reality hack - The Art of the Prank

December 21, 2012December 15, 2023

Artist Makes Music with Instruments of Death

From Weaponry to Symphony: An Artist Makes Music from Confiscated Guns
by Andri Antoniades
TakePart.com
December 2, 2012

Mexican artist Pedro Reyes transforms ‘agents of death’ into ‘instruments of life.’

Mexican artist Pedro Reyes transformed 6,700 used weapons into an orchestra of musical instruments as an act of protest against gun violence and a firearms industry he says is killing his people.

As part of a project Reyes calls Imagine, he worked with six musicians over several weeks to reimagine the weapons into objects that could create beautiful sounds. Together, they took the weapons apart and re-welded them into a variety of playable instruments that include wood, strings, and percussion.

Reyes writes on his website that the process of turning these “agents of death into instruments of life” was painful, albeit personally transformative. “It”s important to consider that many lives were taken with these weapons; as if a sort of exorcism was taking place the music expelled the demons they held, as well as being a requiem for lives lost.”

Continue reading “Artist Makes Music with Instruments of Death”

August 20, 2012December 15, 2023

Diner en Blanc, New York 2012

Thousands gather for NYC secret outdoor dinner
by Verena Dobnik
Associated Press
August 20, 2012

New York (AP) – Guess who came to dinner?

On Monday night in Manhattan, the answer was 3,000 people – all dressed in white, descending on the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

The venue was a surprise until just before the flash-mob feast started at 7 p.m. Registered guests got emails telling them where to go.

They brought chairs, tables, food and drink, plus candles and snow white balloons sailing high above the main plaza at sunset. Row after white row filled the space around a high-shooting fountain – free of charge, with legal permits. Continue reading “Diner en Blanc, New York 2012”

June 6, 2012December 15, 2023

Cat-copter: Bart Jansen’s Animal Art

Orvillecopter Final Test 05/21/2012

This cat-copter is visual artist Bart Jansen’s tribute to his cat Orville, who was named after the aviator Orville Wright. Apparently, Orville loved birds. So, after the cat was killed by a car and Jansen had duly mourned, he turned Orville’s body into a low flying helicopter, named the Orvillecopter.

As Jansen says: “Now he is finally flying with the birds. The greatest goal a cat could ever reach!

Orvillecopter is currently on display at the KunstRai Art Fair in Amsterdam.

Billboard Art Competition: Art Moves 2011 [Poland]

Submitted by Art Moves Festival Organizers:

Billboard Art Competition Art Moves 2011
Konkurs Sztuki na Bilbordach Art Moves 2011

Invitation to all the interested artists and students:

The best 10 artworks selected by an international jury panel will be printed and exhibited in the urban space of the city of Torun, Poland in September/October 2011. The author of the winning entry will receive the Main Award in the amount of PLN 10.000 (about EUR 2.540, USD 3.770). There is no entry fee.

The competition accompanies the 4th Festival of Art on Billboards Art Moves.

The artwork is supposed to be a creative response to this year’s competition theme: “Reality or fiction? Let’s pretend it’s not there.”

This slogan can serve as a kind of a metaphor of the processes taking place in the contemporary world. The slogan concerns daily matters and questions whether the things/situations in our daily life are real or fictional and how can we distinguish one from the other. Simultaneously, the slogan also raises a question what we, as individuals or as a community, are trying to hide. Are there any specific phenomena, processes or events we tend to intentionally ignore and pretend “it’s not there”? Continue reading “Billboard Art Competition: Art Moves 2011 [Poland]”