Baltic's big new Omer Fast exhibition takes us into some disturbing places; The Berlin-based video artist takes over the Gateshead arts venue for his first major solo exhibition in the UK.
Byline: David Whetstone
We LIVE in a dangerous and disturbing world, as you will need no reminding if you take only the remotest interest in the news.
You will get another reminder if you sit yourself down in front of Omer Fast's film 5,000 Feet is the Best which is getting the full cinematic treatment in one of Baltic's expansive gallery spaces -- big screen, commanding soundtrack, room so dark (even the carpet is black) that you'll stretch out your hands to steady yourself.
It is very watchable -- compelling even. That's what every artist strives for and this one has certainly achieved.
But what exactly are we watching?
For a while I felt as I did when I accidentally channel-hopped into the middle of an early episode of The Office -- which is to say, disconcerted. Was it drama I was watching, or documentary?
Admittedly the sensation at Baltic was rather more stomach churning, the sense of danger more palpable than that prompted by Ricky Gervais's David Brent being stupid in a suit.
You'll be wondering: what is 5,000 feet the best for?
And the answer will take you to a place where most people wouldn't want to be. To a room -- possibly at the Creech Air Force Base not far from Las Vegas that Fast tells me about -- where drone operators can bring instant death by remote control to enemies far away.
From 5,000 feet you get the best view, apparently.
You can hover silently like a hawk from that optimum vantage point, homing in on the glow of a cigarette before you press the button -- presumably much as you would do in a video game at home -- to obliterate your target in a bigger and more deadly glow.
If you take a passing interest in the news you'll know this stuff happens and you'll maybe put it to the back of your mind, consoling yourself -- if consolation were needed -- that it's for the greater good, for national security.
But 5,000 Feet is the Best makes you think quite hard about it -- and about the people on either ends of the drone, one of them not long for this world.
This is just one of the arresting films in Fast's exhibition, Present Continuous, which took over Baltic at the weekend.
It is the artist's first comprehensive solo show in the UK and he took a moment to tell me about it as his trusted technical team did their final fine-tuning.
His work has the same compelling immediacy as front-line reportage, but he said he wasn't interested in being a documentary maker.
"I think of myself as a portraitist," he said.
"A portrait is an...
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