Applied Autonomy under advisement
of local Plymouth representatives.
Location The marker will ideally be installed alongside the dozens of historical
plaques at the entrance to Plymouth Harbor. Alternate sites include one
of the airports participating in extraordinary renditions. The event should take place in a venue that affords participation by a
wide selection of the general public. This could be in an art gallery, a
storefront space, or a local sports bar that might have televisions
already installed that could be used to present the videos.