Vessel of Change
Video Installation

Artists: David Hartwell and Bill Ferehawk

Wende Museum of the Cold War (2018)

Vessel of Change is a large multimedia triptych inspired by the global political theater of the Cold War. Based on the historic Malta Summit, or “Seasick Summit” as it was nicknamed, the piece expands upon this historic meeting both as a world spectacle of East-West social constructs but also as a lens to examine the underlying forces of nature that fueled the Cold War. Large painted panels establish a theatrical backdrop composed of wave imagery. Set into them, are two video screens with baby-sized figures of Bush and Gorbachev seated in floating chairs. The center panel is a bent mirror, drawing viewers onto a world stage that is still unfolding today. Both dark and comical, Vessel of Change employs theatrical and iconographic elements of the Cold War to explore how underlying forces, especially fear, aggression and chance, propel conflict.

Articles about the exhibition in Hyperallergic, LA Times, HuffPost

6’ x 12’ triptych, acrylic on metal panels, glass mirror, video.

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