 A Tank Translated, 2002 On four monitors, the installation shows interviews with Israeli soldiers from a tank crew. The monitors are, analogous to the positions of the soldiers in the tank, set up at various heights. The soldiers describe their respective personal state while going into action in an armoured vehicle. Omer Fast intervenes in the documentary character of the interview by manipulating the subtitles. Military expressions shift into civilian ones, individual words disappear completely and statements are turned around into their contrary. The work shows, on one hand, the conflict between a task ordered by the state and civilian principles. On the other, it enquires into the boundary between a private mission and a state-ordered one and the way public media present truth.  CNN Concatenated, 2002 CNN Concatenated is a compilation by Omar Fast from a database of 10,000 words and clips into a speech put together from individual words spoken by different news anchors. In contrast to the profusion of daily news, the artist attempts here to close the gap between the necessity to know and to understand, and the desire to see and to experience, and so provides a consistent context from which the information gains coherence of meaning. Community, intimacy and a collective memory are created here, action and escape appear possible. The common language also forms the basis for a common framework for action. Omer Fast, * 1972 in Jerusalem (IL), lives and works in Berlin (D)  Omer Fast, A Tank Translated, 20024-channel video installation (colour, sound) German subtitles installation view Fribourg Kunsthalle courtesy gb agency, Paris Omer Fast, CNN Concatenated, 2002 video (colour, sound) 18 min., loop courtesy gb agency, Paris
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