Programmed: Rules, Codes, and Choreographies in Art, 1965–2018

Marc Lafia and Fang-Yu Lin’s The Battle of Algiers recomposes scenes from the 1965 film of the same name by Italian director Gillo Pontecorvo. The original film is a reenactment of the Algerian nationalist struggle that ultimately led to independence from France in 1962. The nationalists’ success has been attributed to their organization: a pyramidal structure of self-organized cells. Lafia and Lin “rearranged” the film along a cellbased structure, in which French Authority and Algerian Nationalist cells are represented by stills from the film and move according to different rule sets. When cells of different camps intersect, they trigger video cells displaying each side’s tactics (as depicted in the film) according to the rules of the system. The Battle of Algiers is literally programmed, but it also engages with cultural and political programs of colonialism, nationalism, and resistance.

Rules of the system: 

• There are two camps—the French Authority (F-cell) and the National Liberation Front (A-cell). 
• F-cells are dispatched intermittently. They mostly stay in the same spot and only move when engaged in raids, interrogations, and other mobilizations. 
• A-cells emerge frequently and usually quickly submerge again. Sometimes they may linger a bit longer to recruit, forming a triangular organization. 
• After a while, the number of cells accumulates. A-cell may reveal itself to ambush F-cell. F-cell may call for backup to counteract. 
• Eventually further conflicts occur, and trigger even more excited cell movements. - The intensity and speed may recess or aggravate according to the system status. - If the action builds up to utter chaos, a cell cluster may become exhausted.

—Marc Lafia and Fang-Yu Lin

The Battle of Algiers can be accessed on the Whitney’s artport site.