A project of Krzysztof Wodiczko and Robert Ochshorn

The veteran vehicle was developed in order to give a public voice to veterans struggling with the difficulties of returning to civilian life.

For this project, a Humvee military vehicle was transformed into a tool for self-expression. The weapon platform at the back, where normally a missile launcher or canon is mounted, was replaced with a "projection platform" equipped with a powerful video projector and a loudspeaker system. What is normally used to fire missiles or shells became a device for veterans to project text and sound on city buildings or monuments. To project, effectively, their testimonies with which they fight their own war for the public to understand the truth about their experiences and their existential situation.

In the first Denver projection, texts of testimonies were projected on the wall of the Armor building, currently being adapted for a shelter for war veterans, where homeless vets will find a temporary home. The second projection was shown on the façade of the Performing Art Center building near the place where the Democratic convention was taking place.

The War Veteran Vehicle Projection was preceded by seven months of meetings and interviews with about forty homeless veterans. These meetings turned into a kind of workshop, where the veterans discussed, wrote down, edited and recorded their public statements, critical comments, messages and testimonies of their wartime and postwar experiences. The material co-selected and approved by the veterans was then transformed into an audiovisual projection.

The Denver War Veteran Vehicle Projection (2008) was part of the Dialog:City during DNC
A collaboration with Denver's Road Home.

The Liverpool vehicle (2009) was part of Abandon Normal Devices.

Source:
www.interrogative.org/projects/2008/veteran-vehicle-project