Edmund Clark and Crofton Black. Cosmopolemos
29 October 2026 – 30 January 2027
Curated by Danaé Panchaud & Aline Bovard Rudaz.
Cosmopolemos is an exploration of knowledge and meaning in relation to an overwhelming edifice of power. America spends as much on its defence as the next nine countries put together each year, accounting for 40% of military spending worldwide. $6.5 trillion worth of contracts were issued by the United States Department of Defense between the attacks of 9/11 and the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. The items accounted for between these two iconic events encompass every aspect of life and death – from oil reserves and nuclear weapons to cookies and cleaning services: over 43 million recorded transactions, with contractors large and small.
Visual artist Edmund Clark and investigative reporter Crofton Black decided to interrogate this complexity using a traditional form, now often seen as redundant: the printed Encyclopaedia. In combining the Department of Defense’s transaction data with its soft-focus photography of American military power, this Encyclopaedia offers a representation of everything the US military paid for everywhere.
Venue: Bibliothèque de Genève, Espace Ami-Lullin.
See the details of the event on Centre de la photographie Geneve website here.
Edmund Clark, Photographers Talk
10 March 2026
Edmund Clark will discuss Cosmopolemos, his most recent, and long term project that he has worked in collaboration with investigative reporter Crofton Black for over seven years. The project is an exploration of knowledge and meaning in relation to an overwhelming edifice of power: the $6.5 trillion worth of contracts issued by the US Defense Department to the private sector between the 9/11 attacks and the American withdrawal from Afghanistan 20 years later.
Venue: Birmingham School of Art, UK
Details on the event are available here.