composed by:

Michael Takeo Magruder [v1 10.2004 : v2 06.2005]

requirements:

Internet Browser with Flash 6+ plugin and Stereo Audio

information:

Fallujah, Iraq, 31/03/2004 - According to witnesses and U.S. officials, four American 'civilians' were ambushed and shot or beaten to death by Iraqi insurgents. Townspeople mutilated the bodies of the men, dragged them through the streets, lynched them from a bridge, and burned them while crowds danced and cheered...

notes:

- The desecration of the victims' bodies was filmed in its entirety by an Associated Press camera crew.

- There was no intervention by coalition forces during the attack or the subsequent mutilations.

- The coverage of the event was highly censored on all international media networks.

- The 'civilian' casualties were mercenaries employed by Blackwater Security Consulting, of Moyock, N.C.

context:

As a consequence of technological advances, the Media now generates a 'real-time' history in which the infinitesimal lag between subject acquisition, journalistic structuring and public broadcast engenders a reflexive loop susceptible to subversive alteration. Considering the interpretive spectrum between ethical filtering of content and manipulative remixing of data, we must question the validity of the 'factual' information which permeates our everyday and consider the implications of its instantaneous dissemination. Does this new Media provide a means to accurately reflect upon the minute isolated events of which history, in an empirical sense, is composed?

Given this sociological framework, the work is not intended as a discourse on the axiom of 'the evil nature of war'. It is merely a consideration of an event we have (or have not) witnessed, and a reflection on the iconic nature of conflict in this new millennium.

source material:

www.thememoryhole.org [censored AP source footage]
www.bbc.co.uk [public domain news articles]
Azur/CORE [audio sample for version 1]

gratitude:

Tomislav + Lisa Ferenc [sustenance]
Russ Kick [information]
Andy McKeown [development]
Gustav Metzger [reflection]
Emma Puente [consciousness]
Jo-Anne Green + Helen Thorington [distribution]

supported by:

Arts Council England [version 2]