»All Targets Defined« 
Light Box
Light Box
© Birgit und Peter Mainz; Light object
All Targets Defined #1, #2, #3
Two pieces, each: 112 x 90cm, 56 x 90cm (tableaus), 18cm (light stick)
2 aluminium plates, UV printing, epoxy resin, light bar composed of 64 green super-bright LEDs, circuit board, eprom, power supply converte
Keywords
Information
Technology
Hardware
Two pieces, each: LED light bar, circuit board, eprom, power supply converterInstallation Requirements / Space
Two pieces, each: 112 x 90cm, 56 x 90cm (tableaus), 18cm (light stick)Material
Two pieces, each: 112 x 90cm, 56 x 90cm (tableaus), 18cm (light stick)2 aluminium plates, UV printing, epoxy resin, light bar composed of 64 green super-bright LEDs, circuit board, eprom, power supply converter
Descriptions & Essays
Ruth Schnell 24-07-2021
All Targets Defined #1, #2, #3
Series "All Targets Defined"
Light objects
The group of works with the title 'All Targets Defined' is organized under the topic of the exploration of technologies and reception of modern warfare: more advanced warfare equipment allows its users to kill at a distance. The contemporary reporting system provides us, whenever necessary, with easily consumable pictures of the crises and wars around the world by taking over the narrative of the military operation as a meticulous planned surgery. The optics of rifle-scopes and night-vision devices convey the representation of war into virtuality. The colour of modern war is no longer bloody red, but is instead represented in the greenish tone of the images of the night-vision devices in action.
The tableaus are conceptualized as diptychs. Whereas each of the left panels depicts grainy, gridded motifs of media-mediated war images captured by different cameras and locations, the second panels contain an LED bar representing expressions, numbers, dates and facts from the world of military strategists, war technology and world politics dictated by energy interests.
The Target tableaus represent a particular group of works within the light objects series.
Ruth Schnell: All Targets Defined, 24-07-2021, in: Archive of Digital Art All Targets Defined #1, #2, #3
Series "All Targets Defined"
Light objects
The group of works with the title 'All Targets Defined' is organized under the topic of the exploration of technologies and reception of modern warfare: more advanced warfare equipment allows its users to kill at a distance. The contemporary reporting system provides us, whenever necessary, with easily consumable pictures of the crises and wars around the world by taking over the narrative of the military operation as a meticulous planned surgery. The optics of rifle-scopes and night-vision devices convey the representation of war into virtuality. The colour of modern war is no longer bloody red, but is instead represented in the greenish tone of the images of the night-vision devices in action.
The tableaus are conceptualized as diptychs. Whereas each of the left panels depicts grainy, gridded motifs of media-mediated war images captured by different cameras and locations, the second panels contain an LED bar representing expressions, numbers, dates and facts from the world of military strategists, war technology and world politics dictated by energy interests.
The Target tableaus represent a particular group of works within the light objects series.
Ruth Schnell 24-07-2021
"Ruth Schnell is an untiring explorer of the borderlines between reality and the virtual worlds. Her recent project 'Beyond the screen – all targets defined' is part of a series that investigates the hidden dimensions of pictures beyond the superficial meanings we have been lulled into accepting. By decoding the real intentions and purposes behind the polished surface of the screens, the artist draws our attention to the networks of manipulation governing our lives, including the defence mechanisms protecting our affluence. The first of the two selected works depicts a scene from the war in Iraq, while the second belongs to the border between Europe and Morocco. In both diptychs, the targets are clearly defined, and the field of vision and the line of fire seem to coincide. While the green colour undermines our sensorium, the information encoded in the LEDs is supposed to bring us to our senses. Paradoxically, we can get the words only in passing, that is, by glancing away. Isn’t it representative of our times that learning the truth requires an effort not to make an effort to see what we are told to look at?"
- Ruth Schnell quoting Christoph Thun-Hohenstein in: 21 positions
Ruth Schnell: All Targets Defined, 24-07-2021, in: Archive of Digital Art "Ruth Schnell is an untiring explorer of the borderlines between reality and the virtual worlds. Her recent project 'Beyond the screen – all targets defined' is part of a series that investigates the hidden dimensions of pictures beyond the superficial meanings we have been lulled into accepting. By decoding the real intentions and purposes behind the polished surface of the screens, the artist draws our attention to the networks of manipulation governing our lives, including the defence mechanisms protecting our affluence. The first of the two selected works depicts a scene from the war in Iraq, while the second belongs to the border between Europe and Morocco. In both diptychs, the targets are clearly defined, and the field of vision and the line of fire seem to coincide. While the green colour undermines our sensorium, the information encoded in the LEDs is supposed to bring us to our senses. Paradoxically, we can get the words only in passing, that is, by glancing away. Isn’t it representative of our times that learning the truth requires an effort not to make an effort to see what we are told to look at?"
- Ruth Schnell quoting Christoph Thun-Hohenstein in: 21 positions
Literature
Thun-Hohenstein, Christoph. »Ruth Schnell, 2006.« In 21 POSITIONS, edited by Christoph Thun-Hohenstein. New York: Austrian Cultural Forum New York, 2006.
Exhibitions & Events
2009
Exhibition :
2006
Festival :