While sitting under a chair, fifteen toy guns shoot at irregular intervals into the void. The sound is loud, oppressant and the feeling intense. Jonathan Moorehas us caught in the real time firing of drone strikes by the US military. The information is then printed in a receipt next to the installation informing of the date, time, location, number of death forecasted and actual number of death.
The “Artificial Killing Machine” interactive installation is built out of a printer, motors, toy cap guns, batteries and a control electronics which accesses every five minutes the public database of the US military drone strikes. The materialized data is allowed to accumulate in perpetuity or until the life cycle of either the database or machine ends. At first, the installation doesn’t appear frightening, its painted in white, symbol of innocence. The sound, however, is what starts to make the experience difficult. It becomes almost unbearable once the purpose of the art piece is understood. (For a better understanding please watch the video below).
Visual artist Jonathan Moore interacts with powerful significant data in order to question war, technology improvement and perception of death. He places statistics and data in a context that gives the opportunity to realize what is actually happening. The means used are playful and familiar, the toy cap guns and the receipts put us in an intimate territory; making the rest of the experience harsh and uncomfortable. (via Supersonicart)
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