The role of technology in the Russia-Ukraine War

By Aparna Iyer and Sneha Krishnan

The artwork depicts the usage of technology in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, that began in February 2022. The war has spread to the digital world too.

The artwork is open to interpretation regarding the impacts of technology. I took a political stance by drawing the Ukrainian side of the situation, as an outsider to the war, as an observer, based on the information I receive through forms of technology accessible to me, such as TV news and social media.

An important thing to remember is that technology does not refer to only digital platforms and gadgets. Rather, any human-made creation that we use in our lives is technology.

With this thought, I have started being more mindful and appreciative of the various technologies I use in my life, and looking at the bigger community level impacts in situations like this war. Also, with data surveillance, our data is constantly being stored and analysed without our consent, as in the case of military surveillance and tracking citizens’ movements in Ukraine. Since media has the potential to manipulate, I had to be conscious about the sources I was choosing while researching about the war and the technologies being used (whether it was a national or an international channel, reputed, was it a blog, who was the writer, etc.), and make my inferences carefully. This artwork is my attempt at initiating such conversations with people around me through a creative process that gave me room to reflect, and hopefully creates a space for the viewers to do the same.

The following forms of technology are showcased in the artwork:

1.      Biometric scanning for refugees at the Ukraine-Poland border (top left). The biometric scanning is intended to help the refugees formally register into Poland, and help the Polish government track refugee movement into their country. But the overwhelming number of refugees and the time-consuming process creates chaos at the border and is nerve-wracking for the refugees, humanitarian workers and the border officials.

2.      Censorship, spread of fake news, blocking access to social media and internet (centre) – the artwork shows a young girl and boy trying to access social media platforms while the internet has been blocked by the military. This is symbolically represented by the “no internet” dinosaur game that appears on Google when our device is disconnected from the internet.  What does this mean for the youth, particularly those who use such platforms to share their experiences with the world outside, and for those outside who want to know what’s happening? What does it mean for citizens to be digitally disconnected from the world?

3.      Drones capturing and feeding information to the database (Centre)

4.      A family talking on the phone (top right) to their family member who is serving as a soldier (bottom right)

5.      Victims of the war coping with their injuries using technology such as prosthetics, wheelchairs and walking sticks. (Bottom left)

6.      Clearview AI (bottom centre): A face-recognition app being used by the Ukraine military to identify the faces of injured or dead soldiers to connect to their family, to inform them about the whereabouts of the soldier and their condition. The app has been controversial for violating privacy and storing data about the soldier and his family without their consent or knowledge.

7.      Digital database (top centre): The citizens’ activities, movements and conversations are being tracked and sent to a central database that is collecting this information.

8.      Hospitals being attacked (right centre): Healthcare professionals had to choose between serving the victims of the conflict, covid patients, pregnant women and seriously ill patients, while the infrastructure was collapsing.

Since the topic of my artwork can get heavy, I chose a minimalistic and simple artform. The drawing uses continuous lines, which means the line is not broken until the artwork is completed. The free-flowing lines from various sections of the artwork lead to the central database showing the interconnectedness of the digital space. The lines loop and overlap to create a sense of chaos and the feeling of being trapped in the situation of war and data surveillance. These lines also show how technology is enhancing people’s relationships- like the soldier who is able to talk to his family back home, and the injured victims who heal as a group.