LOOPS â War and Truth
Panel discussion
Summary
This talk was part of LOOPS â War and Truth, a discussion bringing together journalists, researchers, and artists to examine how truth is produced, mediated, and contested in contexts of war and political violence.
As a participant, I contributed perspectives from my research and design practice on open-source investigations (OSINT), forensic aesthetics, and the role of digital simulations and visual systems in shaping contemporary understandings of conflict. The discussion addressed how images, data, and spatial reconstructions circulate as evidence, and how they can both reveal and obscure political realities.
Drawing on experiences from researching the Middle East and working with virtual environments, I spoke about:
- the limits of objectivity in war-related imagery
- the role of design and interfaces in framing evidence
- how investigative practices shift when truth is assembled from fragments, archives, and computational systems
The conversation positioned artistic and computational practices not as illustrations of facts, but as critical tools for navigating uncertainty, propaganda, and contested narratives in modern warfare.
Realtime Affairs
Artist talk
Caption:âRealtime Affairs is a regular meet-up for artists, cultural practitioners, and creative technologists passionate about digital media, performing arts, and theory. Initiated by DOCKdigital, it offers a space for sharing knowledge, sparking collaboration, and exploring new approaches.
This edition we will focus on: The Aesthetic Construction of (Embodied) Realities
Qusay Awad, Engy El Shenawy & Federico Zurani will present selected works and insights into their technological workflows and artistic practices. Together, we will reflect on questions such as:â How do digital systems shape our perception and conception of reality?â How does this interact with, influence, or disrupt our bodies?â What happens when subjective and collective memory clash or intersect?
Amidst political failure and the instrumentalization of media in the so-called post-truth era, we examine the potential of creative practices in articulating counter-narratives as a form of resistance.
As a side note: Beforehand, our friends from @ecommemoration will host a workshop to open the day at Saal 4 and there are still seats left!Â
Admission is free, with the opportunity to support the @lemontree_collective, providing humanitarian aid for families in Gaza, Egypt, and Syria. Big thanks to @harshinijk_ for developing this format for Berlin âšâ
Matter of Simulation/Exploded Snapshot
feat. Federico Zurani
We researched how war is reported today. What methods are used to display what is happening?Â
We aimed to examine and critically assess images that claim to show objective truth, questioning their falsifiability and exploring why and how we trust them.Â
When something purports to display matters of fact, it carries moral and ethical implications. The notion of truth is intrinsically linked to ideas of responsibility, righteousness, and, in extreme cases, good and evil.
War images often fall short of conveying the true horror of conflict. Susan Sontag, in her critical analysis of war photography, argues that these images frequently serve as ideological instruments, malleable and open to exploitation by various parties. Rather than providing an unfiltered window into the realities of war, they become tools in shaping narratives and influencing public perception.
With the advancement of technology, falsifying realistic imagery has become easier. Simultaneously, satellites, scanners, and algorithms now provide previously unattainable data, enabling us to present objective truth through simulations.Â
However, those who control these methods wield the power to determine who is right and who is wrong.Â
Exibited in:
- ARS Electronica 2024 -Â https://ars.electronica.art/hope/en/exploded-snapshot/
- Fotomuseum Winthertur Plat(t)form 24 -
https://www.fotomuseum.ch/en/photographer-post/engy-el-shenawy-federico-zurani/ - Biennale B3 2024 -Â https://vp.eventival.com/b3/2024/film/1048969
feat. Federico Zurani
How do we convey objective truth through images?
Photography, video footage, scientific images, data visualizations and simulations,are some of the images considered a solid representation of facts or knowledge and therefore representative of an objective truth.
Even through a 2D image iit is always a reduction of reality, still we are keen to read these âmodelsâ as a 1 to 1 representation of real facts, and of course this attitude puts the creation of these images in a different plane of relevancy compared to the others.
The methods and contextes  involved in building images are very important in defining if the content is relevant or arbitrary. However creating an image, no matter the technique, is in first place an aesthetic process. In other words aesthetic codes that convey objective truth are built arbitrarily.
Prosthetic Futures
feat. Federico Zurani
Project Description
Prosthetic Futures is a visual research project that began as an attempt to make climate data tangible and evolved into an interactive experiment exploring how people imagine their futures in Berlin. Developed as a small-scale prototype in Unreal Engine, the project shifts from data representation toward speculative world-building â using landscapes as interfaces for thought.
Rather than presenting predictive models, the project asks: How do people visualize the futures they inhabit? What images emerge when climate, technology, and social change are translated into spatial experience?
Concept
The project proposes generative landscapes as a prosthetic tool for imagination â an extension that helps individuals articulate futures that are otherwise abstract, overwhelming, or difficult to visualize. These landscapes do not claim accuracy or neutrality; instead, they operate as speculative environments where personal intuition, collective anxiety, and desire intersect.
By framing the future as something navigable rather than fixed, Prosthetic Futures positions the viewer as an active participant in shaping possible worlds.
Interaction & Methodology
Participants engage with a curated interface where they select words or short phrases associated with future conditions â such as climate change, technological development, ecological transformation, or social structures. These inputs influence the generation of virtual landscapes in real time, producing distinct environmental scenarios.
The process emphasizes:
- interpretive rather than deterministic data translation
- embodied interaction with abstract futures
- collective variation across multiple participants
Tools & Technologies
- Unreal Engine (real-time rendering & environment generation)
- Generative systems and procedural workflows
- Custom interaction design for participatory input
Middle East in Call of Duty â Can I Recognize Home?
Project Description
This project emerges from a visual research inquiry into the representation of the Middle East in mainstream war games, with a focus on the Call of Duty franchise. While navigating virtual battlefields, I began to question how âthe Middle Eastâ is constructed as a playable environment: What visual clichĂ©s persist across time? How are houses depicted? What does a âhomeâ look like in a war game?
As someone from the region, these environments triggered a personal tension between familiarity and alienation. Architectural elements felt simultaneously recognizable and fictional â reduced to textures, ruins, and generic backdrops for conflict. This raised a central question: Can I recognize my home when it only exists as a target, a ruin, or a stage for violence?
Methodology
The project takes the form of a visual archive composed of screenshots captured inside Call of Duty games set in Middle Eastern locations. Rather than focusing on combat or action, the camera is directed toward:
- domestic architecture
- streets, walls, and interiors
- everyday objects and spatial details
By removing the playerâs usual goal-oriented perspective, the work reframes the game world as a site of observation and analysis, treating the virtual environment as an ideological construction rather than a neutral setting.
Focus of Analysis
- Repetition of architectural tropes and aesthetic clichés
- The abstraction of âhomeâ into anonymous, damaged spaces
- How regional specificity is flattened into a singular, hostile landscape
- The tension between realism, fantasy, and political imagination
Outcome
The result is an evolving archive that exposes how war games participate in shaping collective imaginaries of the Middle East â not through explicit narratives, but through environmental design. The project highlights how familiarity is distorted, and how cultural identity is rendered legible only through conflict.
This archive functions both as:
- a visual research tool
- a critical reflection on digital representation
- a personal attempt to locate âhomeâ inside a system that was never designed to hold it
Traces
feat. Joel Tenenenberg & Friedrich Weber
Project Description
Traces is an experimental project that investigates walking as a method of inscription â a way of producing, transmitting, and capturing information through movement in space. Focusing on the often-overlooked supporting role of the feet, the project explores how bodily contact with the ground generates traces that are both physical and symbolic.
Through a series of experimental approaches, we examine how everyday movement can function as a recording system, transforming steps into data, marks, and spatial memory. Walking becomes not only a means of navigation, but a performative act that leaves behind evidence of presence, rhythm, and interaction with the environment.
Concept & Approach
By playing with different techniques of tracing, imprinting, and capturing motion, the project questions:
- what constitutes a trace
- how movement can be archived or translated
- where the boundary lies between body, space, and information
Rather than aiming for precision or permanence, Traces embraces impermanence, fragmentation, and bodily intuition, proposing walking as a form of embodied knowledge production.
Outcome
The project results in a collection of material and visual traces that document movement as process rather than destination. It positions the body â and specifically the feet â as active agents in shaping space, memory, and meaning.
I specialize in experimental 3D animation, exploring the spaces where reality dissolves into surreal, abstract, and occasionally bizarre visual narratives. My creative focus is on transforming unconventional formsâobjects that defy traditional designâto challenge perceptions and inspire curiosity. Within virtual realms, I find boundless artistic freedom: a canvas where physical laws bend, colors shift their meaning, and environments evolve into immersive, alien experiences. My work aims to push both technological and imaginative limits, crafting transformative, otherworldly animations that resonate on a visceral level.
Instagram: @engys__
Poster Design
In poster design, I fuse clarity with visual impact by emphasizing a strong focal point through hierarchyâusing scale, contrast, and color to guide the viewerâs eye â while leveraging ample negative (or âwhiteâ) space to reduce clutter and elevate readability. I balance the composition through thoughtful alignment and structure, often using grid systems or columnar layouts to create visual harmony and flow. Typography is purposeful and restrained: bold, attention-grabbing headlines paired with complementary body text, supported by a limited, coherent color palette to reinforce messaging without distraction. The result is a clean, balanced design that captures attention instantly and communicates with precision and elegance.