Obscured classified document (situation room)

When Osama bin Laden was killed, the US government did not release any images of the event. The White House decided to show only a few carefully selected pictures, including the now-famous so called 'Situation Room' photograph. The photo was taken by Pete Souza of President Barack Obama and his national security team monitoring 'Operation Neptune's Spear' - the Navy SEALs raid that killed Osama bin Laden on May 1, 2011.

Obscured Classified Document (Situation Room), 2012

“It becomes a secret key to the gazes. Obama observes Osama, the viewers observe this observation and this observation is structured by a chiastic relationship between transparency an opacity.”

– Katja Müller-Helle on Obscured Classified Document (Situation Room) in the publication This is Willem Popelier, C/O Berlin, 2012.

In the iconic photograph is a pixelated document lying on the table in front of Hillary Clinton, former US Secretary of State. The official statement is that this document is a classified document. Popelier isolates the pixelated photo on the laptop in front of Clinton and presents it in the same format as a standard letter in the US. The selected detail of the photo becomes an abstract composition. The patterns of yellow, brown and white rectangles give no indication of the encoded information, even if it is contained in the image. What information is made visible and what remains out of the public’s view?

C-print, 100x77cm, 2012
Essay by Katja Müller-Helle
Interview by Katja Müller-Helle


Exhibition overview at C/O Berlin, 2012



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