Touching Reality — Blog Week 14
Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn’s video piece Touching Reality (2012) presents the viewer with gruesome imagery of gore. The viewer watches as a hand swipes through photo after photo of mutilated dead bodies, appearing to be casualties of war.
In the accompanying exhibition text, Thomas Horschhorn discusses the importance of looking at images of destroyed human bodies in understanding the reality and impact of war. These images appear shocking because western audiences are not used to seeing images of dead bodies, which Horschorn points out is deliberate — “Death has the tendency to encourage a depressing view of war” — he quotes former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, going on to explain this is the reason of why Western media has strayed away from these depictions. Horschorn’s intention in showing these images is to make the horrors of war visible, to contest the narrative of glorification pushed by Western powers.
Horschhorn also touches on the importance of the source of the images. The images share the qualities Hito Steyerl (2009) describes in her essay In Defense of the Poor Image - these are witness accounts shared online, low resolutions almost optimised for circulation. Images of death made public to share a glimpse into somebody’s reality.
The video emblemises Western disassociation from the reality of violence and war that they are directly responsible for and involved in. There is a sense of voyeurism and removal present in the interaction of swiping through the disturbing imagery — even though the imagery of death and injury is extremely disturbing, the interaction of swiping through them is so detached and removed from the reality that they show.
This detachment has been especially significant since October 2001, when the US military launched their first drone strike in Afghanistan, beginning an era of proxy war (Sabbagh, 2019).
While Touching Reality offers a starting point at provoking empathy and understanding, it’s important to note that the artwork also faces limitations, being situated in the context of Western gaze, from the detachment and safety of the Western gallery space. We need to understand that the artwork cannot do justice to the lived experiences which they depict.
Thomas Hirschhorn (2012) Touching Reality. https://vimeo.com/55482318
Thomas Hirschhorn (2013) Why Is It Important — Today — To Show and Look at Images of Destroyed Human Bodies? https://ima.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/thomas_hirschhorn_touching_reality.pdf
Hito Steyerl (2009) In Defense of the Poor Image. https://www.e-flux.com/journal/10/61362/in-defense-of-the-poor-image/
Dan Sabbagh (2019) Killer drones: how many are there and who do they target? https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/nov/18/killer-drones-how-many-uav-predator-reaper#:~:text=Predator%20and%20Reaper%20drones%20have,%2C%20Yemen%2C%20Libya%20and%20Syria
