exorbitant privilege
Queens Museum, New York City
November 2018

What is the relation between power (i.e. military-industrial complex - say, nuclear weapons testing/manufacture) and the shibboleths capitalism conditions us to accept, often un-questioningly? For instance, the house as fundament of existence and happiness, central to the 'American way of life'. This project was sort of a homage to Peter Watkins and others in the essay-film genre, but also references things like software that weren't available to them, which (through surveillance, for instance) seem to add a peculiarly corporate angle to garden-variety state oppression.

'Exorbitant Privilege', an essay-film in 6 video chapters plus software and installation. Total running time for videos 63m, software runs indefinitely. Commissioned for Queens International Biennial (NYC, 2018, Curators: Baseera Khan and Sophia Marisa Lucas), subsequently shown at Noorderlicht International Photography Exhibition (Groningen, 2019), Vivid Projects UK (Birmingham, 2019).

Installation shots bottom of page, courtesy of the Queens Museum. Video parts 4 & 5 shown below.

Queens International 2018 biennial website

Solaris/X11 web desktop built for Queens International 2018