Artists' Insights: Interact

Managed Funds Production Grant.

David Cotterrell has been conducting investigations at the Research and Development Department of immersive visual display company, SEOS, based in Burgess Hill, Surrey. Involved in the creation of some of the world’s most advanced military aviation simulators, SEOS has led technological development in the simulation of the vast horizons visible from fighter plane cockpits. The optical distortion of collimation, refined to ensure that military pilots could suspend disbelief while rehearsing missions, will provide the toolset for Cotterrell’s new work, which will attempt to consider the hidden ‘peace dividend’ of virtual warfare.

The desire to translate something of the more representative experience of conflict to the extravagant technology of the conflict simulator is the starting point for this work. Aspiring to show the waiting, the ambiguity and the quiet anxiety of the periods between violence, rather than the drama of action. this project will seek to harness the discreet privilege of the military simulator to view the most mundane experiences. With this in mind, Cotterrell journeyed to historic firing positions overlooking strategic positions in Afghanistan, climbed to the peaks that would have commanded the view across them and filmed the sublime beauty of the valleys and mountains below from the dug-out positions recently occupied by observers, machine-gunners and mortar teams.

The Arts Council England managed funds production grant is to facilitate the realisation of new work based on this research.