Year of the Rat: 1972

The Year of the Rat: 1972 is a sculptural sound installation created between March and May 2003 by R. Streitmatter-Tran for inclusion in the group exhibition, Frag, curated by Mobius Artists Group director, Jed Speare, for the Evos Arts Gallery in Lowell, Massachusetts. The installation is intended to be experienced in the evening and in its entire duration (approximately 16 minutes). The sound recording is a sampling of a 1967 speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his opposition to the Vietnam War coupled with the panning interrruption of helicopters. The recording is looped with a five-minute pause between tracks.

Rat traps are all primed with a single penny and are arranged like a movement from an armored tank division. The coin and trap is the relation between capital and violence, as MLK points out in his speech, also with regards to imperialism and race, life and mourning. And about the circumstance that left me orphaned, and brought to America as a Vietnamese adoptee who would in turn become an American soldier to perpetuate the very system of that displaced him. There are cycles and there are loops.

The recording can be downloaded -> here.

Year of the Rat: 1972 (2003). Installation. Dimensions variable.

Sculpture: Plywood, museum board, incense, horn speakers, halogen can lights, assorted hardware
Floor installation: rat traps, pennies, halogen can lights
Sound: compact disc player, CD, speakers with subwoofer, assorted hardware

DETAILS

2003

Exhibition "Frag". Curated by Jed Speare
Evos Arts Centre, Lowell, Massachusetts
May 10-31, 2003


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