Tomáš Kajánek

Shooting Adventure

2021,
HD video, 17’38’’

Tomáš Kajánek made the observational documentary film Shooting Adventure during his internship in Israel. Set in Israeli Counter Terror & Security Academy Caliber 3 located in the occupied Palestinian territory, it depicts military instructors conducting training for a group of American tourists on dealing with a terrorist attack. Kajánek, uses a body-mounted GoPro camera to film the training, which includes shooting at dummies simulating terrorists, practice with imitation machine guns, along with a briefing on how to behave in such situations. Although the event is designed as an experiential «attraction», viewers cannot fail to notice the pronounced political context, especially in the instructor’s remarks about Palestine. Kajánek does not comment on the situation in any way; he merely documents and transfers it to the space of contemporary art. While he seems to forgo commentary, his choice of situation and its transmission point to the pervasive aestheticization of violence and the biased political frameworks we use in reading it. In the context of the Kyiv Biennale, it is thus a critical commentary on forms of neo-colonialism and suggests parallels with the contemporary geopolitical situation. (František Fekete)