Louisa Bufarde­ci
Starter Pis­tols

8th March – 1st April 2006
Anna Schwartz Gallery

Starter Pis­tols is an exhi­bi­tion of six bargel­lo needle­works. The design of each needle­work illus­trates sound­waves asso­ci­at­ed with var­i­ous anti-per­son­nel weapons. Each sound­wave is a mere one one-hun­dredth of a sec­ond in length and cap­tures the split-sec­ond a weapon is dis­charged. One of the designs is based on the sound of the Brown­ing 1910 hand­gun used by Gavri­lo Prin­cip to assas­si­nate the Arch­duke Franz Fer­di­nand of Aus­tria in 1914 and the oth­ers are all sim­i­lar­ly trig­ger points in history.

Needle­work has his­toric tra­di­tions almost as long as war and def­i­nite­ly longer than mod­ern weapon­ry. The labo­ri­ous, time-con­sum­ing process was not cho­sen pure­ly for its incon­gruity with the vio­lent theme, but because its man­ic rep­e­ti­tion serves as a reminder of the rep­e­ti­tious pres­ence of vio­lence and war through­out his­to­ry. While the colours employed are the typ­i­cal mut­ed greens, browns and greys asso­ci­at­ed with war­fare attire, the tight fram­ing is rem­i­nis­cent of the rigid fram­ing of any rep­re­sen­ta­tion of war.

Images

Louisa Bufarde­ci

1914/06/28 10:15:53:11 — 1914/06/28 10:15:53:12 Sarajevo, 2005
Bargel­lo needlework
1581 cm

Louisa Bufarde­ci

1917/10/25 21:45:49:26 — 1917/10/25 21:45:49:27 Petrograd, 2005
Bargel­lo needlework
1581 cm

Louisa Bufarde­ci

1919/01/21 12:39:31:03 — 1919/01/21 12:39:31:04 Soloheadbeg, 2005
Baregel­lo needlework
1581 cm

Louisa Bufarde­ci

1945/08/06 08:16:25:81 — 1945/08/06 08:16:25:82 Hiroshima, 2005
Bargel­lo needlework
1581 cm

Louisa Bufarde­ci

1994/04/06 12:38:26:64 — 1994/04/06 12:38:26:65 Kigali, 2005
Bargel­lo needlework
1581 cm

Louisa Bufarde­ci

1968/04/04 18:01:42:79 — 1968/04/04 18:01:42:80 Memphis, 2005
Bargel­lo needlework
1581 cm