The Reason for the Neutron Bomb
The project was all about process...not the concept, not the result...but the actual doing of it, nickel by nickel, row by row, hour after hour.
I began with Chris Burden's thoughts and ideas...military power and the continuing threat that we'll all be blown to smithereens. The world players change; the fears remain. More tanks, more jobs. "It's the economy, stupid."
As the pattern of nickels grew, I thought about regimentation and the anonymity of the masses. "Safety in numbers," we believe, but what about loss of identity? I couldn't get China out of my mind. There seemed to be layers of meaning hiding in this monumental work, Maybe some Burden intended; perhaps, others he didn't.
The work was so repetitive. How do people do such boring jobs, I wondered. Then the repetition became liberating. Busy hands left my mind free to go exploring. Sometimes it became an almost zen-like meditation...living in the moment, nickel by nickel by nickel.
But the work was very tiring, crawling around on hands and knees.
I relied on mental strength more than physical. I thought about marathon
runners. I listened to Tibetan chants and Shakuhachi flute.
Many hours, many moods, many thoughts...and through it all, the nickels
marched relentlessly across the museum floor.
- Pamela Sumner
In January of 1999, I reinstalled Chris Burden's The
Reason for the Neutron Bomb at the Ringling Museum in Sarasota, Florida
as part of the Blurring the Boundaries exhibition.
The installation consists of 50,000 matchsticks glued
onto 50,000 nickels arranged in a precise pattern - 125 rows by 400 rows.
Pam and Benjamin Peters-Keirn at the Ringling Museum
see also Metamorphosis, Krystal Nacht