AN602: Tsar Bomba, Single Channel Video, 03:21 color/sound
The work AN602: Tsar Bomba is a video of manipulated archival footage from the Russian AN602 Hydrogen Bomb Test. This test remains the largest artificial explosion in human history. The flash point of the explosion from the test footage has been slowed down and re-edited to pulsate and go through subtle color shifts before the footage resumes and the mushroom cloud appears. The video was devised with a desire to create a more nuanced, contemplative, and anti-spectacular image of nuclear weapons. The video visually and metaphorically addresses the limits of vision inherent in the development and deployment of these weapons.
Brandon Bauer is a Wisconsin-based artist. He uses art as a space for critical and ethical inquiry, discourse and dialog. His work explores themes of social justice, capitalism, consumerism, democracy, war and critical histories embedded in cultural ephemera. His work employs photography, video, collage, drawing, installation and collaborative produced projects. Brandon has exhibited work in the Aces(s) electronic media festival in Pau, France, The European Media Arts Festival in Osnabruck, Germany and at Project 101 in Paris among several other national and international venues. Brandon’s work has been produced in DVD editions, used as illustration for various editorial publications and books and has been published in poster editions.
