Bits: Trickle-Down Art, Fast's Drones, Sekula

Still from Omer Fast's 5,000 Feet is the Best, 2011

•  Trickle-down theory--aka "Reaganomics," once derided as "voodoo economics" by George H.W. Bush--is what's behind the notion of selling off part of the Detroit Institute of Art's collection, writes Christopher Knight:

The claim of such a plan goes like this: Privatize a great art collection owned by the public, and the benefits will trickle down to the people...  Will we fall for it again in Detroit? Supplying art masterpieces to a booming luxury-goods market will supposedly mean ponies and party hats for pensioners. Fat chance.

• For its inaugural exhibition, the Imperial War Museum's new IWM Contemporary program presents Omer Fast's 30-minute video 5,000 Feet is the Best. On view through Sept. 29, the piece draws its name from an interview the artist did with a Las Vegas-based Predator drone operator, who (under condition of anonymity) shared what he believes to be the optimal altitude for the unmanned aerial vehicles. "It is a lot like playing a video game," he told Fast. "But playing the same video game four years straight on the same level." GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham says the US has killed 4,700 people using these video-game-like weapons. Commonwealth Projects shares a 9-minute excerpt from the video, which blends interview footage with actor dramatizations, while The Guardian offers another.

• With the launch of its Open Content Program, the Getty is "making roughly 4,600 high-resolution images of the Museum’s collection free to use, modify, and publish for any purpose."

• Your moment of private escape--a book read on your Kindle or Nook--isn't so private, writes James Bridle. According to EFF's most recent E-Reader Privacy Chart, "almost every service tracks searches for books, meaning not just what you read, but what you're interested in, is stored" for corporations to use and/or sell.

• Speaking of Bridle, here he is discussing his Balloon Infrastructures workshop with Fabrica. 

• RIP Allan Sekula, artist, photographer, educator, writer.

• Your moment of: bullet cross-sections.