KILL YOUR SMART PHONE: A Cathartic 4D Action Art
By Paul McLean

SUMMARY DESCRIPTION: Liberating Oneself from Addiction to the Network and Some Aspects of Network Surveillance Programming, While Simultaneously Creating [Object]Art, Concept[Art]; or Performing Political/Economic Action - by Destroying One's Mobile Electronic Device

DISCLAIMER: THIS 4D ACTION ART, "KILL YOUR SMART PHONE," IS METHODOLOGICALLY AND PHENOMENOLOGICALLY VERIFIABLE AND REPEATABLE. YOU ARE NEITHER ENCOURAGED TO TRY THIS AT HOME, IF YOU BE SO INCLINED, NOR DISCOURAGED FROM DOING SO, IF YOU BE SO UN-INCLINED. HOWEVER, IF YOU CHOOSE TO ATTEMPT TO REPEAT THE DETAILED "KILL YOUR SMART PHONE" ACTION, THE ARTIST CANNOT GUARANTEE THAT THE [OBJECT]ART YOU CREATE THEREBY WILL BE AS GOOD AS HIS. AFTER ALL, HE IS A PROFESSIONAL ARTIST. BE ADVISED: THE ARTIST IN NO WAY ASSUMES RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DAMAGES INCURRED BY ANYONE ATTEMPTING TO DUPLICATE THIS ARTWORK, INCLUDING LOSS OF DATA, MISSED CALLS, OR ANY OTHER CONSEQUENT INCONVENIENCES DUE TO PHONE/INTERNET SERVICE DISRUPTION AND/OR DEVICE-DEATH; INJURIES TO BYSTANDERS, OR ANY SECONDARY OR COLLATERAL DAMAGE TO OBJECTS OR PERSONS IN THE PATH OF THE HURLED PHONE OF AN UNSUPERVISED, FREE-WILLED RADICAL PRACTITIONER, IN THE OPERATION OF ATTEMPTING TO REPLICATE THE 4D ACTION ART HEREIN DESCRIBED.

NARRATIVE:
Tuesday, March 18, 2014

1) I hurled my Blackberry mobile phone against the steel door of my Bushwick loft. [I will explain why I did so in an appendix to this document, and through subsequent presentations on this project/artwork.]

2) When my wife later showed me the broken device, I noticed immediately that the screen had "frozen" beautifully [see attached photographs].

3) Being a professional artist, I realized that this act of violence (throwing the phone against the steel door) had unexpectedly created Art.

4) Being a trained (avocational) thinker, I realized that, simultaneous to the actualization of the [object]art, a conditional, contingent [concept]art emerged - or irrupted - from the performative action (throwing the phone against the steel door and consequently killing the device's utility, as a transmitter of messages),* and that this phenomenon deserved further investigation.

*...Even if the concept[art] appears as a kind of temporary product or asymmetrical solution derived through autonomous recursion or evaluation.

NOTATIONS:
1) A WOVENFORM/technical + theoretical thread connects "KILL YOUR SMART PHONE" to the SENDER-RECEIVER body of work (@2008-present).

2) The screen image [see attached photographs] initially generated by throwing the phone at the door eventually disappeared, and despite efforts to recover it, apparently is gone forever.

POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS AND SECONDARY ART PRODUCTION FOR "KYSP":
1) Digital still images for web
2) Digital still images for print
3) Digital animations
4) Analog sculptural work
5) Viral collective project
6) Multimedia exhibition
7) Oral presentation on the subject
8) Video presentation on the subject
9) Live presentation on the subject
10) Essay