TiNTiN PATRONE
Hunting for elephants and drunk people
to get access to wisdom and truth (2018)
installation
The installation “Hunting elephants and drunk people to get access to wisdom and truth” describes a trap that uses low-
frequency sounds and popular snacks to attract elephants and drunkyards. Since the target objects are symbols for wisdom and truth-telling beings, both in combination could contribute to the extinction of all evil, through successful hunting, an unprecedented worldly state can be achieved.
subwoofers, vinyl, fake branches, cardboard, high seat, hunting horn, vr-glasses, screens, foam, metal tubes, raincoat, electronics
installation view, Kunsthaus, Hamburg, Germany
The sound of the installation is mainly
conceptualized for 2 subwoofers
and will therefore not function properly
on headphones or laptop speakers
The experiment explores the problems of new and old ways of
communication that link art and media in an age where information
can be created and shared by anyone using social media and personal broadcasting.
The bass sounds and movements generated by the vibration alarm of
two phones and a modulated hunting horn, some of which sink into
areas barely audible by humans, allow a kind of seismic communication practiced by elephants. The explicit social behavior of these animals and that of drunk people is exploited here; distinct club sounds, pounding noises, simple bass lines and deep growls are supposed to attract them in droves.
Different communication systems that are simultaneously used and disturbed raise the question of the goals we pursue by addressing or calling each other. Symbols and codes from hunting, such as ‘Bruchzeichen’ made out of branches to communicate among hunters are addressed to a specific group of recipients. Even the infrasound-like singnals, which are not perceptible by everyone are excluding certain groups from the communication and are directed only to insiders. At the same time, systems are subverted, things are misappropriated, vibrations / signals are absorbed by cushions and calls can not be answered. In addition, the signaler is blind to the surrounding situation. For the duration of the performance, he is exposed to a randomly generated Youtube playlist.
The installation includes topics such as post-truth and fake news, phenomena driven by the flood of random and fragmented information, and at the same time generating a volume that makes it increasingly difficult for us to communicate with each other, to understand the traps of commodification and identify facts and truth.
The question is how and for what we speak, and what happens to the prey.
© Christina Köhler 2023