GREEN LIGHT
Installation for Sound and Light (1994-1999)
by
Robert Adrian

Sound engineer: Martin Leitner
Special thanks to Kunstradio for technical support

"Green Light" is a garishly lit space illuminated by 100 green fluorescent lamps. There is an ambient sound of a large public space filled with people (a large restaurant or foyer). Sometimes jet aircraft fly, very loudly, through the room. Background: For me, as for many artists working with electronic technology, the "Gulf War" was a traumatic shock. The war made it clear that the technology we were using was a part of the war machinery of the United States of America. We knew of course that "virtual reality", robotics, telecommunications (and the internet), were all products of military programs but when we saw the images from the cameras on the missiles destroying Bagdad it was no longer possible to pretend that it didn't matter - that it was only technology and that technology is neutral and value-free. Up until February 1999, the victims of the United States and its satellites were in Asia, Central America, Africa or the Middle East but now the missiles are landing in Europe - a few hundred kilometers south of Vienna where I live. When Green Light was first conceived In 1993, it was a general statement about presence of these machines in our society ... now it is much more specific. Know your enemy! Robert Adrian, Vienna, April 1999