Catastrophe of Success Gouache on paper 56 x 76 cm 2025
Speed, Technology, and War
Cultural
theorist, Paul Virilio wrote extensive commentary about speed, technology, and war. His book Desert Screen: War at the Speed of Light (2002) is an English translation of an earlier 1991 French publication.
Virilio identified that the first Gulf War (1990-1991) signposted a pivotal change in the character of war. He presciently observed that in the first Gulf War the “real
environment for all important military action is no longer so much the
geographic environment, be it desert or other terrain, but rather the
electromagnetic domain” (1). The electromagnetic domain Virilio refers to is the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS), and speed of light frequencies (RF, microwave) that enable digital and cyber inter/connectivity in the earth to orbiting satellite environment. Please note, both military and civilian technologies increasingly rely upon the EMS.
Over 35 years after Virilio's observation, our current wars are a continuation of a trend he identified - speed is the mantra. While speed is often mentioned in various government, military and defence industry media, it is not a focus of critical attention. Yet, it is the underlying agitation, for example, for the Australian government's 2023 National Defence: National Defence Strategic Review, warning that "in the contemporary strategic era, we cannot rely on geography or warning time" (2). And, another note - artificial intelligence and machine learning assist in maintaining the tempo. This, of course, involves the removal or reassignment of human beings.
In 2012 Virilio observed, "For speed, its success is also its damage" and "Its success itself becomes a catastrophe." (3)
Catastrophe of Success
My painting Catastrophe of Success was inspired by my research and Virilio's prescient observations. Like most of my paintings, lines connecting various elements indicate electromagnetic signals that carry data and instructions. These 'signals' seemingly extend beyond the painting into the wider environment, drawing us all into the militarised world via various hyperconnected media.
It is important to note that in an active contemporary war zone, signal connectivity, and therefore identification of signal emissions, can mean as little as 90 seconds to ready for attack. For those in the midst of the quagmire of kinetic and signalic warfare, the bloodiness of war remains. This is why Catastrophe of Success is painted predominantly red. Speed and signal connectivity can be deadly.
The painting is a scape - a cosmic scape, a militarised scape ... It extends from the strange hands - are they human or robotic - to orbiting satellites. Various well known symbols for connectivity occupy the scape's mid zone. They are proxies for human activity. Sky-based and space-based assets complete the 'occupation'. Look closely - there are larger drones, smaller drones, and various satellites. A smartphone, situated on the far right, displays its various apps, each one allowing instantaneous access to a plethora of choices from social media to banking. The blue squares mimic the pixelated 'sky' I have painted in the background. I ask, what is real landscape and how does our understanding of landscape change in a digitised world where we constantly gaze at screens positioned 20-30 cm from our eyes?
There's much more to think about, but I'll leave that up to you. I will however, leave you with a sobering statement that 'speaks' to why techno-success in an increasingly dual-use age can be catastrophic. War Studies scholar Matthew Ford makes a blunt assessment of the smartphone in his book, War in the Smartphone Age: Conflict, Connectivity and the Crises at Our Fingertips (2025). He argues that the smartphone is now ‘a central weapon of war’ and an ‘integral part of the
kill chain’ (4).
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NEWS
I presented about my research and creative practice at the AOC Aust/NZ Convention in Canberra last week. The AOC (Old Crows) is an international non-profit professional organisation for people working in electromagnetic and information warfare capabilities.
I am pleased to report that my presentation was very well received. And, my stance that I was not there to provide answers, but to provoke questions was also openly received.
- My presentation was: The Invisible Battlespace: What Does it Look Like?
What does the 'invisible battlespace' look like? This seemingly simple question is addressed by contrasting standard digital representations/simulations of the EMS and the 'invisible battlespace' with research-informed creative visualisations. I present this contrast as a productive way to critique and perhaps shift current conceptualisations of the invisible battlespace.
For example, should the EMS be designated a domain, along with land, air, sea, cyberspace, and space? Does the beyond-human speed (and therefore time) of signal-enabled hyperconnectivity and interoperability position scale as a risk?
Focussing on signal invisibility and issues of speed, time, and scale, this presentation meets growing calls for new ways to imagine and think about war in an age where civilian and military digital and cyber technologies are increasing reliant on signals.
I opened my presentation with an image of my painting Theatre of War: Dromo-Domain. Dromology is a word Virilio developed for the study of speed. A speaker earlier in the conference had said we cannot see ourselves in total. So, I opened my presentation saying that with imagination we can try - with imagined flight we can conjure a totality beyond the screen, the sensor, the aperture. Theatre of War: Dromo-Domain, turned out to be the perfect opening slide - an image of the pale blue dot (after Sagan, Earth) ringed (satellite zone) by repeated symbols for lightspeed - c - and covered with interlocking circles representing hyperconnectivity via fake 'clouds'.
Cheers,
Kathryn
