Hundreds of people visiting Warum 2.0 during the Artefact Festival reacted very enthusiastically. Why did they? Projected portraits of war victims stared at them from all sides. The soundscape assembled out of explosions, gunfire and screams was more than disturbing. And yet, they all ‘enjoyed’ the environment. Could they, because of the arena aspect of the space? Or did they, as Michael Warner says in his book ‘Public and Counterpublics’, because ‘the publicity (of the images and sounds) was made available to them for their appropriation.’ Indeed, in this installation arena, it was not the initiators who took hold of the power of the staged media, it was left to the visitors to possess it, if so required.
Far from Impact, then, is not without any danger. Put in more constructive terms, distance from impact creates a new space and context, in which threats of media and techniques of impact can be carrried out and staged in full view.
