IWM Contemporary: Omer Fast
Until 29 September 2013
IWM London
Lambeth Road, London SE1 6HZ
Hours: Daily 10am–6pm
Admission free
IWM Contemporary: Omer Fast is the first artist to feature in our new IWM Contemporary programme, presenting the London premiere of his film 5000 Feet is the Best.
5000 Feet is the Best takes its name from the optimum operational flight altitude of a US Air Force Predator drone. Based on a series of interviews conducted in a Las Vegas hotel room with a former drone operator, artist Omer Fast presents a 30-minute film on the subject of drone warfare.
Fast opens his film with an interview with the drone operator as he recounts his combat experiences of flying over Afghanistan and Pakistan. Speaking mostly off-camera, the drone operator details the psychological impact of engaging an enemy from thousands of miles away. Switching between documentary interview footage and fictionalized re-enactments, Fast creates a multifaceted and unstable sense of reality. Combined with surreal shots of suburban Nevada, the film offers a subtle exploration of how the use of drones is rapidly changing the politics, principles and personal experience of contemporary conflict.
Fast’s critical perspective on the shifting nature of contemporary warfare blurs the lines between fiction and reality, truth and memory, combat and everyday life, demonstrating the ethical complexity of one of the most hotly debated topics on the media agenda.
To find out more, visit iwm.org.uk.
About IWM Contemporary
IWM Contemporary is a new programme of exhibitions and events at IWM London by leading artists and photographers whose work is a response to war and conflict. Exhibitions within the programme include IWM Contemporary: Omer Fast (until 29 September) and IWM Contemporary: Mike Moore and Lee Craker (24 October 2013–12 January 2014), which will feature their contrasting styles in photographing conflict in Iraq from 199 to 2012.
About IWM
IWM (Imperial War Museums) tells the story of people who have lived, fought and died in conflicts involving Britain and the Commonwealth since the First World War.
Our unique Collections, made up of the everyday and the exceptional, reveal stories of people, places, ideas and events. Using these, we tell vivid personal stories and create powerful physical experiences across our five museums that reflect the realities of war as both a destructive and creative force. We challenge people to look at conflict from different perspectives, enriching their understanding of the causes, course and consequences of war and its impact on people’s lives.
IWM’s five branches attract over two million visitors each year. IWM London, our flagship branch, is transforming with new First World War Galleries and a new atrium with large object displays, which will open in summer 2014 to mark the Centenary of the First World War (Please note IWM London is partially open, and in summer 2014 the museum will fully reopen).Our other branches are IWM North, housed in an iconic award-winning building designed by Daniel Libeskind; IWM Duxford, a world-renowned aviation museum and Britain’s best preserved wartime airfield; Churchill War Rooms, housed in Churchill’s secret headquarters below Whitehall; and the Second World War cruiser HMS Belfast.