May 11, 2007
Shoot an Iraqi... A point-and-shoot exhibit...
The artist can't see the shooter, just the gun, which -- BLAM! -- keeps getting fired in his direction.
"Ow!" he exclaims as he gets nicked on the elbow. "You make a mistake, and you get hit."
The mistake in this case was letting his elbow peek out, exposed, from his protective vest. At least once he has wondered whether the larger mistake was putting himself in harm's way in the first place.
"The first shot and the first hit I got, I said, 'Why am I doing this?'
"
But Iraqi-born Wafaa Bilal has specific political, emotional and artistic reasons for the painfully interactive anti-war installation he has set up in a West Loop gallery at 217 N. Carpenter St. Confining himself from Friday through June 15 in a room at Flatfile Galleries, the 40-year-old Chicago resident has rigged a paintball gun to a Web camera, a computer and a motor, so anyone who clicks on the exhibit's Web site can aim and fire at him just about 24 hours a day.
The installation is titled "Domestic Tension," though Bilal says he originally wanted to call it "Shoot an Iraqi."
"Susan [Aurinko, the gallery director,] said, 'No way,'
Read more
BLAST FROM THE PAST! Links to entries with similar content, maybe...
Now you can shoot JFK too!!
SHOOT 'EM UP
Just fucking shoot me...
Slap or shoot your enemies!
SHOOT YOUR TURKEY! Harder than it looks!
Send to a friend!
Comments
I can't believe that made the front page of the Chicago Tribune. Of course I tried to log on and shoot the guy, but the server was down. I love how the article said the busiest time of day for shooting was between midnight and three a.m., when the poor bastard was trying to sleep!
That was a pretty big let down to me.
Once I finally got through to it, I "shot" (I couldn't even tell if I did or not because the picture sucks) and the screen went red. I couldn't have even seen the aftermath of my shot had I done anything.
Advertisements
Subscribe to Emails!
Master Archives
EXTREME IHMC!
