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RE:THE_OPERATION

Paul Chan

2002 00:27:30 United StatesEnglishColorStereo4:3
Tags:
Animation, Crime or Violence, Media Analysis, Middle East, Politics

Description

Based on a set of drawings that depict George W. Bush's administration as wounded soldiers in the war against terrorism, RE:THE_OPERATION explores the sexual and philosophical dynamics of war through the lives of the members as they physically engage each other and the "enemy." Letters, notes, and digital snapshots "produced" by the members on their tour of duty become the basis of video portraits that articulate the neuroses and obsessions compelling them toward an infinite war. Part M*A*S*H*, part Three's Company, part philosophical meditation (with a dash of character assassination thrown in) RE:THE_OPERATION exists as a single channel video and a set of desktop replacement icons for MAC and PC.

"The public to which Mr. Chan’s video speaks is mostly anti-war, although whatever your views on the conflict, you cannot help laughing at what appears to be the voice of Colin Powell reading from the writings of Michel Foucault on the inevitability of history, or Condoleeza Rice at the front line dictating a letter to her family back home. My favorite is a voice sample of Donald Rumsfeld saying, 'We must learn to live with low-density hope.'"

— Benjamin Genocchio, The New York Times (3/30/03)

This title is also available on the DVD box set Tin Drum Trilogy.

About Paul Chan

Paul Chan lives and works in New York. His work has been exhibited widely in many international shows including: Making Worlds, 53rd Venice Biennale, 2009; Medium Religion, ZKM, Karlsruhe, 2008; Traces du sacrê, Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2008; 16th Biennale of Sydney, 2008; 10th International Istanbul Biennial, 2007; and Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2006. Recent solo exhibitions include: My laws are my whores, Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, 2009; Paul Chan: Three Easy Pieces, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard University, Cambridge, 2008; Paul Chan: The 7 Lights, Serpentine Gallery, London, and New Museum, New York, 2007–2008; Paul Chan—Lights and Drawings, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. 

In 2002, Chan was a part of Voices in the Wilderness, an American aid group that broke U.S. sanctions and federal law by working in Baghdad before the U.S. invasion and occupation. In 2004 he garnered police attention for The People's Guide to the Republican National Convention, a free map distributed throughout New York to help protesters to get in or out of the way of the RNC. In 2007, Chan collaborated with the Classical Theatre of Harlem and Creative Time to produce a site-specific outdoor presentation of Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot in New Orleans. Chan’s essays and interviews have appeared in Artforum, Frieze, Flash Art, October, Tate etc, Parkett, Texte Zur Kunst, Bomb, and other magazines and journals. Chan's books are available at Badlands Unlimited.

Chan was awarded the Hugo Boss Prize in 2014.

Badlands Unlimited

Greene Naftali Gallery

National Philistine