A frequent criticism leveled at much political art is that the work is simply a vehicle for the message. But that’s precisely what Polish artist Krzysztof Wodiczko is intending with his ‘War Veteran Vehicle’. He’s replaced the missile launcher on a Humvee military unit with a video and sound projector to blast out recorded messages while beaming words onto the sides of buildings – accounts by veterans of the Iraq conflict which condemn the actions of Western governments and tell of their heartbreaking difficulties in rehabilitating themselves into civilian society.
Not that Wodiczko’s project is actually performed here in the gallery. Rather, what you get are two videos documenting its main, night time iterations, in various locations in Denver in 2008, including the site of the Democratic National Convention, on behalf of homeless veterans’ groups; and in Liverpool, in 2009, projecting messages by veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress. It’s not the same as physically witnessing the event, of course and too much of the rest of the exhibition is taken up with maquettes and diagrams of the altered Humvee, which merely feels like filler. However, the videos are still effective at evoking the strange violence of the performance – particularly when the projected words are repeated a second time, accompanied by the recorded sound of gunfire ripping through the night.
Less engaging, unexpectedly, is the only actual work on display: a video projection of a solitary flame, surrounded by darkness, flickering and dancing in response to the breath of various unseen speakers – more veterans, this time narrating horrific combat experiences. It’s a nice metaphor – this notion, again, of giving voice to the politically marginalized – but unfortunately the flame’s movements are just not diverse or intricate enough to properly convey a sense of each teller’s unique, individual experience.