Response Assignment #3

For this assignment, I chose to review the Birds of Pray by Haroon Mirza. This piece is marginally complex using such items as a record player, a transistor radio, a screen set up in a diagonal manner, a projector, and a neon light. There is also a disjoined second record player which plays a record with a post-it note on the playing field of the record.

The piece is interactive because the person viewing it can change the position of the post-it note on the record, thus changing where the stylus will skip and affecting the segment of music that will be played. The record is currently playing ominous chords of sound, but who knows what surprises are in store if the viewer moves the post-it note.

As the transistor radio spins on its record player, its antenna strikes nearby objects such as a microphone, a mini fiber optic light toy, and the projected screen itself. The striking creates a clicking sound which adds to the breadth of sound coming from the room. The juxtaposition of the radio and the record player is to show that old technology can be fused together to make a new union and a new purpose. Haroon must have wanted to create an atmosphere of nostalgia, while giving the radio a new use, specifically, clicking.

The neon light changes color as the sound changes. The picture on the screen is a movie that is playing in a presumable loop. The power cords are just laid across the floor to be tripped over by the viewer. The changing of colors of the neon light is to represent a rebirth of ideas over the course of time. The artist wants to indicate a randomness or chaos that can be admired as well as feared.

The turn tables and items are placed on distinct looking pedestals, which seem to have been built for the purpose. The whole conglomeration is situated in a stark white room with a doorway leading to another part of the museum. Haroon must have built the pedestals himself, or had them made, since they look very custom to the installation. It can also be construed by the smallness of the furnishings that the works are very approachable by the viewer.

The artist, because of the low tones of the dirge playing on the record player, must have wanted to bring about a morose feeling in the viewer. The closeness of the quarters can be interpreted as a challenge for the viewer to endure.