Incoming

Incoming is a 50 minute video installation that shows documentary footage of refugees entering Europe and in refugee camps, shot using a military thermal camera that can identify humans from 30 km away. The camera is usually used for border surveillance, search and rescue and military purposes and is not normally available for non-military purposes. The footage is all in black and white, and darker colours indicate heat, while lighter greys and whites indicate cool temperatures. Some of the images show everyday scenes in refugee camps. A man douses his face with water on a hot day, and it is remarkable to see the cooling greys of his skin where the water touches it. A woman unpacks food, or something else, as we see a man's arm helping her. She smiles. Her eyelashes are cool and white, her eyes warm and dark; the man's arm dark and each hair on his forearm clearly visible as cool and white. Refugees huddle together on a truck, are shown on a boat, children being drawn up by other humans onto a larger boat. In his artist statement, Mosse describes how the technology is intended to dehumanize people, and that by using the technology against its original purpose this becomes a way of maintaining the privacy of the refugees, as the images do not allow us to identify them.