{"id":28469,"date":"2015-05-09T14:22:11","date_gmt":"2015-05-09T18:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artoronto.ca\/?p=28469"},"modified":"2015-05-25T21:04:37","modified_gmt":"2015-05-26T01:04:37","slug":"rita-leistner-quest-for-marshall-mcluhan-in-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/?p=28469","title":{"rendered":"Rita Leistner’s Quest for Marshall McLuhan in Afghanistan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Rita Leistner, Easy target, 2011,\u00a0digital c-print \u00a9 Rita Leistner \/ Basetrack<\/p>\n

When Toronto-based photojournalist and war photographer Rita Leistner embarked on a military embed in the Hemland province of Afghanistan in 2010, she brought with her an iPhone – one of the first of its kind.\u00a0She wanted\u00a0to experience the perils of war in\u00a0Afghanistan first-hand, and perhaps most crucially, to understand the twenty-first century need to be part of\u00a0a \u2018digital tribe\u2019. She went to\u00a0Afghanistan as a member of the experimental social media initiative, Basetrack.\u00a0During her time overseas, Leistner adapted to taking photographs with smartphone alone. She\u00a0produced images of breathtaking mountainous landscapes flanked by military camps and impactful reminders of the Taliban\u2019s\u00a0presence in the form of barren villages and handwritten signs of caution.\u00a0The rapid editing of these photographs with the super-heightened Hipstamatic application and ensuing posting to twitter for all the world to see, left Leistner dissatisfied with the ephemeral nature of the project, finding herself desperately craving the “process” traditionally associated with developing photographs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0Rita Leistner, Proceed at your own risk, 2011,\u00a0digital c-print text panel\u00a0\u00a9 Rita Leistner \/ Basetrack<\/p>\n

And so process she did.\u00a0 Her current exhibit\u00a0Looking for\u00a0Marshall McLuhan in Afghanistan<\/em>, is a convergence of old and new technologies, effectively working to preserve the visual history of mankind.\u00a0With the help of printer-extraordinaire Bob Carnie, thirty of Leistner\u2019s original smartphone photographs are made tangible and permanent through a nineteenth century palladium printing technique with applied tri-colour gum bichromate. Panels depicting the palladium printing process are also included in the exhibition. These prints are the first of their kind, having the capacity to survive as many as twenty generations.\u00a0For centuries to come they will continue to serve as some of the artefacts of the war in Afghanistan.\u00a0Leistner explains how all technology, when pushed to its extreme, reverts to old technology. While the Hipstamatic application is merely an algorithm referencing traditional photography through its retro and antique filters, Leistner and Carnie\u2019s prints offer spectators an authentic and tangible sense of nostalgia.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Rita Leistner, Afghanistan, 2011,\u00a0digital c-print \u00a9 Rita Leistner \/ Basetrack<\/p>\n

What I find to be most striking about the collection of prints is the unique interplay between the technology and the war they portray.\u00a0Marshall McLuhan is known to have said, \u201cEvery new technology necessitates a new war,\u201d and when one experiences Leistner\u2019s series of photographs it becomes evident that the smartphone has itself become a piece of military technology.\u00a0There is a remarkable element of honesty in her works which points out all parties\u2019 uncertainty around working within this new technological context.\u00a0The military\u2019s hesitancy, for example, to allow journalists to instantaneously post images on social media sites is coupled with Leistner\u2019s unfamiliarity with the iPhone\u2019s amateur camera.\u00a0Moreover, the subjects captured in a number of her works are required to learn how to engage with this new military equipment. The photograph depicting two American marines alongside two Afghan National Army soldiers exemplifies the different relationships that are to be had with the smartphone.\u00a0While the Afghan soldiers deliberately pose square to the picture\u2019s frame, signifying an absolute awareness of the technology, the American marines turn away so as to appear nonchalant, but are, in effect, posing nonetheless.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Rita Leistner, Different ways of posing for the camera, 2011, palladium print \u00a9 Rita Leistner \/ Basetrack<\/p>\n

And while one could argue that the evolution of technology has only hindered the possibility of authentic human connection, that posting to twitter images of makeshift petrol stations on the Afghan roadside only serves to, what Leistner calls, \u201cFeed the beast,\u201d the photographic series reveals an unexpected exchange between the Afghan and the American.\u00a0Photographs taken from inside a mud spattered military vehicle accurately capture the conventional American perception of war and those who live among it.\u00a0Amidst the dirt, two young Afghan children, eyes full of curiosity, peer into the windows of an equally unkempt\u00a0 perception of America.\u00a0Such an image reveals how very little difference there is between people, that although the outlook of both sides has been tainted by the failed war in Afghanistan, beauty persists \u2014 here, in the inextinguishable spirit of childhood.\u00a0Leistner\u2019s collection demonstrates that human connection ultimately prevails, even\u00a0in our high-tech world.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Rita Leistner, Through the windows of an armored vehicle, 2011,\u00a0digital c-print \u00a9 Rita Leistner \/ Basetrack<\/p>\n

Vanessa Zeoli<\/p>\n

*Exhibition information:\u00a0Looking for\u00a0Marshall McLuhan in Afghanistan by Rita Leistner, <\/em>April 15 – May 13, 2015, Dylan Ellis Gallery, 1840 Danforth Ave, Toronto. Gallery hours: Mon \u2013 Fri 9 \u2013 5, Sat \u2013 Sun 10 \u2013 4 p.m. “Talk Redux”, Rita Leistner will give a final talk on May 12, 6:30 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Vanessa Zeoli<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leistner’s current exhibit Looking for Marshall McLuhan in Afghanistan<\/em>, is a convergence of old and new technologies, effectively working to preserve the visual history of mankind.<\/p>\n

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