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Art, conflict, and the everyday - Traces of War launch event

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By: Laurie Benson

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Ribbons I, 2015. 6 bars made of various Siachen soldier’s clothing, sponge and wood. Photo credit: Baptist Coelho, Project 88, Mumbai; LAMO, Leh.

Wednesday 13th April marked the launch of the Leverhulme Artist-in-Residence hosted by the Arts and Conflict Hub and Research Centre in International Relations, Department of War Studies, King’s College London. The residency features the artist Baptist Coelho who introduced his artistic practice at the event. An exhibition entitled ‘Traces of War’ will be held in November 2016 at the Inigo Rooms. Co-curator Cécile Bourne-Farrell stressed that the exhibition is an exploratory process to ‘recalibrate our vision’, not by transcending, but engaging with the everyday experiences of war and its locations. This article explores certain themes prompted by the upcoming exhibition and discussions, namely in terms of commemoration, the everyday, and the role of artists and art in conflict.

 

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Left to Right: Baptist Coelho, Vivienne Jabri, Cécile Bourne-Farrell. (Photo Credit: Xenia Zubova)
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Council Room, King’s College London, Strand Campus. (Photo Credit: Laurie Benson)

Baptist’s presentation took the audience on a journey from locations in India and Pakistan, to the living rooms of ex-British soldiers, and memorial sites in Brighton. Since 2006 he has engaged with the India/Pakistan conflict though a project entitled Siachen Glacier, exploring the extreme conditions experienced by soldiers on the border-located glacier battlefield. Notable pieces have included Ribbons I (2015) and “I long to see some colour…” (2009) an installation piece in which empty photo frames in a soldier’s rucksack suggest that what is not visible can still be present. From tales recounted to the artist embedded with the soldiers, the claustrophobic white landscapes of the glacier framed their reality day in, day out. So often saturated by the CNN-bannered news imagery or fluorescent aerial drone aesthetics, Baptist’s work and its realisation in the gallery space also stresses the banal palettes of conflict.

 

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“I long to see some colour…”, 2009. Installation with soldier’s nylon rucksack and 70 photo frames. Photo credit: Baptist Coelho; Project 88, Mumbai; Visual Arts Gallery, Delhi. Collection: The Lekha and Anupam Poddar Collection

Working in mixed-media, from installation and photography to video, his practice draws on different textures, archival maps, booklets, interviews, and recently, gauge bandages. His aesthetic engagement prompts the viewer to consider the co-presence of different narratives; of what gets counted or not. Conflict involves human lives, bodily disposition, struggle, and the day-to-day. Focusing on objects juxtaposed in a cold display cabinet, for example, alludes to the proximity and distance of conflict and its display. How and through what frames is conflict viewed? What does an audience expect to see? What are the ethical and political implications of visibility and what is naturalised?
The role of the artist in conflict and politics has long been theorised, contested, and marketed. Art has been drawn upon to illustrate the horrors of war by academics, critics, and philosophers alike. Picasso’s Guernica is one of the most commonly cited examples. But perhaps what is also at stake is the practice, the doing. Artistic methods of researching and visualising intervene as much as they reveal; ways of working are potentially disruptive. They are also relational. Art is curated, exhibited, funded, viewed, and reviewed in contexts with audiences bringing their own frames of reference, expectations, and experiences in these processes of meaning-making. As Theodor Adorno reminds us, art works are both aesthetic and ‘social fact’.

Memories and traces of the past surface in the present, from war memorials, literature, film, and art, to personal stories passed through generations, and community claims left unrecognised in (re)articulations of the nation. How and what gets commemorated- its performance and symbolic cache- are political, intersecting the private and public. Public sites, for example museums and their collections, are not neutral but institutional spaces with bordering practices that intersect personal histories and official narrative. Baptist stresses engaging with the archive as a central part of his artistic research. The archive is active, not a relic of the past, but rather history in the present. An upcoming art project will look at the commemoration in a Brighton community for an Indian soldier fighting under the British in World War One. The recent controversies over the statue of Cecil Rhodes exemplifies the ongoing question of how a nation deals with its colonial past and what, and whom, are considered to belong. Judith Butler speaks of the ‘derealisation of loss’, of the politics and hierarchy of human experience, but Baptist’s work also suggests the possibility of thinking differently through and with art and its politics.

 

The exhibition supported by King’s Cultural Programming entitled ‘Traces of War’ will be held in the Indigo Rooms, from 26th October to December 2016.It is being curated by Professor Vivienne Jabri, Department of War Studies, and Cécile Bourne-Farrell. The exhibition will feature work by prominent artists, Jananne Al-Ani and Shaun Gladwell as well as pieces by Baptist as-yet exhibited in the UK. The residency, featuring the artist Baptist Coelho, is being supported by the Leverhulme Trust and the Delfina Foundation.
Laurie Benson is a PhD Candidate in the Department of War Studies

 

For more information about the artist please check:

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/warstudies/people/baptist/index.aspx

 

Additional Information & Media:

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/warstudies/news/newsrecords/Baptist-Coelho-launch-marks-Traces-of-War-exhibition.aspx

Strife Journal special edition now released

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Strife Journal has now launched its first Special edition based on presentations at the 2015 Strife-USFPRRG conference held in March 2015 at King’s College entitled: “A world in flux? Analysis and prospects for the U.S. in global security.” You can access the journal and individual articles here.

In this Special Issue of Strife Journal a group of young scholars from a number of prestigious research institutions offers fresh and inventive approaches and equally provocative insights into these topical questions.

This Special Issue covers a large and diverse number of topics. Special attention is paid to the analysis of the dynamics of US bilateral relations with new and traditional powers. This includes a study of US-China relations. In particular, a theoretical and practical study of the US ‘distrust’ of China’s military modernization. Another essay focuses on the ‘special relationship’ between the United States and Israel. This longstanding relationship is addressed through the distinct prism of Israel’s successive withdrawals from the Occupied Territories. A third essay analyzes the US security partnership with Turkey. The author provides a detailed picture of the ‘fruitful’ frictions that arose in the US military, defense, and intelligence relations with Turkey during the decade of the Erdogan cabinet.

Moreover, this Special Issue features analyses of adaptive tools in foreign policy. A first essay engages in a study of US military assistance as a time-honored component of US foreign policy toward Iraq. Special attention is paid to US military assistance since the Islamic State’s seizure of the Iraqi town of Mosul in 2014. A second essay addresses Professional Military Education as a soft power asset in US foreign policy. It considers international training and education programs as important tools used by the United States to create an intricate web of influence on international, regional, and local levels across a range of key organizations and individual actors. Finally, this Special Issue covers specific policies within the broader remit of US foreign policy. These include a study of the US policy of “pivoting” to Asia. Here, the author uses Marxist theories of imperialism and systemic rivalries between capitalist states to explain the US response to China’s rise as a regional competitor.

Given the impressive breadth and diversity of coverage, there is little doubt that this collection of essays will be of real interest to a wide range of readers inside and outside of academia.

Positions on Strife editorial board open for applications

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Strife logo

Thanks to the hard work of our 2014-15 editorial board, talented contributors and the enthusiastic support of our readers and collaborators, Strife is continuously growing and now reaches over 80,000 readers across 150 countries. Our readership includes fellow students and researchers, academics, and professionals working in the government, NGO, military, and security spheres (amongst others). With the beginning of a new academic year, we are seeking a number of talented and enthusiastic individuals from within the King’s War Studies Department to join our editorial board for the 2015-16 academic year.

Strife’s thematic focus is ‘conflict’ in all shapes, forms and senses of the word. We combine political, historical, literary, and philosophical approaches to conflict for our readers through blog and journal articles, as well as unique formats like photo essays, film and art reviews. We aim to provide thought-provoking, unique perspectives in all our work, which is featured on Strife Blog and Strife Journal. For more information about Strife, see our About page, or browse through our website.

Strife offer’s the opportunity to our Editorial Team to get practical experience writing, editing, peer-reviewing, organizing major conferences and being part of a dynamic team within the department.

We are currently accepting applications for the following positions:

  • Managing Editor for Strife Blog (1)
  • Senior Editors (3 at PhD level)
  • MA Editor and representative (1)
  • BA Editor and representative (1)
  • Editor - Strife Series (4 at MA or PhD level)
  • Social media coordinator (1)

If you are interested in any of the above positions, please send any questions, or your CV and a cover letter to [email protected]. The heading can be referenced as ‘Editorial Board application’ and the position being applied for.

Deadline for applications is September 25, 2015.

We look forward to getting you involved with Strife.

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9 March 2015, Strife event: ‘Frontline Ukraine: Crisis in the Borderlands', Presentation by Professor Richard Sakwa

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Professor Richard Sakwa, University of Kent: ‘Frontline Ukraine: Crisis in the Borderlands’. Event organised by Strife, with the participation of the BISA Russian and Eurasian Security Research Group.

WHEN: Monday, 9 March 6:00 – 7:30,

WHERE: Pyramid Room (K4U.04), King’s Building, Strand Campus, King’s College London, WC2R 2LS

DESCRIPTION: The ongoing crisis in Ukraine has brought the world to the brink of a new Cold War. Following the Russian expansion in Crimea and as the conflict in Eastern Ukraine rages on, relations between Vladimir Putin and the West have reached an all-time low. How did we get here?

In his latest book, Professor Richard Sakwa unpicks the context of conflicted Ukrainian identity and of Russo-Ukrainian relations and traces the path to the recent disturbances through the events which have forced Ukraine, a country internally divided between East and West, to choose between closer union with Europe or its historic ties with Russia.

In providing the first full account of the ongoing crisis, Sakwa analyses the origins and significance of the Euromaidan Protests, examines the controversial Russian military intervention and annexation of Crimea, reveals the extent of the catastrophe of the MH17 disaster and looks at possible ways forward following the October 2014 parliamentary elections. In doing so, he explains the origins, developments and global significance of the internal and external battle for Ukraine.

With all eyes focused on the region, Richard Sakwa unravels the myths and misunderstandings of the situation, providing an essential account of the struggle for Europe’s contested borderlands.

Richard Sakwa is Professor of Russian and European politics at the University of Kent, where he also served for a number of years as the head of the Department of Politics and International Relations. He is one of the leading UK experts in Soviet and post-Soviet affairs and has written and edited a number of books and articles on the subject. Among his many accolades, Professor Sakwa is Associate Fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, a member of the Advisory Boards of the Institute of Law and Public Policy in Moscow, a member of the Eurasian Political Studies Network and a member of Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences. His current research interests include democratic development in Russia, the nature of post-Communism, and the variety of global challenges facing the former communist countries.

Richard Sakwa, Frontline Ukraine: Crisis in the Borderlands, Published by I.B.Tauris, December 2014. New from £18.99 (Hardback). ISBN: 9781784530648.

Event: Wednesday, December 10: "Critical Masses: The People in Policing and Warfare." Strife and New Jersey’s Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness

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WHEN: Wednesday, December 10, 2014. 3:00 pm – 4:00pm

WHERE: King’s College London, War Studies Meeting Room, K6.07

DESCRIPTION:

The world of policing and military operations seems increasingly complex when compared to past generations. The speed and reach of modern communications, evolving expectations of government and other entities competing for legitimacy all make it more likely that events can rapidly gain strategic significance and global reach.

The implications of these complex environments can range from an increase of terrorism recruiting (the Abu Ghraib prison scandal), political instability (Arab Spring or the Occupy Movement) or damage to business and government institutions (the rise of political hactivism and the 2011 England riots).

In all these cases, individuals and their communities have assumed an increasingly important role in the use and effectiveness of force. From the British policing model founded upon “consent” of the population to the confusion over the importance of Hearts and Minds in contemporary conflicts, gaining or maintaining the popular allegiance has been a goal.

This talk will highlight the historical place of the people in both warfare and policing, arguing that the strategic implications of whom they support and why it is critical, if not always well understood or pursued.

A 10-15 minute Q&A with the speaker as well as practitioners in the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security will follow.

FEATURED SPEAKER:

Jill S. Russell | Military Historian, King’s College London

Jill S. Russell is a military historian completing her Doctoral dissertation on logistics and strategic culture in the War Studies Department at King’s College London. She holds an MPhil in Military History from George Washington University and an MA in International Relations from SAIS. She has been a defense consultant in Washington, DC, working with both the services and the Department of Defense on matters of military policy. She also has experience in military education, to include instruction in Strategy and Policy and research for coursework in Joint Military Operations. Her writing has appeared in professional military journals, the Telegraph, and she is a frequent contributor to the King’s College family of blogs. Her current research on the nexus of policing, warfare and the people is an outgrowth of an interest in counterinsurgency and forms one part of a larger perspective on future security issues.

MODERATOR:

Dean Baratta | Intelligence Analyst, OHSP

Dean Baratta has over 20 years of intelligence experience within the military, law enforcement and homeland security spheres on a wide range of threats.

ABOUT OHSP:

The Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness helps to direct prevention, detection, protection, response, and recovery planning, not only at the state level, but also at the regional and national levels with our varied partners. In addition to coordinating their efforts with other state agencies, they have a critical role in the national and regional arenas to help shape state and inter-state homeland security policy and practices. OHSP is led by Director Chris Rodriguez and comprised of two Divisions, the Division of Intelligence and Division of Preparedness, and seven bureaus.

ABOUT STRIFE:

Strife is a graduate student-led dual format publication, based out of the Department of War Studies, King’s College London. It comprises the present blog, as well as a peer-reviewed academic journal, published biannually. Our thematic focus is ‘conflict’ in all shapes, forms and senses of the word. We combine political, historical, literary, and philosophical approaches to conflict (among other things) for our readers. We aim to provide thought-provoking, unique perspectives in all our work.

DISCLAIMER: Any views or opinions presented in this webinar are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness (OHSP).