Dep. of Defense

”The Analog Database” is an artwork mirroring a personal file system. Based on the piece “Genuine Government Issue”, the performance called “Your Application is Pending” is constructed upon my experience of governmental involvement in border control situations. The audience is able to apply for my own made-up Departments, followed by an interview for approval. I take on the role as “The Head of Department” and I investigate the absurdity of a questioning. I am interested in absurdity because it generates a cognitive creative process and reflects an existing system. Based on the information collected during the performance “Your Application is Pending”, “The Analog Database” was constructed. “The Analog Database” keeps on growing, for every person interviewed there is a personal file created.

In ”The Analog Database” I have created individual files based on everyone who I interviewed, to create an index of absurdity. The information in the files is more or less ”meaningless”, from an identification point of view; the identification “photo” is a watercolor portrait, small, blurry and not very exact and the information collected is all based on the fictional Departments. The name of every one who participated is in the file; so a tiny bit of information is true and has a foot in “reality.”