Challenger Jakub Vrba

The project takes its title from the Challenger V operation, a simulation of reconnaissance units in enemy controlled territory. In the swampy forests of the Czech Republic, probably somewhere between Moravia and Ji?ni Cechy, the 3rd Marine Division Reenactment Group/Vietnam 1966-67 continuously prepares for this recon operation, which hovers somewhere between live action roleplay and historical reenactment.

The main part of the installation at bb15 is a silent, digitalized super8 film that was shot whilst accompanying the 3rd MDRG in the field, alongside objects and materials produced and collected between 2012 and 2016, when the artist was working with the reenactment group.

Subjects such as duty, patriotism and honour are addressed, while the exhibition setting focuses particularly on the rituals and processes of transfiguration these subjects undergo through cinema?s specific framings.

http://jakubvrba.com/