A secret memorial for civilian casualties
-
0:01 - 0:06There's this quote by activist and punk
rock musician Jello Biafra that I love. -
0:07 - 0:10He says, "Don't hate the media.
Be the media." -
0:12 - 0:13I'm an artist.
-
0:13 - 0:18I like working with media and technology
because A, I'm familiar with them -
0:18 - 0:20and I like the power they hold.
-
0:20 - 0:23And B, I hate them and I'm terrified
of the power they hold. -
0:23 - 0:24(Laughter)
-
0:26 - 0:31I remember watching, in 2003, an interview
between Fox News host Tony Snow -
0:31 - 0:34and then-US Defense Secretary,
Donald Rumsfeld. -
0:35 - 0:38They were talking
about the recent invasion of Iraq, -
0:38 - 0:41and Rumsfeld is asked the question,
-
0:41 - 0:43"Well, we're hear about our body counts,
-
0:43 - 0:46but we never hear about theirs, why?"
-
0:47 - 0:50And Rumsfeld's answer is,
-
0:51 - 0:54"Well, we don't do body counts
on other people." -
0:55 - 0:56Right?
-
0:57 - 1:03It's estimated that between 150,000
to one million Iraqis, civilians, -
1:03 - 1:06have died as a result
of the US-led invasion in 2003. -
1:07 - 1:14That number is in stark contrast with
the 4,486 US service members who died -
1:14 - 1:15during that same window of time.
-
1:17 - 1:21I wanted to do more than just bring
awareness to this terrifying number. -
1:21 - 1:24I wanted to create a monument
for the individual civilians -
1:24 - 1:26who died as a result of the invasion.
-
1:27 - 1:31Monuments to war,
such as Maya Lin's Vietnam Memorial, -
1:31 - 1:33are often enormous in scale.
-
1:33 - 1:36Very powerful and very one-sided.
-
1:37 - 1:41I wanted my monument to live
in the world, and to circulate. -
1:43 - 1:45I remember when I was a boy in school,
-
1:45 - 1:49my teacher assigned us
this classic civics assignment -
1:49 - 1:54where you take a sheet of paper
and you write a member of your government. -
1:54 - 1:57And we were told,
if we wrote a really good letter, -
1:57 - 1:58if we really thought about it,
-
1:58 - 2:01we would get back more than just
a simple formed letter as a reply. -
2:04 - 2:06This is my "Notepad."
-
2:07 - 2:10What looks like an everyday,
yellow legal tablet of paper -
2:10 - 2:14is actually a monument
to the individual Iraqi civilians -
2:14 - 2:16that died as a result of the US invasion.
-
2:19 - 2:22"Notepad" is an act of protest
and an act of commemoration -
2:22 - 2:25disguised as an everyday tablet of paper.
-
2:27 - 2:30The lines of the paper, when magnified,
-
2:30 - 2:32are revealed to be micro-printed text
-
2:32 - 2:37that contains the details, the names,
the dates and locations -
2:37 - 2:40of individual Iraqi civilians that died.
-
2:42 - 2:46So, for the last 5 years, I've been taking
pads of this paper, tons of this stuff, -
2:46 - 2:50and smuggling it
into the stationery supplies -
2:50 - 2:53of the United States
and the Coalition governments. -
2:53 - 2:54(Laughter)
-
2:54 - 2:59(Applause)
-
3:02 - 3:06I don't have to tell you guys this is not
the place to discuss how I did that. -
3:06 - 3:08(Laughter)
-
3:09 - 3:14But also, I've been meeting one-on-one
with members and former members -
3:14 - 3:19of the so-called Coalition of the Willing,
who assisted in the invasion. -
3:19 - 3:22And so, whenever I can,
I meet with one of them, -
3:22 - 3:24and I share the project with them.
-
3:24 - 3:26And last summer, I had the chance to meet
-
3:26 - 3:31with former United States Attorney General
and Torture Memo author, Alberto Gonzales. -
3:33 - 3:35(Video) Matt Kenyon:
May I give this to you? -
3:35 - 3:36This is a special legal tablet.
-
3:37 - 3:40It's actually part
of an ongoing art project. -
3:40 - 3:42Alberto Gonzalez:
This is a special legal pad? -
3:42 - 3:44MK: Yes. You won't believe me,
-
3:44 - 3:47but it's in the collection of the Museum
of Modern Art; I'm an artist. -
3:47 - 3:50MK: And all of the lines
of the paper are actually -- -
3:50 - 3:52AG: Are they going to disappear?
-
3:52 - 3:54MK: No, they're micro-printed text
-
3:54 - 3:58that contains the names
of individual Iraqi civilians -
3:58 - 4:02who have died since the invasion of Iraq.
-
4:02 - 4:04AG: Yeah. OK.
-
4:05 - 4:06AG: Thank you. MK: Thank you.
-
4:06 - 4:08(Laughter)
-
4:08 - 4:11The way he says "thank you"
really creeps me out. -
4:11 - 4:12(Laughter)
-
4:13 - 4:16OK, so I'd like each of you
to look under your chairs. -
4:17 - 4:18There's an envelope.
-
4:21 - 4:23And please open it.
-
4:26 - 4:29The paper you're holding in your hand
-
4:29 - 4:34contains the details of Iraqi civilians
that died as result of the invasion. -
4:38 - 4:42I'd like you to use this paper
and write a member of government. -
4:42 - 4:46You can help to smuggle
this civilian body count -
4:46 - 4:48into government archives.
-
4:49 - 4:53Because every letter
that's sent in to the government, -
4:53 - 4:55and this is all across
the world, of course -- -
4:55 - 5:00every letter that is sent in
is archived, filed and recorded. -
5:01 - 5:07Together, we can put this in the mailboxes
and under the noses of people in power. -
5:07 - 5:09Everything that's sent in
-
5:09 - 5:15eventually becomes part of the permanent
archive of our government, -
5:15 - 5:17our shared historical record.
-
5:18 - 5:19Thank you.
-
5:19 - 5:22(Applause)
-
5:30 - 5:32Tom Rielly: So, tell me Matt,
-
5:32 - 5:37how did this idea
come into your head, of "Notepad"? -
5:38 - 5:40Matt Kenyon: I'd just finished a project
-
5:40 - 5:44that dealt with
the US Coalition side of the war -
5:44 - 5:48and it was a black armband that was called
the "Improvised Empathetic Device" -
5:48 - 5:51which accumulated, in real time,
-
5:51 - 5:55the names, ranks,
cause of death and location -
5:55 - 5:58of US service members
who had died overseas, -
5:58 - 6:02and each time the Department of Defense
or CENTCOM released their data, -
6:02 - 6:03it would stab me in the arm.
-
6:04 - 6:07And so, I became aware
that there was a spectacle -
6:07 - 6:10associated with our own people
who were dying overseas, -
6:10 - 6:12but a disproportionate
amount of casualties -
6:12 - 6:14were the civilian casualties.
-
6:14 - 6:15TR: Thank you so much.
-
6:15 - 6:17MK: Thank you.
-
6:17 - 6:18(Applause)
- Title:
- A secret memorial for civilian casualties
- Speaker:
- Matt Kenyon
- Description:
-
It’s estimated that 150,000 to 1 million Iraqi civilians died as a result of the US-led invasion in 2003. Artist Matt Kenyon wanted to create a monument for them. But rather than build a large stone pillar, he made his monument small in size and easily replicable. He’s spent five years sneaking it into the halls of power — including directly into the hands of a US Attorney General who held office during the war, in an exchange caught on tape.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 06:55
Brian Greene commented on English subtitles for How I snuck a memorial for Iraqi civilians into the US government | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for How I snuck a memorial for Iraqi civilians into the US government | ||
Cynthia Betubiza edited English subtitles for How I snuck a memorial for Iraqi civilians into the US government | ||
Cynthia Betubiza approved English subtitles for How I snuck a memorial for Iraqi civilians into the US government | ||
Cynthia Betubiza edited English subtitles for How I snuck a memorial for Iraqi civilians into the US government | ||
Cynthia Betubiza edited English subtitles for How I snuck a memorial for Iraqi civilians into the US government | ||
Cynthia Betubiza edited English subtitles for How I snuck a memorial for Iraqi civilians into the US government | ||
Cynthia Betubiza edited English subtitles for How I snuck a memorial for Iraqi civilians into the US government |
Brian Greene
The headline for this talk has been updated.
The new headline is: A secret memorial for civilian casualties