Educational Project — Late 2015
The creation of the video shown started after the attacks in Lebanon and Paris in November 2015. It shows a time-lapse map of all terrorist attacks with more than 20 fatalities between 1.12.2000 and 13.11.2015.
The tricky part proved to be managing the massive amount of data provided by START. I did this by raising the minimum death toll per incident to 21.
During this design process I learned a lot about the nature of news reporting on global terrorism. This project changed my perception of this daily phenomenon greatly as I got caught up in studying individual occurrences and their heartbreaking stories. My investigation also taught me that there isn't, and there can not be, such a thing as a perfect database of terror since terror is essentially ambiguous. That is how this video should be viewed, as well - something that provides a superficial impression of one aspect of our existence.
Featured also on:
The video was awarded by the German Art Directors Club with their
Junior Prize in Silver.
About the claim at the end:
Historians debate about whether terrorist groups are destined to fail or not. Some say that authentic terrorist organizations achieve partial goals only. Many regard John Brown (approx. 150 years ago) as the most successful terrorist till this day – But you might read the essays: "How Successful Is Terrorism?" (James M. Lutz and Brenda J. Lutz) and "Why Terrorism Does Not Work" (M. Abrahms) and you will find out what this message is exactly about: Deterring potential future terrorism by education.
Historians debate about whether terrorist groups are destined to fail or not. Some say that authentic terrorist organizations achieve partial goals only. Many regard John Brown (approx. 150 years ago) as the most successful terrorist till this day – But you might read the essays: "How Successful Is Terrorism?" (James M. Lutz and Brenda J. Lutz) and "Why Terrorism Does Not Work" (M. Abrahms) and you will find out what this message is exactly about: Deterring potential future terrorism by education.
Important Note:
Due to the large amount of data used, there are likely to be mistakes (exact chronology, location, casualties etc.). This video should serve as an approximation. (Especcially in the messy parts.)
Typical issue would be: GTD had sometimes the "at least" casualties or it splitted one terrorist incident into many (Istanbul Bombings of 2003, Casablanca bombings of 2003). This is why some incidences are not accurately represented on the map. It's a tiny fraction though. Also, I like to point out that I used different definitions of terrorism regarding the area and time of attacks.
Typical issue would be: GTD had sometimes the "at least" casualties or it splitted one terrorist incident into many (Istanbul Bombings of 2003, Casablanca bombings of 2003). This is why some incidences are not accurately represented on the map. It's a tiny fraction though. Also, I like to point out that I used different definitions of terrorism regarding the area and time of attacks.
