War List CODEX 2023
Online Database, part of WAR ROOM ECHO
The War List CODEX, is an online open-access database published in 2023. It is a consolidation of the research conducted by the artist since 2014 – a searchable database of over 7500 ‘wars, battles, sacks, sieges, revolts, revolutions, bombings, insurgencies, protests’ and other types of conflicts – ranging from 3500 BC to the present.
The War List CODEX – in its multiple iterations, as an archive, performance, publication, and now as an online searchable database – is a core component of WAR ROOM ECHO: Regarding the Pain of Other Cyborgs, envisioned as a hybrid museum, shapeshifting between an archaeological site, a war memorial, and a tomb. The title of the project refers to Susan Sontag’s seminal book – ‘Regarding the Pain of Others’, where she questions the validity of decontextualized representation of pain and suffering in ‘war photography’.
Link to database here
In this online and open-access database, each tablet represents a conflict entry, where dots on it mark the number of belligerents or sides that were active in the conflict. For example, conflicts may have two sides, A against B, but also up to 5 sides have been documented in certain conflicts.
The left panel displays the timeline from 3500 BC to the present. Conflicts are no longer fragmented in normalised methods of separation by time periods, countries, nation-states, or geo-political locations, but instead are listed in a singular time-flow of human history.
The right panel displays a typology of conflict, along with a search interface to explore the conflicts. Each conflict may be categorised and colour-coded into 1 or more of 10 main categories: Theatre, War, Battle, Genocide, Sack and Siege, Revolts and Revolutions, Insurgency, Bombing, Campaign, and Occupation. It is further subdivided into 37 different types of conflict.