The Desert Loops, 2005
4-channel video/audio installation,
color video w/ Dolby 5.1 Surround
audio on DVD, projectors, LCD screen
Running time: (4) Continuous loops

The Desert Loops re-visions footage from classic desert war films, focusing on the desert landscapes which form the backdrops for war and empire past and present.

Utilizing twenty-eight seconds of media, seamlessly looped on three projections and one LCD flat-panel monitor, the work borrows from several classic films where the desert landscape doubles as military theater for conflicts including World Wars 1 and 2. The films are sampled and modified (in some cases frame-by-frame) to rebuild the cracked, windswept landscapes resulting in the hypnotic and elegiac Desert Loops. The narrative context, romance and mythology of the original films are discarded in favor of both literal and allegorical presentation--and a clear allusion to the current conflicts in the Middle East.

Presented as a series of video loops picturing a stark, ominous and desolate landscape, The Desert Loops create a space for contemplation of conflict and history, while deconstructing Cinematic conventions and modes of representation.