Wild Beasts | TERRORISM
Wild Beasts | TERRORISM is an artwork about terrorism constructed from recycled materials.
Materials: Recycled tin cans, repurposed vintage steel dollhouses, piano wire, brass, electronic parts.
Dimensions: Letter height 20” Height from the floor including wire 65” x 52” width x 13” depth from the wall
Wild Beasts | TERRORISM is one of the 10 Modern Plagues. The biblical plague spelled in Hebrew is Wild Beasts. Domestic and international Terrorism is definitely a modern plague.
One single individual can cause great harm and devastating loss of life in one single event, but the real cost to our society is enormous. Practically, emotionally and financially we pay for the impact of terrorism every day. We see the impact of terrorism discussed in the news daily.
This completion of this artwork was supported by the MFJC (Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture.)
The grant from MFJC helped pay for the completion of two artworks. Hail: Climate Change and Wild Beasts / TERRORISM, This page includes final photos, video and fabrication photography and videos for Wild Beasts | TERRORISM.
The grant from MFJC paid for my studio assistant, hiring electrical expertise, technical support and programming for the letters to spontaneously move and shock the view while on display. The grant budget also included professional quality photography.
TURN UP YOUR VOLUME for the next video. You will want to hear the sound for the next two videos.
Installation: Each letter hangs on a nail on the wall with a bracket on the back or a simple keyhole for a nail. The electronic box installs on the wall. near the floor.
Shipping for exhibition: A custom box for shipping and storage is compact and lightweight while protecting each letter. Wiring is detachable for shipping.
Wild Beasts | TERRORISM is constructed from post consumer recycled tin cans and the steel from repurposed steel dollhouses. Steel piano wires holds the triangular fragments out in the air at all levels so that the fragments move and vibrate. In the next photo, their is a close up of another letter.
The video below was an early video. More videos are coming.
Below are photos and videos of this artwork during fabrication.
The Idea Behind
The fractured elements are symbolic of how terrorism fractures our society. It is not just the impact of one terrorist incident or the loss of life. This goes beyond the cost to develop the infrastructure to prevent terrorism, or pay for the insurance, or delays caused by security screening. The biggest impact of terrorism is the fear that we are not safe in our own communities, that we can not trust our neighbor, or that a stranger from another country may be perceived as our enemy rather than as a friend.
Behind the Scene Working in the Studio on Wild Beasts | TERRORISM
From the early steps in the construction and assembly to the final steps towards completion.
The letter shadows were constructed from large sheets of steel from vintage steel dollhouse roof. The edges are rolled over for structural strength.
Working on another letter, cutting all the triangles. It is a real challenge to create this metaphor for fracturing of society...and retain some level of organization.
The rolled edge keeps the letter on a more even plane, yet it feels a lot more dimensional like it was written by the hand of G_d in the air.
I developed a method for attaching the wire to the triangular elements. Every one of these brass fixtures needs to be cut into individual elements.
After I created the letter shadow, I created a second identical letter cut into triangular shapes trying to keep all these pieces in some semblance of order.
Every wire needed a small brass fixture riveted to the triangular elements and soldered to the back of the letter so they could float out into the air.
The paint must be scrapped off the letter before soldering.
This whole assembly of the letter took forever. So many parts, so many details.
Here you can see the triangular elements hovering over the letter. The letter will be painted black when this is closer to beginning done.
Test hanging the letter without the shadow.
Test shot on my living room wall.
The Hebrew letter silhouette with the metal fragments was the beginning of my idea.
Close up image of the triangles.
From the very beginning, I had the idea that there would be a vibrating motor (or something) attached to the back of each letter so that the triangles will spontaneously move and vibrate. The movement makes the most amazing sound.
Constructing the hanging system for Wild Beasts | TERRORISM
It was extremely difficult to figure out how to hang the letter from the wall and yet be able to move.
The letter was supposed to hang from the wall, floating in front of the shadow, floating away from the wall as if it were written by the hand of G_d in the air. At the same time it had to be able to move and vibrate. The parts (shown above) were the original idea. It was changed to springs which you can see in the photo (left.)
In the video below you can see that I am testing the idea of springs as both a spacer between the shadow and the letter, and a way to allow it to move.
In the next video (below) you can see more clearly the solenoid that moves from electrical impulses in the programing.
Questions and debate between me and my mechanical engineering son, and engineer husband circulated about whether this should work on batteries or electricity? Electricity had wires, (which I was reluctant to see) but electricity would be dependable energy source. Batteries would not have wires, but the batteries would have to be replaced while on exhibition. Replacing the batteries might present a difficulty to the museum/exhibition staff.
There was a constant debate about function. So much was unknown. We eventually settled on using electricity which would not require battery replacement.
In the video below, is a preliminary wiring test below. The solenoid (center front) is wired to the development board along with other parts. This gets complicated really fast.. Programming code is written on a computer to make the Solenoid go back and forth.
To the left: This was the next wiring test. The electronic parts are mounted to the wood platform.
Notice how wires from the development board go to the screw units. Each peg on the development board is numbered.
The programming for the development board is written on a computer and input into the development board. It was tested and changed over and over.
Eventually, all of this will be hidden in a box.
The bar between the top letter, and the shadow facilitates the movement and vibration. One end of the bar is attached to the solenoid. The other end is attached to the letter.
Each of the videos below, is a demonstration of progress that represents about 16 hours of work.
In the video below, you can see that the springs are now mounted by brass domed fixtures that were screwed into the shadow and the top letter . This took a lot of mistakes, trial and error.
After assembly and disassembly (about 10 times for each letter,) we were finally ready for a test. Would it work? Below is our first test.
Simultaneous with the fabrication of the letters, I hired a mechanical engineer, and a electrical engineer software engineer capable of helping me with the electronic components that would make this vibrate and move. The mechanical engineer purchased many different kinds of devices for testing the movement. We needed something strong enough to move the letters,
In the video (below,) the electrical engineer /software designer talks about milliseconds of electricity and a lot of information that made this work. We are testing the function of the solenoid with what is called a “development board.” All this wiring was beyond my ability and knowledge. It is far more complicated than I expected, and had no previous experience with solenoids and ardinos.
Testing two letters on the floor.
Each one of these short videos represents hours of work. In this video (below), we tested the function of the solenoid wired directly through the development board, and the first programming code.
Testing the first installation wiring and programming. After I plugged it in, several of the letters immediately were triggered, but after that the “action” aligned with the programming. Each letter is supposed move withing the hour at an irregular pace.
Image below: Artist Harriete Estel Berman is making some adjustments to the wires.
It’s ready for final photos and video taping. Thanks to a grant from MFJC (Memorial Foundation of Jewish Culture) it helped pay for the dedicated hours of my studio assistant, the electronic engineering and programming along with the photography. In reality, the biggest impact of the grant was reducing the financial burden of creating an artwork, and motivated me to finish this artwork after a long hiatus.
Artist Harriete Estel Berman making final adjustments to Wild Beasts | TERRORISM.
After working on this intensely May 2024 to November 2024 this artwork about terrorism was finished.
Designing a box to hold the electronics was complicated.
This box is the beginning of constructing a box for the electronics. The parts need to be held safely in place without moving, and there has to be access for electricity and a connection to a computer for changing the programming. There will be a lid and a way to mount this on the wall.
The box will be secure.