What are arms without war?
In an intriguing exhibition Simon Norfolk, P.W. Voigt and Gabriel Jones each in their own way isolate tanks, aircraft and rockets from their raison d’etre. What meaning, what significance do they have when they fall into disuse? ‘Strangelove’, the contribution by P.W. Voigt, dissects the madness of armaments by looking at their public function in peace-time, from the flexing of muscles in parades through the devout silence of the museum. The emotional freight changes with time. The threat of a bloodbath becomes the memory of that fear, the excitement makes way for sentiment and pathos. What is left is the absurdity of war.

Text: Wim Melis. War Machines. Noorderlicht Festival, Groeningen