|
Suzanne
Treister NATO
2004-2008 Publication: |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
NATO's codification system allows it to describe and classify large parts of the world around us. Items as diverse as perfume, battleships, animals, electronic equipment and musical instruments are ordered and represented in a way that make them comprehensible and accessible to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation so that they can be articulated and used by the Military. |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Within
the codification system the NATO Supply Classification (NSC) uses
a four-digit coding structure. The first two digits of the code
number identify the Group, eg. Group 77 - Musical Instruments, Phonographs,
and Home-Type Radios, whilst the last two digits of the code number
identify the Classes within the Group, eg. 7710 - Musical Instruments
(complete).
|
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Since
2004 I have been working with these 4 digit NATO Supply Classifications
to develop an encyclopedic series of watercolours. The project references
the Western fine art representative tradition as a systematic ordering
and understanding of the world, with attendant intentions and subtexts;
the memento mori, ideas of ownership and knowledge. Specifically
referenced is the history of watercolours as a scientific illustrative
tool.
|
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
By
conjuring these histories and narratives of representational painting
within the taxonomies of the military, the work problematises them
and brings them into the matrix of unease that constitutes our understanding
of the world today: and which indeed may be an outcome of these.
The most innocuous objects can be articulated by, or are invested
with, the possibilities of agency.
|
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|||
|
A
guide to the NATO Codification System can be found at:
http://www.nato.int/structur/AC/135/ncs_guide/english/e_index.htm |
|||
