The exhibition covered many areas around music, media and the current reality of being creative in this genre. One artist from Mexico, Pedro Reyes presented a large automaton project in the exhibition. Disarm (Mechanized) is a collaboration with Reyes and a media workshop in Mexico city called COCOLAB. The project constructed musical automatons out of guns that were donated through a campaign to rid the Mexican state of Sinaloa of weapons. The idea was to create something positive and useful out of an object of destruction as a commentary on the sale of arms around the world, thus creating an alternate ideology for a society plagued by gun violence.
Each piece created out of discarded weapons represents a version of a musical instrument. In most cases the visual similarity is evident however all are distinctly unique due in no small part to the source material. The percussion instruments had a metallic resonance but the stringed instruments had a fairly traditional sound and the entire ensemble was able to play individually or together in a harmonic style. It had moments reminiscent of digitized, sampled or electronic mechanical notes which were right at home with a Berliner's ear for the alternative techno or dubstep club soundtrack. I can't quite say it was an award winning composition however that was never the goal of Reyes and his team. Its visually compelling while at the same time opening the subject of weapons in our society for commentary (no to mention recycling as a means of disposal of the problematic objects).
The over all shape of each automaton is obviously heavily influenced by the source materials and by the traditional musical shape of instruments. Perhaps its just by chance but I can see shapes reminiscent of H.R. Giger's bio-mechanical work of the 1970's, most famously used in the Hollywood film Alien. No doubt this band would be at home in Giger's Swiss castle home.
Until next time,
Andy
