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"Don't try this at home" is part of the project 'Helping Dr. Boom': see don't try this at home (self running, contains animated images of max. 200 Kbyte, requires 1024x768 screen resolution)
HELPING
DR. BOOM
My
work aims to explore the dark side of the Internet and is
based on the collection of information from the anarchists
working within the web, a particular group of which, supply
the network with instructions for making explosives ranging
from simple devices to bombs capable of blowing up an entire
block.
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| Dr. Booms bears, 1999, 122x144 cm, digital print |
Following the instructions of someone going by the name of
Dr.Boom I started to mentally construct bombs for personal
use, and I am gradually becoming initiated into the secrets
of booby-trapping buildings.
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| Big bang orang-outang, 1999, 117x144 cm, digital print |
One thing that impressed me is that many bombs can be made
using ordinary materials one can find in any supermarket.
What I am interested in is conveying this sense of threat
through the creation of a booby-trapped installation.
I act on the basis of information acquired that lies beyond
the limits of legality and puts our personal safety in danger.
Any kind of such information may looks ostentatious, funny
or weird until it finds itself in the hands of a real maniac,
in which case it can turn into a terrorist, threat or a weapon.
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| Holly sprit, 1999, 114x136 cm, digital print |
What interests me most is the point at which viewers begin
to suspect that they may have been trapped by the actions
of such a person and there is no way out.
The information in itself may act as a mental trap which can
turn any ordinary human being into a terrorist, accomplice
or victim, or alternatively may warn us or "protect us".
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| Explosive cod-fish, 1999, 125x150 cm, digital print |
The almost unlimited scope for information exchange through
the Internet challenges the limits between knowledge or ignorance,
use or nonuse, profit or power, passion or boredom.
I am not giving an opinion as to whether the knowledge for
building a weapon is an indication of freedom or a political
matter, but Dr.Boom is without doubt an apparently dangerous,
paranoid expert on destruction who is playing around with
my adrenaline and is turning me into his accomplice.
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| Cat bomb, 1999, 94x140 cm, digital print |
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| Cat bomb, 2000, 110x157x60, mixed media |
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| Big bang orang-outang, 1999, 200x200x60, mixed media |
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| Dr. Booms bears, 1999, 320x72x15, mixed media |
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| Wedding cake bomb, 1999, 100x100x80, mixed media |
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| Installation view I |
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| Installation view II |
- 1999 "Metro", New trends in contemporary Greek art, curator Dan Cameron, Deste Foundation, Athens.
- 2000 Lutz gallery, Delft, The Netherlands.
- 2004 "Art now", Zina Athanassiadou Art Gallery, Thessaloniki.
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