Cadence I

Baden Pailthorpe (b.1984) is a prominent new media artist whose work is broadly concerned with the military histories of technology and the effects of this history on the popular cultures and politics of today. In 2013 Pailthorpe was the Memorial's inaugural artist in residence. Cadence I is one of a series of four new media works which explore the relationship between warfare and the perfomative traditions and rituals of military institutions. It features an Australian soldier set within a desert landscape appropriated from the film Jarhead, an account of Operation Desert Storm. Within the landscape the soldier performs a poetic choreographed dance to a slow ambient soundtrack. His every movement leaves an imprint which tracks across the screen constantly morphing into tribalistic emblems. The effect is hypnotic and visually seductive. Talking about this work the artist states 'The movements of the collective military body can be perceived as a carefully calibrated choreography.' Conceptually and visually the 2013 Cadence series is an extension and development of an earlier series, Formations (Formation VI was acquired by the Memorial in 2012), Pailthorpe made using the military training simulation software more widely known as the video game ARMA II. Both series were created out of the artist's interest in the ways that minds and bodies are conditioned by technology. Collectively the works highlight many aspects of military life including training, discipline, repetition, and camouflage. However while Pailthorpe's Formation works present a collective of soldiers and Taliban fighters moving within the landscape the Cadence series focuses on individual soldiers. Significantly, in Cadence I the soldier is identifiably Australian.