[ Return to: Part 1 - 3.Artistic Feedback; 3.1.Electronic Media ]

A large surveillance antenna, turning pointlessly, seeking humans that are no longer there, forms the central motif of this sculpture. This element of communication hardware is situated on top of a camouflaged aeroplane, which has an absurd out-stretched hand forming the one wing. This hybrid form suggests a combined fighting machine and victim. The symbol of flight is contradicted by the landing wheel that slots into the stable, square box that forms the base of the sculpture. [Figure 55]

This work stems from the arms race and subsequent New World Order (NWO) that developed after the cold war. The NWO is envisaged as a 'benign' international entente on deterring and disciplining aggressors as a replacement for the cold war's grand alliances. Washington made it clear that it saw such a system as a way of institutionalising the spirit of collective law enforcement evident in U.N. Security Council verdicts against Iraq. However those people who remained dubious about the Gulf War and Somalia suspect 'Globo Cop' of bolder designs. 'The NWO carries the ring of a metallic tread, the flash of an electronic eye and the wind from a sudden whirl of high-tech weapons. It conjures up an amplified voice advising overly independent countries to face the wall and assume the position.' (Walsh 1991: 19) [Figures 56-57]

The sculpture speaks of a post-apocalyptic world where the technology that humans have created, has destroyed life, and machines are left to communicate and control each other in senseless feedback loops. The technique and materials of construction were inspired by the planes made by black children, from cans and detritus found in townships. [Figure 58]

[ Return to: Part 2 - 1.Working Method ]