iWreck

On 5 March 2007 a car bomb exploded at Baghdad’s Mutanabbi book market - a mixed area of Shi’ites and Sunnis. The explosion showed that violence in Iraq has reached to neutral sides. For Bazaar #3, Partizan Publik c.s. shipped the wreckage to Amsterdam and placed it on the Leidseplein. How does the meaning transform by changing the location of the wreckage? How are public fear and security in Baghdad and Amsterdam interlinked? What are ethical ways of engagement and representation?

woensdag 6 juni 2007

Workshop result: car bomb impact zone

Wreckages on the Leidseplein

Images of the car wrecks in before shipped

Car wreckage on YouTube

Check these site for short movies about the installation on the Leidseplein.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW9j8HB-geU&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Elinkselente%2Enl%2F

http://www.linkselente.nl/

dinsdag 5 juni 2007

Baghdad on the Leidseplein

The installment of the two Al Mutanabbi car wrecks provoked some intense reactions on the Leidseplein. Memories of the famous Baghdad book market, outrage over the Dutch responsibility in the Iraq war, an intimate search for empathy, while at the same time the wreck became a target for the cynical, ridicule and ideological.

Google ‘wrak leidseplein’ to get an overview of the reactions in various newspapers and broadcasters. Or take the short cut, and check the RTL news item on http://www.rtl.nl/(vm=/actueel/rtlnieuws/uitzendingen/)/system/video/html/components/actueel/rtlnieuws/volledig/miMedia/2007/week22/zo_1930_nieuws.avi_plain.xml