VOP Issue 32: War Machine

Attention! War is "right before your eyes"!

From the development of telescopes, aiming sights, periscopes, and camera equipment to radar, satellites, drones, and visual sensing technology, there is a close, synchronized link between the history of optics, photography, and warfare. As philosopher Paul Virilio pointed out, the light of enlightenment brought photography and cameras, continuous photography and cinema, automated weapons, optical military equipment for both reconnaissance and attack, bombing exchanges involving audiovisual perception, and the intense illumination of "light" after a nuclear explosion... Recalling the intimate relationship between war and photography, cinema, and video games, how they have inherited from and co-evolved with each other, it's not surprising at all – because visual machines are war machines.

In this issue, Kao Chung-Li examines the history of the development of optics and sensing technology, exploring how audiovisual battles, extended from the military-industrial complex, have evolved into optical battlefields dominated by ACG warfare and remote sensing, and how they have changed the perceptual patterns of future wars. Through the light bursts of gunpowder and photographic exposure, the firing of bullets and the capture of images, Hsu Chun-Yi analyzes the hidden war genes in photography, deducing the genealogical connection where "what is seen is destruction." Li Li-Chun re-explores the history of aerial reconnaissance photography, which began in the mid-19th century and rapidly expanded during World War I, searching for how the world transformed into technical images requiring interpretation and translation. Sun Song-Rong uncovers, through video art, the high-resolution "God's eye" deployed layer upon layer by satellites, communication networks, and aerospace technology. Under the meticulously connected power, real-time monitoring, and violent threats brought by vertical dimensions, war has evidently begun in our daily lives.

Meanwhile, Yen Wang-Yun delves into the interfaces of information visualization and the representation of war through artist Sung Tieu's drone patrol vision, John Gerrard's simulated military base drawings and computational reconstructions, and the investigative mapping and modeling of the Ukrainian-Russian conflict by the art collective Forensic Architecture, which collected massive amounts of digital audio-visual files and geographical data. Hsieh Pei-Chun describes Trevor Paglen's long-distance photography, showing how "blur" serves as an armament for national military secrets and a visual strategy of the visible invisible. The "Artist's Showcase" section features an interview with Lee Li-Chung, sharing his creative series inspired by his pigeon-keeping experience, exploring his narrative imagination that, through mimicking military pigeon aerial reconnaissance and fictional documents, aims to uncover Taiwan's aerial combat history and the cultural politics of pigeon racing.

In addition, this issue also introduces rare camera guns, optical weapons, and "Camera Comics" published during World War II; it also unveils photographic archives from the 1960s of American troops stationed in Vietnam during the Vietnam War, who massively visited Taiwan for "rest and recuperation programs," re-examining the subtle frontline memories and war economy under the immense shadow of history. At the same time, it specially introduces the critical concepts of renowned contemporary French philosopher Marie-José Mondzain on visual culture studies and includes an exclusive interview with her, exploring the connections between images, desire, subjectivity, collective identity, and the socio-cultural environment, and how images act as dynamic elements displaying power, and how we can resist visual totalitarianism. Furthermore, the "Photobook Production Scene" series features unique book-making practices by Shumisha, located in Kyoto, which emphasizes printing and processing creativity.

Editor's report concluded. At ease, please continue reading after the break!