Droptank ( Fishing Party )

Droptank (Fishing Party) captures a scene of quiet yet profound complexity. Shot in Laos, the video observes a fishing party where repurposed American bomber drop tanks, once tools of destruction, now float serenely on water, their metallic shells redefined as vessels of survival. Yet, this transformation is far from innocent. The video lays bare an unsettling truth: the victims of war, in their struggle to adapt and endure, inevitably assume the role of predators themselves.

In this intimate portrayal, the drop tanks are stripped of their former function as instruments of death and repurposed into tools for subsistence fishing. But as the tanks drift, their stillness belies the violence beneath the surface. The video culminates with a striking image: fish thrashing desperately within the metallic confines of the tank, their struggle mirroring the plight of human lives caught in the machinery of war. Here, the fish become a haunting metaphor for war’s victims, trapped in cycles of violence from which escape is impossible.

The work’s philosophical core lies in its refusal to offer absolution. The transformation of the drop tanks from weapons of war to tools of survival highlights humanity’s resilience, but it also confronts us with an uncomfortable truth: even survival carries its own form of violence. The victim can become the aggressor; the prey becomes the predator. Through this cyclical relationship, the video blurs the boundaries of innocence, challenging viewers to reflect on the inevitability of domination, even when born out of necessity.

Droptank (Fishing Party) does not moralize. Instead, it opens a space for contemplation, where viewers are invited to grapple with the paradox of survival—how life, in its rawest form, feeds on life. By placing this imagery alongside the accompanying sculpture, Louis-Cyprien Rials bridges the poetic and the brutal, urging us to confront the uneasy truths of existence in a world shaped by war, resilience, and the unrelenting demands of survival.