// WHAT DO WE WANT?, 2000
Installation, size variable
neonsign, police warning sign, broken window, polaroid
series
“What do
we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!” is a
typical demonstration slogan in the USA. A speaker asks the
demonstrators “What do we want?,” the crowd
answers “Justice,” “When do we want
it?,” “Now.” Chicago is a city with a
very high crime rate. Gun fights are the daily routine of
many neighbourhoods. On the other hand, Chicago police is
omnipresent. It has a bad reputation and is accused of
beeing currupt and brutal. Nevertheless it seems to give
many people a feeling of beeing protected. In many shop
windows and windos of private houses you find signs
“We Call Police” and “This Is A
Neighborhood Watch Area – We Know Our Police.”
Neighbours call the police when they witness criminal
activities. The culture and cultivation of fear and the
paradoxy of the threat of crime on one hand and the
knowledge that also the police is involved in criminal
practices in many ways are the starting points of this
installation. //