GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Five Thousand Feet Is the Best takes its name from an excerpt of an interview between Omer Fast and a Predator Drone aerial vehicle operator, now living and working in Las Vegas as a casino security guard. The operator recalls his jobs in Afghanistan and Pakistan, activating the unmanned plane to fire at civilians and militia from the optimum height of 5,000 feet. The film is Fast’s cinematic retelling of this veteran’s story: as it unfolds, the viewer slowly realizes that the character being questioned in a dark hotel room (the actor David O’Hare) by an off-camera interviewer (Fast) is retelling the same stories the drone operator told Fast. Instead of looking for the appropriate news accounts or documentary footage to augment this redacted story, Fast constructs an elaborately detailed, seemingly fictional account—one that is deliberately miscast and misplaced—to retell three alternately compelling and grueling accounts from the original interview session. As the actor recounts these narratives, the film cuts to striking, cinematic recreations of the tales being retold in the actor's voice. Fast’s articulation of the intersection of video game culture, slick Hollywood narrative, government concealment, and the privatization of warfare provides an elliptical and haunting account of its cost, while eschewing the opportunity to moralize or judge.
Adapted from
Jeffrey Grove, DMA unpublished material, 2011.
NOTES
DMA unpublished material = Jeffrey Grove, Acquisition Proposal, October 25, 2011. File on TAZ.
Catalogue essays specific to object
Artist/designers
Cultures
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Process/materials
Historical periods
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RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
Until 2011: Omer Fast (b. 1972)
2011: Dallas Museum of Art, DMA/amfAR Benefit Auction Fund, purchased from gb agency, Paris
Notes:
The main source for this provenance is "Invoice 11077" dated December 13, 2011 in Collections Records object file.
AUDIO ASSETS
"Artist Talk: Omer Fast," July 19, 2012. Transcript on TAZ. (File: 20120719_OmerFast_RESTRICTED(1).mp3)
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
- Art21~Learn more about Omer Fast and his work.
- Vimeo:Commonwealth Projects~Watch a clip of Omer Fast's Five Thousand Feet is the Best.
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
apply to objects where number equals 2011.41
Category
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General Description
Five Thousand Feet Is the Best takes its name from an excerpt of an interview between Omer Fast and a Predator Drone aerial vehicle operator, now living and working in Las Vegas as a casino security guard. The operator recalls his jobs in Afghanistan and Pakistan, activating the unmanned plane to fire at civilians and militia from the optimum height of 5,000 feet. The film is Fast’s cinematic retelling of this veteran’s story: as it unfolds, the viewer slowly realizes that the character being questioned in a dark hotel room (the actor David O’Hare) by an off-camera interviewer (Fast) is retelling the same stories the drone operator told Fast. Instead of looking for the appropriate news accounts or documentary footage to augment this redacted story, Fast constructs an elaborately detailed, seemingly fictional account—one that is deliberately miscast and misplaced—to retell three alternately compelling and grueling accounts from the original interview session. As the actor recounts these narratives, the film cuts to striking, cinematic recreations of the tales being retold in the actor's voice. Fast’s articulation of the intersection of video game culture, slick Hollywood narrative, government concealment, and the privatization of warfare provides an elliptical and haunting account of its cost, while eschewing the opportunity to moralize or judge.
Adapted from
Jeffrey Grove, DMA unpublished material, 2011.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
- Art21~Learn more about Omer Fast and his work.
- Vimeo:Commonwealth Projects~Watch a clip of Omer Fast's Five Thousand Feet is the Best.
Notes
DMA unpublished material = Jeffrey Grove, Acquisition Proposal, October 25, 2011. File on TAZ.
Catalogue essays specific to object
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
Until 2011: Omer Fast (b. 1972)
2011: Dallas Museum of Art, DMA/amfAR Benefit Auction Fund, purchased from gb agency, Paris
Notes:
The main source for this provenance is "Invoice 11077" dated December 13, 2011 in Collections Records object file.
AUDIO ASSETS
"Artist Talk: Omer Fast," July 19, 2012. Transcript on TAZ. (File: 20120719_OmerFast_RESTRICTED(1).mp3)
VIDEO ASSETS
rules
Apply To
Objects
number
Equals
2011.41
source file
object_notes_2_c-0204.xml.nores