Between a Sword & a Wall

A conversation with The Machine about automation, drone technology, and the war in Ukraine. Visit the project "The Machine & The Medium of War" @ corzimfoto.com

Interview narratives from the front lines of the war in Ukraine (translated into English & performed on stage by The Machine, 2026). From "The Machine & The Medium of War" by Cory Zimmerman. Visit the project at @ corzimfoto.com

When an insulated Western audience remains fundamentally blind to the baseline terrors of wartime survival, this installation ceases to function as a bridge of genuine empathy and instead collapses into a localized myth. Deprived of real-world context, the viewer's mind automatically reduces the authentic trauma of these Ukrainian survivors into digestible, cinematic archetypes, confusing the dram...

There is no bridge between the drywall of a gallery and the wooden bar of an Irish pub on the Ukrainian front line. There is no “fine-tuning” that can translate the sound of a mortar round into the language of a budget meeting or a latte order. Sanitizing the struggle is wrong. Sweetener is wrong. Take it straight. Black. Reality is the constant “hum” of non-existence. But it is the only reality f...

This field recording of the endangered birds along the Dnipro River, made in Ukraine in spring 2026, is part of Cory Zimmerman's conceptual project "The Machine & The Medium of War" Visit the project at @ corzimfoto.com

“In 2026, I surrendered the logistics of my post-documentary project to an AI algorithm. It sent me directly into a war zone. It mapped routes, wrote administrative correspondence, and drafted institutional pitches. My guiding theory was based on a simple truth: As war became mechanized, war reportage mechanized with the analog camera; when it digitized, reportage followed suit; and now, as war be...

An immersive soundscape within the soul of Chiapas by Cory Zimmerman. Field recordings, editing & mastering by Cory Zimmerman www.corzimfoto.com www. radioverte.works COPYRIGHT © 2025 CORY ZIMMERMAN, COR ZIM FOTO. COPYRIGHT © 2025 CZ STUDIO | RADIO VERTÉ , LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

In 2018, documentary photographer Cory Zimmerman first encountered the migrant caravans as they arrived at a makeshift migrant camp set up on a soccer field in the heart of Mexico City. Between a Sword & a Wall is both a visual record and a personal reflection on that journey, which took me north to the US border, but south, following the trail to the origin: Central America, and the highlands...