Exhibition
Recording Iraq
7 Feb 2007 – 31 Mar 2007
Regular hours
- Wednesday
- 11:00 – 18:00
- Thursday
- 11:00 – 18:00
- Friday
- 11:00 – 18:00
- Saturday
- 11:00 – 18:00
- Sunday
- 11:00 – 18:00
- Tuesday
- 11:00 – 18:00
Address
- 16 Narrow Quay
- Bristol, BS1 4QA
- Bristol
England - BS1 4QA
- United Kingdom
Travel Information
- Most city centre bus services stop within walking distance of Arnolfini. The nearest stops are at The Centre and Queen Square.
- Arnolfini is a 15 minute walk from Bristol Temple Meads railway station. A taxi rank can be found outside the station.
About
In 2003, just before the coalition invasion of Iraq, independent film producer Michael Burke purchased satellite time from Reuters and made an open request for video recordings made on the ground during the first weeks of the ensuing war. As the conflict continued Burke travelled to Iraq making contacts and establishing a network of paid and volunteer sources. Contributors - including civilians, human shields, aid workers, photojournalists and amateur operators with varying skills and expectations of the power of the video image - witnessed tragedy and atrocity, humour and defiance; producing tapes that range from the mundane and commonplace to the sensational and unique.KSA have followed the development of this archive for three years; cataloguing tapes, researching its use and considering how this material might be seen, or displayed outside conventional formats. Recording Iraq presents over 200 hours of unedited footage, alongside transcripts from recorded interviews with Burke which describe the frustrations, dangers and contradictions inherent in trying to record, collect and place material such as this within the public realm. KSA's approach is to examine the criteria we employ to select and edit such material, and reflect back upon our own implication in the ways in which it is re-presented.
There will be live translation of the tapes: Arabic - English, English - Arabic, taking place in the gallery every Saturday.