Staphorst Ammunition Depot, Overijssel, from the Dutch Landscape series
Mishka Henner, Belgian, born 1976
2011
Archival pigment print
Overall: 34 1/2 × 31 3/8 in. (87.6 × 79.7 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Mrs. Harvey P. Hood W'18 Fund; Selected by participants in the seminar "Museum Collecting 101": Jonathan A. Busam, Class of 2017; Amy Chang, Class of 2016; Xiyue (Bonita) Chen, Class of 2016; Tangent Ting Cheung Cheng, Class of 2016; Sharon J. Cho, Class of 2017; Byrne Hollander, Class of 2017; Felicia B. Jia, Class of 2016; Suhyeon Kim, Class of 2019; Catherine M. Most, Class of 2016; Eva M. Munday, Class of 2016; Julia M. Pomerantz, Class of 2016; Katherine C. Schreiber, Class of 2018; Joseph Wang, Class of 2016; Nancy L. Wu, Class of 2016; Regina L. Yan, Class of 2019; Eun Kyung Yoon Class of 2019
© Mishka Henner
2016.23
Geography
Place Imaged: Netherlands, Northwestern Europe, Europe
Place Made: Belgium, Europe
Period
21st century
Object Name
Photograph
Research Area
Photograph
Not on view
Label
This work from the Dutch Landscape series documents an ammunition depot captured on Google Earth using satellite imagery. The image shows the depot redacted using an array of painterly polygons the Dutch government created for security purposes. When Google Earth was introduced in 2005, satellite imagery of the entire planet became freely accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. This sudden visibility created concerns among many governments that required Google—or its image suppliers—to obscure details of sites deemed vital to national security. While most nations employ standard techniques, such as blurring or pixilation, the Dutch chose to conceal hundreds of sites—including royal palaces, army barracks, and fuel depots—with bold, multicolored polygons. The colorful method used to censor this image draws attention to the sites meant to be hidden, revealing the extreme fear of terror that has dominated the cultural landscape since the advent of such technology. Henner’s image also suggests that the different aesthetic approaches to censoring highly securitized sites taken by various countries may reveal aspects of their national identities. From the 2019 exhibition A Space for Dialogue 95, Creating Knowledge and Control, curated by Annabelle Bardenheier '19, Conroy Programming Intern
Course History
SART 29, Photography I, Christina Seely, Spring 2019
SART 30/SART 75, Photography II/III, Virginia Beahan, Spring 2022
Exhibition History
A Space for Dialogue 95, Creating Knowledge And Control, Annabelle Bardenheier, Class of 2019, Conroy Intern, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, August 10-September 22, 2019.
Publication History
Annabelle Bardenheier, Class of 2019, Conroy Intern, A Space for Dialogue 95, Creating Knowledge And Control, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2019.
Provenance
Bruce Silverstein, New York, New York; sold to present collection, 2016.
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