Apparent Horizon

Immersive generative projection system

The virtualised vistas of Afghanistan have become the most popular sites for warfare training software. As civilians, our curiosity is sated with Microsoft flight simulators offering nighttime landings in Kandahar and ‘Full-Spectrum Warrior’. Developed with military grants, these windows into the country offer it up as a site for commercial entertainment. The dislocation of place, its mediation, isolation and misrepresentation have become key to both my memory and understanding of a military and civilian experience of this country.

Military agendas and budgets have led to the creation of optical systems that appears to have an almost romantic point of convergence with art history’s obsession with the Sublime. The optical distortion immersive spherical projection and of collimation, refined to ensure that military pilots could suspend disbelief while rehearsing missions, provides the toolset for this work, which consider the hidden ‘peace dividend’ of virtual warfare.

The impossibility of the printed or projected image to transcend its paper or fabric support, is challenged by the curved mirrors and projection technology of a customised Euro-Fighter simulator. The challenge to the viewers' empathic engagement with the inhabitants of a landscape, far below the awe of the aerial perspective is the subject of this installation,

Materials:

Twin custom-fabricated hemispheric display screens, spherical mirrors, 2 x HD projectors and MacPro array running custom software.

With enormous thanks to:

Hydar Dewachi
Jan Wedekind
Robert Jeffries

Stephen Foster, Ros Carter, Julian Grater, Zoha Zokaei and colleagues at John Hansard Gallery

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