Geography of Domination

A poetic way of showing human violence through satellite imagery.

"Geography of Domination" is a poetic attempt to observe the materiality of human violence through the analysis of satellite images. The strategies of controlling resources, territories, and populations leave profound marks on the ground, to the extent that the world's violence can be read in the absence of humans, by examining the earth's contours and the scars left on the surface by bombings, excavations, fences and walls. These images, bordering on abstraction, blur the boundaries between large and small scales, prompting questions about the ability of new technologies to render the world more intelligible. The documentation of the images, written in collaboration with specialists, anchors these abstract images in reality.

This project explores the possibilities offered by satellite imagery : it takes the form of still images, a series of loop videos and a an interactive installation. The installations consists of a two meter LED screen equipped with a distance sensor. Videos, created from morphing several images from different dates, will scroll forward or backward depending on the distance between the visitor and the screen. In other words, the closer the visitor gets to the screen, the further they advance through time.

It is organized in three main chapters which refers to three layers of control : 'Infrastructures' gathers images relative to control of underground ressources such as oil, gas and water. It talks about self dispossession of our food and energy supplies. 'Metastructures' refers to the control of the territory itself. It gathers images of traces of territorial conflicts and border walls. 'Superstructures' observes urbanism as a tool for controlling populations.