experimental composition II – 2006 - remote code - site specific installation

Composition II “Remote Code” consists of a single BB gun, controlled via electronics with which you can shoot Morse Code (percussion notes based on Morse code) as you type.

The gun shoots at a single cow bell. The artwork is the installation of the piece.

Composition II comments on us living wars via the remote control of our television. The United States has been involved in at least one armed conflict a year since World War II (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._foreign_interventions_since_1945), yet none of them have been fought on US soil. As we watch the progress of our armed involvements through Television communications we become utterly removed from the actual pain and suffering. Composition II allows you to actually shoot a weapon even though you are still removed from it via a familiar interface: the keyboard.

Artist Statement

Experimental Compositions I-IV are a compilation of musical experiments.
The artwork in itself is either the score, the recording of the composition or the installation in itself, but never the spectacle surrounding it.

The project questions our removal from armed conflicts (wars) and how we as a society react to them. Mostly removed from any pain and suffering, the remote control and the constant irrigation of news media has made us dull to the fact of real anguish and hardship. No longer do we even deal with the realities of the daily agony of entire peoples and we regard genocide as nothing else but a word.

The compositions hopefully give us the chance to be reminded that these wars are just as real as our daily grind, maybe not our momentary priority, but sure worthy enough to at least take active interest.

Finished Project consists of:

Composition II

Performance Instructions, D91 (UZI Replica) Airsoft BB Gun with .20 gram BB ammunition (gravity fed), Computer, USB electronic device, 6” cowbell, Gun Tripod, Bell Tripod.