Night Rap
1993
polycarbide plastic, steel, wireless transmitter, microphone element, batteries
24 x 11 3/16 x 5 1/2 inches
edition of 13
Night Rap is a symbiotic mutation that can reaffirm a condition of choice.
Night Rap is an actual enforcement officer’s nightstick (MONADNOCK PR-24), beheaded and disemboweled, then reanimated and retrofitted with the electronic intestinal circuitry of a professional entertainer’s wireless transmitting microphone (Audio Technica ATW-32®). A hand-formed, nickel-plated microphone head of perforated steel recaps the severed six inches of black polycarbide and protects the new brain, thus returning full enforcement function to the stick.
As a weapon/tool hybrid, this object brings instruments of power into a new form. The policeman’s nightstick is a symbol of authoritarian force loaded with potential for brutality and physical control. The wireless microphone is the entertainer’s choice that arms the voice with amplification and offers physical freedom to the user. This combined option destabilizes the single-minded path that specialized tools can offer.
