A predator drone is now overlooking us on 30th Street & 10th Avenue.

We’ve written before about the spot on the High Line that overlooks 30th Street & 10th Avenue—it was previously occupied by a sculpture called “Brick House” by artist Simone Leigh.

Well you may have noticed that as of May 2021, Brick House was replaced by what a layman (me) might recognize as a skinny white airplane with very long wings. It is not in fact a skinny white airplane with very long wings, and that is in fact the point: It is a predator drone entitled “(Untitled) drone” by artist Sam Durant, and the point is to put right in our public view something that is a pervasive, omnipresent aspect of life for those affected by drone warfare. You can read more about the piece and watch a video of Sam Durant talking about it on the High Line’s website: Untitled (drone) | The High Line.

The drone is mounted on top of a steel pole that allows it to point in the direction of the wind. And the title seems to reference the fundamental disconnect on drones—untitled for me, some random guy sitting comfortably in a Chelsea apartment; very much titled for someone else, whose daily life very well may revolve around whether a skinny white airplane is overlooking her block.