Inspired by 'State_Sponsored_ Homophobia_2010' (Daniel
Ottosson, ILGA.org), this screen-based 'travel information system',
seems like a twisted admonition to 'behave' ourselves on holiday, but
is, in reality, a shocking reminder that, around the world, so many
gay people's sexuality is still criminalised.
The Trope Troupe 2011 (original description)
I make art installation objects with small embedded
computers. I wanted to make an upright monitor piece! I love the way
all the upright monitor display systems are based on horizontal
operating systems - so when they break - which they do - you get
system messages at right-angles to the picture. Well my piece, it
turns out, is no different.
I found myself looking for information on the existence of countries that still outlaw gay sexuality. I came across
ilga.org
a fascinating and thoroughly researched web-site. On the site I found
the document State
Sponsored Homophobia by Daniel Ottosson. I have had to interpret
the information in the document - sometimes the legal phrasing does
not make it clear exactly what sexual act is being described and
therefore punished. There are confusions in many legal utterances
about rape and under-age sexual activities. In some cases the
proposed sentences are vague and confusingly wide-ranging.
I
have added reported punishments carried out unofficially. Some of
these are disgusting - I have to remind people that is art, not an
automated legal advice display device. I have quoted some colourful
phrases 'Anus Locking' and 'Haffi dead', found in press
reports about anti-gay murders.
'Anus Locking'
How Islamist gangs use internet to track, torture and kill Iraqi gays
'Haffi dead' The
Most Homophobic Place on Earth?
I first started researching the piece in September 2010 - though it was finished in Febuary 2011, and has had radical changes since, both in structure and contents. It is now a series, each year it has been re-made and kept current - sometimes with new technology, officially, with an upgrade number.
The first version at Kinetica had sound! There was a subtle long-cycled sonic element to Departures (1.00). An airport stytle chime can be heard every two minutes, sounding out mashed-up fragments of 'I Am What I Am' from La Cage aux Folles. According to Wikipedia, the song was composed in 1983 by Jerry Herman, an openly gay man.
Links to important campaigning groups :-
The Peter Tatchel Foundation &
Movement for Justice ...