Nov. 20, 2004 - Feb. 12, 2005
Untitled, 2004, photography and video installation
Yaron Leshem explores the ways in which the camera is used by the army and the media, as well as the “new” role it plays in shaping the war: a camera that simulates and re-structures the enemy as a digital, communicative image, ready for broadcasting; a seeing yet unseen camera launched to the Third World to locate the enemy, eventually destroying it as part of a suicidal quest. The simulation renders the killing a “clean,” accurate, targeted act.
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The same camera transmits back to the viewer’s living room its progress towards the target, providing him/her with a remote virtual experience of participation in a war with no sacrifice on his/her part; a warless war.
The photographic simulation constitutes the necessary physical and mental distance essential for conducting a war, while allowing direct connection with the viewer, in real time, for the purpose of broadcasting the spectacular display of power.
Placed within a light box, the photographic work deals with simulation, a simulation that flattens and empties a village of its everyday life in order to transform it into a training facility. All the structures and objects in the village undergo a shift from a life-oriented to a death-oriented function.
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