Photo image: EMERGENCE
Tara Parsons
"Fork it Over", 2008
Paper and scissors
Site specific installation with various dimensions
Concept: Fork It Over is about the cost of the current war in Iraq and Afghanistan. It deals with the literal sense of the price of the war (the most recent numbers indicate $822 billion, with expectations of it surpassing $1 trillion), but also with the cost on the lives, livelihoods, and quality of life of all of us. Military families mainly carry this burden.
This war is quickly becoming one of the most expensive wars the US has ever fought, with the inflation-adjusted rate of WWII being the only larger amount. We are each personally getting “poked,” and asked to shell out for a war that could be seen as unconstitutional. Is it possible to fill the room with 822 billion of these paper forks? Or even 1/1000 of this figure? (Each fork representing a $1000 note.) 822,000,000 is a number that is impossible to imagine as a number that could actually be represented-- and that is part of the point of this installation, it is impossible to create this amount of a simple handmade object.
Having the content of this installation be about the Iraq war is important because it is situated on a former military base. Site specificity is a central aspect of my work, therefore the fact that the space that I am using is a kitchen space, and the fact that it is on a military base are both drawn out in the piece.
Participate: Visitors are encouraged to add to the installation by using the provided scissors to make more of the fork cutouts. The forks can be placed anywhere in the room. Viewer participation is important because we all, in some way, are bearing the cost of this war.
4 comments:
Hi,
Just fyi the number you wrote out in this post is incorrect.
820,000,000 is 820 million, not 820 billion.
820,000,000,000 is 820 million. Add 3 more zeros! then its really a # we can't imagine!
Thanks,
Rachel Jobe
I know... Each fork represents a $1000 bill. Therefore 820,000,000, or 820 million, is correct!
Expanded Concept Statement:
Fork It Over is about the cost of the current war in Iraq and Afghanistan. It deals with the literal sense of the price of the war (the most recent numbers indicate $822 billion, with expectations of it surpassing $1 trillion), but also with the cost on the lives, livelihoods, and quality of life of all of us. Military families mainly carry this burden.
This war is quickly becoming one of the most expensive wars the US has ever fought, with the inflation-adjusted rate of WWII being the only larger amount. We are each personally getting “poked,” and asked to shell out for a war that could be seen as unconstitutional. Is it possible to fill the room with 822 billion of these paper forks? Or even 1/1000 of this figure? (Each fork representing a $1000 note.) 822,000,000 is a number that is impossible to imagine as a number that could actually be represented-- and that is part of the point of this installation, it is impossible to create this amount of a simple handmade object.
Having the
content of this installation be about the Iraq war is important because it is situated on a former military base. Site specificity is a central aspect of my work, therefore the fact that the space that I am using is a kitchen space, and the fact that it is on a military base are both drawn out in the piece.
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