War Porn

Bangert's book is disturbing, likely to cause controversy, and a major visual contribution to understanding how the (largely self-imposed) censorship of the media in democratic states distorts our understanding of suffering in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, where this photographer has created some of the most powerful and emotion-wrenching images of those "distant" conflicts. More than a distillation of graphic pictures from war and natural disaster (many of which were never published due to their disturbing and at times grotesque content) War Porn seeks to situate violence and representations of violence within a society served by massive structures of "knowing", such as news websites, TV channels and textbooks, that set subtly powerful limitations on what should be seen of what, and when, and how. Make sure to read the photographer's thoughtful preface and very personal afterword.

Respekt vor der Arbeit dieser Foto-Journalisten wie Christoph Bangert!Natürlich will man diese Bilder nicht sehen, die einen schockieren und ratlos zurücklassen: Warum nur machen Menschen andere Menschen kaputt? Denn oft genug, aber nicht nur, zeigt Bangert das Grauen der Kriegs- und Krisenschauplätze dieser Welt blank und schonungslos: Kaputtgemachte Menschen.Für Freunde, Kenner und Fans von Fotografie ein Muss.Für alle, die dieser Arbeit Respekt zollen wollen.Die Herstellung ist nicht etwa "billig", sondern genau so gewollt und dem Inhalt und der Intention absolut angemessen.

In questo libro non ci si deve soffermare solamente sulle fotografie crude e senza filtri; bisogna andare oltre il primo sguardo, bisogna leggerne la storia e cercare di immedesimarsi nel pensiero dell'artista al momento dello scatto.Un'opera cruda e spietata che merita di essere conosciuta, capita e conservata.

Livre terrible et on suit l'honneteté de Christopher Bangert qui nous montre le non montré de la guerre : les cadavres, les regards , les plaies et le sang. Nous sommes très au delà des descriptions convenues de nos journeaux quotidiens ou des documents formatés de la télévision. Il n'y a pas d'esthétisation de la violence dans ces photographies sans beauté particulière: juste la vérité de ce qui se passe au moyen-orient aujourd'hui ( Palestine ; Afghanistan et Irak ).On peut faire comme son grand père , médecin de la Wehrmacht pendant la guerre ne parlant à sa famille et notamment à son petit fils que de son cheval et en rien des tragédies rencontrées; grand père auquel sont consacrées les dernières pages du livre .Par contre plus de gène quant aux photographies consacrées au tsunami de fin 2004 : que pouvons nous faire face aux catastrophes naturelles et les images me semblent la beaucoup plus discutables ?Jusqu'ou aller ?

The content itself is amazing; Christoph's forward was beautifully moving, and eerily mimicked, point for point, a discussion I had with a friend regarding the viewing of violent images the day I ordered the book. Four, five stars, if one ignores the marketing and the rest of the packaging.However, for a book pitched largely around it's elegant design, the book falls short. The concept of the design is great on paper: The raw, understated cover is perfect for the book's content, and the unlabeled, raw spine has the book sitting quietly, menacingly on your bookshelf, begging browsers to pick it up and investigate further. However, it did not execute well in practice.The tear-away pages overstate themselves. The few extremely graphic images are out in the open for all readers to see, while the tear-offs often feature largely reader-friendly content; they only end up butchering the edge of the page. The spine has also been left raw, with only glue and a binding cable to hold it together, as opposed to the usual fabric embedded into the glue. This initially struck me as a stroke of genius, however the spine quickly deteriorates if not handled with extreme care during reading. Light wear adds to the books "field journal" quality, however, there comes a point where the integrity of the binding becomes compromised. I've already returned one copy because of this, after only a few readings.The book currently sits safely on my bookshelf, rarely touched. It's just as well; One can only flip through a photo album so many times, particularly this one: How many times can a person revisit these images, before Bangert's antithesis becomes uncomfortably true?

Il libro come indicato una descrizione mostra dei conflitti. I contenuti sono certamente di altissimo la realizzazione grafica e gradevole fisicamente il libro non trovo che sia ben realizzato.