Torås Kommandoplass: observations from a dark summit
Matthew Flintham2016, Critical Military Studies
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Abstract
Torås Kommandoplasse: Observations from a dark summit Much of my artistic and written practice relates to the numerous ways in which conflict produces and redefines space. This undertaking ordinarily requires a mixed methodology of visual techniques and fieldwork to reveal the hidden or obscured dimensions of militarism. As a process it is always challenging, demanding different strategies for each unique site, and more often than not is only partially successful at interpreting the nuanced and sometimes immaterial relationships between landscape, architecture, technology and militarism. Over the past six years, I have been returning to the island of Tjøme on the Oslofjord in Norway to document a recently demilitarized zone -a process which prompted me to revisit the medium of monochrome photography to describe the zone and its curious architecture. By removing colour from these landscapes and military forms, I was hoping to diffuse the distinction between the organic and inorganic, between rocks and trees, mosses, lichens and concrete, and suggest a shared, primordial materiality. This site, which was once a Nazi artillery base and later a Cold War training facility, is a photographer's delight: a dramatic cluster of cryptic military buildings and infrastructure in a
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