An interventionist, performative, and net-based project, Who is Stealing my Signs? documents my attempts to protect a political yard sign during the US presidential election season in 2004.
Devising a Rube Goldberg-esqe surveillance, alarm, and reporting system made from fishing wire, motion detectors, cooking oil, an infrared video camera, an 8 hour VHS tape, and a website hosted on angelfire.com, I captured several failed attempts to steal the yard sign, in addition to the often humorous and surprised reactions of the unwitting would-be sign thieves. By crafting my complaint using the rhetoric of an audio-visual narrative, I succeeded in soliciting the help of TV news and radio to tell my story in the local media vernacular. Of course when one hands control of the narrative over to another producer, one relinquishes control of certain aspects of agency and accuracy in exchange for recognition and sensation.
But how else could one respond to the tropes of the local media vernacular, where digital remixing is possible, and the best chance to reclaim agency? A Video Vigilante Fair Use Mashup, of course.
MARC TASMAN 