Press Release January 15, 2009
As part of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media presents Stefaan Decostere’s installation WARUM2.0.
WARUM 2.0: Image – War – Impact
Jan. 21–Feb. 1, 2009
12–7 p.m.
Admission €3
Location: V2_, Eendrachtsstraat 10, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
The installation WARUM 2.0 is a sequel to the film Warum Wir Männer die Technik so Lieben by Stefaan Decostere and cultural philosopher Paul Virilio, which is also being screened at the festival. This 1985 film about the relationship and impact of visual technology and war is as timely as ever, in light of the images that reach us daily through the media.
The installation takes the form of an arena, an installation of installations, an exciting and yet tragic space where nothing is as it seems. Semitransparent projection screens are arranged in a spiral shape around a central panorama on which images are projected in 360˚. Pictures of war victims surround the visitor in a constant atmosphere of tension and disruption. WARUM 2.0 contains various interactive tools the visitor can use to influence the installation and make him- or herself a part of the artwork virtually or physically. The images in the installation come from documentaries by Belgian cameraman Daniel Demoustier. Demoustier shot all the material in Darfur, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Kosovo and Haiti during missions for Doctors without Borders and ITN news.
Rutger Wolfson will officially open the installation at 5 p.m. on January 22. Stefaan Decostere and staff will be present at the opening.
The exhibition of WARUM 2.0 in Rotterdam is made possible in part by the city of Rotterdam’s arts and culture department (Dienst Kunst en Cultuur), Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds for Zuid-Holland and the Ministry of the Flemish Community.
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