Imagine
Posted: September 4, 2012 | Project: Imagine, Uncategorized | Tags: alumnos, destroyed, drug war, guns, imagine, instruments, mexico, music, palas por pistolas, pedro, reyes, weapons | 61 Comments »
(Photos by David Franco for 192)
Imagine is a set of 50 musical instruments fabricated out of destroyed weapons – revolvers, shot-guns, machine-guns, etc. This work is a progression of Palas por Pistolas (2008), where 1527 weapons were melted and made into the same number of shovels to plant 1527 trees. In April this year I got a call from the government who had learned about Palas por Pistolas, they told me a public destruction of weapons was to take place in Ciudad Juarez and asked me if I was interested in keeping the metal, which would otherwise have been buried as usual. I accepted the material but I wanted to do something new this time. 6700 weapons, cut into parts and rendered useless, were given to me and I set out to make them into instruments.
A group of 6 musicians worked for 2 weeks shoulder-to-shoulder turning these agents of death into instruments of life. The task was challenging but they succeeded in extracting sounds, from percussion to wind and string. It’s difficult to explain but the transformation was more than physical. It’s important to consider that many lives were taken with these weapons; as if a sort of exorcism was taking place the music expelled the demons they held, as well as being a requiem for lives lost.
This is also a call to action, since we cannot stop the violence only at the place where the weapons are being used, but also where they are made. There is a disparity between visible and invisible violence. The nearly 80,000 deaths by gun-shot that have occurred in Mexico in the last 6 years, or the school shootings in the US are the visible side of violence. The invisible side is that one of gun trade-shows, neglecting assault rifle bans, and shareholder profit from public companies. This is a large industry of death and suffering for which no cultural rejection is expressed.Guns continue to be depicted as something sexy both in Hollywood and in videogames; there may be actors who won’t smoke on the screen, but there has not been one who would reject the role of a trigger-happy hero.
In the last century there has been organized movements for gay rights, gender and race equality and the environment, yet we still need to express our desire for a world without weapons. Living in a community free of guns ought to be a human right. Many liberties that we enjoy today were once considered utopian, and the first step taken into that direction was to Imagine.
Pedro Reyes, Imagine, 2012.
Alumnos47. Comisión y producción
Jessica Berlanga Taylor. Curadora de Proyecto Líquido para Alumnos47.
Emiliano García y Marcelo Rangel Valenzuela. Coordinación de producción
Jazmín Zepeda. Coordinación y dirección musical
Omar Córdova. Adrián López. Alonso López. José Mena. Leika Mochan. Daniel Zepeda. Músicos y diseñadores de instrumentos.
Antonio García Salinas. Herrero artesano
Arturo Quiroz. Herrero artesano
Que maravilla!! Te gustaría hacer algo en Monterrey con los instrumentos.. ? Un concierto?
[...] us nowadays to do new kinds of designs. It also has social and political implications. For example Pedro Reyes’ Imagine piece [above and below] is fantastic because it’s a critique of the weapons business, which is [...]
[...] us nowadays to do new kinds of designs. It also has social and political implications. For example Pedro Reyes’ Imagine piece [above and below] is fantastic because it’s a critique of the weapons business, which is [...]
[...] Pedro Reyes hat aus 6700 Waffen aus dem Drogenkrieg in Mexiko 50 Musikinstrumente hergestellt und während einer Performance mit einer Band „Imagine“ von John Lennon darauf gespielt. Das Cover klingt einigermaßen ätzend, aber darum geht’s ja nun nicht wirklich: „Scrap metal recovered from destroyed weapons were used for making musical instruments. Both the fabrication of the instruments and the recording of this performance was sponsored by Fundación Alumnos 47, Mexico City.“ Imagine is a set of 50 musical instruments fabricated out of destroyed weapons – revolvers, shot-guns, machine-guns, etc. This work is a progression of Palas por Pistolas (2008), where 1527 weapons were melted and made into the same number of shovels to plant 1527 trees. In April this year I got a call from the [mexican] government who had learned about Palas por Pistolas, they told me a public destruction of weapons was to take place in Ciudad Juarez and asked me if I was interested in keeping the metal, which would otherwise have been buried as usual. I accepted the material but I wanted to do something new this time. 6700 weapons, cut into parts and rendered useless, were given to me and I set out to make them into instruments. [...]
[...] made from mexican Drugwar-Guns play John Lennon – Blog de Pedro Reyes Compártelo:FacebookTwitter Categories: Política, [...]
[...] 藝術家Pedro Reyes在他的新計劃Imagine就這麼做了，他重新設計左輪手槍、機關槍等武器並將它們改裝成為樂器。這些武器都是在墨西哥毒品槍戰後遺留下來的；免除了被丟棄的命運，政府將他們捐獻給藝術家進行創作。 [...]
[...] Reyes has done just that in his project Imagine, refashioning revolvers, shot-guns, machine-guns, and other weapons into musical instruments. [...]
[...] Pedro Reyes kann sich in die selbe Kategorie wie Diego Stocco einreihen, denn auch er baut sich seine Instrumente selbst – aus Waffen. Vielleicht hat der eine oder andere schon mal von diesen Polizeiaktionen gehört, bei denen Leute ihre Waffen straffrei abgeben können und teilweise sogar noch ein wenig Geld dafür bekommen. Normalerweise werden die Waffen anschließend eingeschmolzen – Pedro gewinnt selbst dem noch etwas nützliches ab. Zumal das Metall ausschließlich aus dem mexikanischen Drogenkrieg stammt: © by David Franco for 192 © by David Franco for 192 [...]
[...] part of his latest project Imagine, Mexico City based artist Pedro Reyes acquired some 6,700 weapons that were scheduled to be buried [...]
[...] “Imagine” – Instruments made from destroyed drug war weapons by Pedro Reyes via colossal. Imagine is a set of 50 musical instruments fabricated out of destroyed weapons – revolvers, shot-guns, machine-guns, etc. This work is a progression of Palas por Pistolas (2008), where 1527 weapons were melted and made into the same number of shovels to plant 1527 trees. In April this year I got a call from the government who had learned about Palas por Pistolas, they told me a public destruction of weapons was to take place in Ciudad Juarez and asked me if I was interested in keeping the metal, which would otherwise have been buried as usual. I accepted the material but I wanted to do something new this time. 6700 weapons, cut into parts and rendered useless, were given to me and I set out to make them into instruments. [...]
[...] part of his latest project Imagine, Mexico City based artist Pedro Reyes acquired some 6,700 weapons that were scheduled to be buried [...]
aloha braddah Pedro. we are a reggae band based out of Seattle, and our drummer’s brother sent us a link to your blog. what an amazing project. i hope you don’t mind us posting the link on our website, as we would love for our fans to discover your work.
please check out the latest album by Kore Ionz, titled World War Free: http://soundcloud.com/kore-ionz/sets/world-war-free. we stand in solidarity with you braddah! hope our paths cross some day. si se puede!
[...] document.getElementById("fb-root").appendChild(e); }()); As part of his latest project Imagine, Mexico City based artist Pedro Reyes acquired some 6,700 weapons that were scheduled to be buried [...]
[...] part of his latest project Imagine, Mexico City based artist Pedro Reyes acquired some 6,700 weapons that were scheduled to be [...]
[...] Un proyecto de Pedro Reyes donde ha fabricado 50 instrumentos musicales ( que suenan de verdad) con armas confiscadas del tráfico de drogas… estupendo saber que se pueden hacer este tipo de cosas ( y que hay gente que sabe hacerlas)…ya podría se esta la única función de las armas… [...]
[...] de fogo transformadas em instrumentos musicais Por: Valerie Scavone30/10/2012 Imagine é um projeto concluído por Pedro Reyes e mais seis músicos da Cidade do México que [...]
[...] out more of this wonderful project on Pedro Reyes’ blog. Drop a comment and let us know what you guys think. Do check us out in Facebook, Twitter and [...]
This is fantastic! I love what you did with these! I would love to actually hear them being using! I’m sure the sound would be different then anything we expect, but I also assume it would be amazing as well!
Great job!
My mother, Malvina Reynolds, composer of “Little Boxes,” “What Have They Done to the Rain” and other songs, wrote a song, “Singing Jesus” in 1964 that ended: “Stop your feuding and fighting/Kick those no-good wars/Beat your swords into plowshares/And your guns into steel guitars.”
[...] Imagine é um projeto concluído por Pedro Reyes e mais seis músicos da Cidade do México que transformaram6.700 armas de fogo em 50 instrumentos musicais funcionais. [...]
Amazing!!!
[...] Pedro Reyes [...]
[...] “A group of six musicians worked for two weeks shoulder-to-shoulder turning these agents of death into instruments of life,” Reyes says on his site. [...]
[...] “A group of six musicians worked for two weeks shoulder-to-shoulder turning these agents of death into instruments of life,”Reyes says on his site. [...]
[...] “A group of six musicians worked for two weeks shoulder-to-shoulder turning these agents of death into instruments of life,” Reyes says on his site. [...]
[...] “A group of six musicians worked for two weeks shoulder-to-shoulder turning these agents of death into instruments of life,” Reyes says on his site. [...]
[...] from destroyed Mexican weapons as a statement on violence in the country.For his project Imagine,” Mexico City-based artist Pedro Reyes oversaw the transformation of more than 6,000 [...]
[...] “A group of six musicians worked for two weeks shoulder-to-shoulder turning these agents of death into instruments of life,” Reyes says on his site. [...]
[...] mãos de Pedro Reyes, as armas de fogo têm um uso muito diferente. Ele consegue transformar um objeto “feito para [...]
[...] “A group of six musicians worked for two weeks shoulder-to-shoulder turning these agents of death into instruments of life,” Reyes says on his site. [...]
[...] “A group of six musicians worked for two weeks shoulder-to-shoulder turning these agents of death into instruments of life,” Reyes says on his site. [...]
[...] “A group of six musicians worked for two weeks shoulder-to-shoulder turning these agents of death into instruments of life,” Reyes says on his site. [...]
[...] out more of this wonderful project on Pedro Reyes’ blog. Drop a comment and let us know what you guys think. Do check us out in Facebook, Twitter and [...]
[...] Sanatçı Pedro Reyes, “Imagine” adlı yeni projesinde 6,700 tane bozuk silahtan 50 kullanılabilir müzik aleti yaratıyor. Daha önceki bir projesinde de silahlarla çalışmış olan Reyes, (1500 kadar silahın metalinden ağaç dikmek için kullanılacak kürekler yaratmıştı) bu projesiyle Meksika’daki silah şiddetine de dikkat çekmek istiyor. Normalde gömülerek elden çıkarılan bu silahların yeni hallerini ve nasıl ses çıkardıklarını merak eden herkesi şöyle alalım. [...]
[...] “A group of six musicians worked for two weeks shoulder-to-shoulder turning these agents of death into instruments of life,” Reyes says on his site. [...]
[...] Pedro Reyes Tags: Music, weapons [...]
[...] City based artist Pedro Reyes latest project Imagine is quite amazing. He acquired some 6,700 weapons and collaborated with six musicians to create 50 [...]
[...] “Imagine” es un conjunto de 50 instrumentos musicales completamente funcionales construidos con unas 6,700 pistolas destruídas. [...]
Wanna guitar made out of an aK that fires real chords.
[...] Imagine nennt der mexikanische Künstler Pedro Reyes das Set aus 50 funktionsfähigen Musikinstrumenten, die er gemeinsam mit 6 Musikern aus alten Waffen hergestellt hat. Mehr Bilder gibt es hier. [...]
[...] melted down and fashioned into shovels that were then used to plant 1527 trees), he hits us with Imagine. Apparently the Mexican government caught wind of his projects and offered him all the metal from [...]
[...] do you do with that amount of metal, tin and steel? If you’re Reyes, you create a project called Imagine & reach out to 6 talented musicians to transform the objects from instruments of death, to [...]
[...] Do site do artista [...]
[...] 6.700 armas que estaban programadas para ser enterradas para formar parte de su último proyecto Imagine y ha colaborado con seis músicos para crear 50 instrumentos de música como parte de una [...]
[...] 50 de instrumente muzicale de tip cu corzi, percuţie sau de suflat. Proiectul este intitulat „Imagine”. „A fost o provocare să putem scoate sunete din arme, dar am reuşit. Este dificil de [...]
What a bunch of dumbasses. In a world as dangerous as ours, and getting worse, these could be used to protect those who deserve protection, the wives, the children. But, the kneejerk hoplophobes would rather they be rendered impotent. Feel good about yourself? I hope you are not injured or killed by violence, but if you won’t protect yourself, don’t count on me. I probably won’t be there. You will.
[...] mexikói hatóságok által elkobzott lőfegyverekből készített 50 hangszert egy zenészcsoport Pedro Reyes Ciudad Juárez-i művész kezdeményezésére. 6700 pisztoly, puska és egyéb fegyver került ily [...]
[...] DesignBoom, Pedro Reyes, [...]
Mi hermano es pianista porque toda la vida se nos inculcó el amor por la música (en todas sus formas). Me da mucho gusto que pudieran crear música, algo tan bello, de instrumentos que fueron usados para la destrucción.
Kudos.
You guys rock!
[...] harps, and other stringed and percussive instruments. The video on the article page and associated Imagine Blog show the team welding the different parts together and performing with them. Artist Pedro Reyes [...]
[...] iniciativa, llamada Imagine (como la canción de Lennon), tan singular es obra de un artista mexicano, llamado Pedro Reyes, que [...]
[...] iniciativa, llamada Imagine (como la canción de Lennon), tan singular es obra de un artista mexicano, llamado Pedro Reyes, que [...]
[...] iniciativa, llamada Imagine (como la canción de Lennon), tan singular es obra de un artista mexicano, llamado Pedro Reyes, que [...]
I like it, you’re absolutely brilliant. I can feel your value from your art, it’s amazing work.
A group of six musicians worked for two weeks shoulder-to-shoulder turning these agents of death into instruments of life,” Reyes says on his site
[...] Reyes has done just that in his project Imagine, refashioning revolvers, shot-guns, machine-guns, and other weapons into musical instruments. [...]
[...] Reyes has done just that in his project Imagine, refashioning revolvers, shot-guns, machine-guns, and other weapons into musical instruments. [...]
[...] iniciativa, llamada Imagine (como la canción de Lennon), tan singular es obra de un artista mexicano, llamado Pedro Reyes, [...]
Hola Pedro, he visto con mucho interés el trabajo de alquimia que realizas en tu taller, y me gustaría poder hacer una nota en video para nuestra agencia Associated Press. http://www.ap.org. te dejo mi cel también, 044555415-8531, nuestras oficinas para Altinoamérica estan en Reforma 350, saludos y ojalá se pueda
[...] musicales creados a partir de revólveres, escopetas y metralletas. La primera serie, titulada Imagine, es una orquesta de 50 instrumentos, de flautas a tambores, diseñados para ser tocados en vivo. La [...]
great project, I like this kind of weapon treatment !!