Taran

audiovisual performance / 2017 / Czech Republic / col. / 35 min.

The historically first aerial taran – a combat maneuver in which the pilot deliberately guides his airplane into an enemy apparatus for destruction, took place on September 8, 1914, in the sky above the Ukrainian Zovkva. Petr Nesterov who was a Russian pioneer of aeronautical acrobatics, swept away from the sky an Austrian airplane piloted by František Malina at the cost of his own life. Malina became the first Czech aviator killed in the air combat. TARAN, using experimental live animation techniques, reconstructs this incident, and at the same time displays the transformation of aviatics into a devastating weapon that has changed the form of warfare. The live performances of the team of three authors combine film projection altogether with analogue synthesis and sound restructuring.