Zardad’s Dog
2003
Video (DVD) colour, sound, 12 mins.
Extract.
Zardad’s Dog is one of the three works forming the trilogy The House of Osama bin Laden. The film was shot by Langlands & Bell in October 2002 at the Supreme Court in Kabul at the first capital trial after the fall of the Taliban. The accused Addullah Shah, was known as ‘Zardad’s Dog’ because he savaged people with his teeth before he murdered them.
The dramatic range of emotions expressed by participants in the court room transcends language. Viewers are left to make their own judgements. Does Shah’s guilt justify his barbaric execution or simply contribute further to the immense catalogue of suffering and abuse endured by the Afghan people over the last thirty years?
Commissioned by the Trustees of the Imperial War Museum, London
Edited by Richard Wilding and Langlands & Bell
Zardad’s Dog at Tate Britain
Zardad’s Dog Index on Censorship
Winner, Interactive Arts Installation, 2004 BAFTA Awards, London
