Strategic Operations – Hyperrealistic
19min, HD, single channel video, color, stereo sound, 2015

The deserts of California conjure mirages. These apparitions are not fake, but reflections of realities that actually exist somewhere else. With the rise of green screens and 3D VFX effects, the demand for physical SFX effects and sets has declined, leaving many of them redundant. Eventually, they are absorbed into military bases in the California desert for realistic war simulations. The desert can take many forms: sometimes a future planet where aliens roam, other times Baghdad during war, or even a place onto which hippie hallucinations are projected. The video delves into the bizarre illusions created by Hollywood special effects teams in Mojave Desert of California. This includes military bases like Medina Wasl, which simulates Baghdad, and various Hollywood film sets located around the desert. Here, military bases serve as filming locations, but at the same time, military training takes place on the same filming set where the cameras for the movie Iron Man rolled. This piece challenges the line between fiction and reality, capturing the uncanny spectacle created by special effects in the desert.