Superflex's 'Burning Car' Video Featured in 'Bloodflames Revisited' at Paul Kasmin Gallery

Superflex's 2008 digital video 'Burning Car' is included in the exhibition 'Bloodflames Revisited' at Paul Kasmin Gallery. The 11-minute work depicts a Mercedes sedan engulfed in flames in an undefined black space, filmed in Vietnam. The video shows the car burning intensely, with tires and paint blistering, as the camera circles closely, capturing the destruction in near real-time. Superflex, an artist collective from the Netherlands, created the piece, which references global violence in regions like Syria, Mexico, Iraq, Nigeria, and Afghanistan, where burned vehicles often symbolize unseen casualties. The essay 'Vermeer in Bosnia' by Lawrence Weschler is cited, connecting Dutch historical conquests, including in Vietnam, to contemporary crises. The exhibition highlights themes of luxury, conflict, and destruction, with the car serving as a proxy for human suffering in civil strife. The video runs without significant cuts, emphasizing the raw, immersive experience of combustion.