pied piper, 2016, 22x3 inches, British police baton.

An old police baton found on E-bay has been transformed into a functional musical instrument, a flute. The title ‘Pied Piper’ is borrowed from a well-known German folk tale. As thedefinition of Pied Piper from the dictionary indicates, “a leader who makes irresponsible promises” or “one that offers strong but delusive enticement,” this work questions the notions of democracy and violence. I re-enacted my memory of the 1980’s in my home country, South Korea, in which mass protests formed against the South Korean military government and the dictatorship. Nearly one quarter of a million people participated to protest against the suppression of freedom and were beaten violently and arrested by government forces with such instruments as police batons, water guns, and pepper gas.

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