A secret memorial for civilian casualties

There's a quote by activist and punk-rock
musician Jello Biogra that I love.

He says,
"Don't hate the media. Be the media."

I'm an artist.

I like working with media and technology
because A - I'm familiar with them

and I like the power they hold.

And B - I hate them and I'm terrified
of the power they hold.

(Laughter)

I remember watching in 2003, an interview
between Fox News host Tony Snow

and then-U.S. Defense Secretary,
Donald Rumsfeld.

They were talking about the recent
invasion of Iraq and Rumsfeld is asked

the question,
"Well, we're hear about our body counts,

but we never hear about theirs, why?"

And Rumsfeld's answer is,

"Well, we don't do body counts
on other people."

It's estimated that between 150,000
to one million Iraqis, civilans

have died as a result of the U.S. led
invasion in 2003.

That number is in stark contrast with
the 4,486 U.S. service members who died

during that same window of time.

I wanted to do more than just bring
awareness to this terrifying number

and wanted to create a monument
for the individual civilians who died

as a result of the invasion.

Monuments to war, such as
Maya Lin's Vietnam memorial

are often enormous in scale.

Very powerful and very one-sided.

I wanted my monument to live
in the world, to circulate.

I remember when I was a boy in school,
my teacher assigned us

this classic civics assignment where
you write -- you take a sheet of paper

and you write a member of your government.

And we were told, if we wrote a really
good letter, if we really thought about it

we would get back more than just a simple
formed letter as a reply.

This is my notepad.

What looks like an everyday, legal
tablet of paper, is actually a monument

to the individual Iraqi civilians that
died as a result of the U.S. invasion.

Notepads in act of protest and an act
of commemoration disguised

as an everyday tablet of paper.

The lines of the paper, when magnified
are revealed to be micro-printed text

that contain the details, the names,
the dates and locations of individual

Iraqi civilians that died.

So, for the last 5 years, I've been taking
pads of this paper -- tons of this stuff

and smuggling it into the stationary
supplies of the United States

and the coalition governments.

(Applause)

I don't have to tell you guys, this is not
the place to discuss how I did that.

(Laughter)

But also, I've been meeting one-on-one
with members and former members

of the so-called Coalition of the Willing,
who assisted in the invasion.

And so, whenever I can, I meet with one
of them and I share the project with them.

And last summer I had the chance to meet
with former United States Attorney General

and Torture Memo author,
Alberto Gonzales.

"May I give this to you?
This is a special legal tablet."

"This is actually part of an on-going
art project."

"Is it a special legal pad?"

"Yes, and I know you won't believe me, but
it's in the collection

of the Museum of Modern Art."

"I'm an artist."

"OK."

"And all of the lines of the paper --"

"Are they going to disappear?"

"No, they're micro-printed text that
contain the names

of individual Iraqi civilians, who have
died since the invasion of Iraq."

"Thank you."

(Laughter)

The way he says thank you
really creeps me out.

(Laughter)

OK, so I'd like each of you
to look under your chairs.

There's an envelope.

And please open it.

The paper you're holding in your hands
contains the details of Iraqi civilians

that died as result of the invasion.

I'd like you to use this paper
and write a member of government.

You can help smuggle this civilian body
count into government archives.

Because every letter that's sent
in to the government, and this is

all across the board of course,
every letter that is sent in

is archived, filed and recorded.

Together we can put this in the mailboxes
and under the noses of people in power.

Everything that's sent in, eventually
becomes part of the permanent archive

of our government, our shared
historical record.

Thank you.

(Applause)

So, tell me Matt, how did this idea come
into your head, of notepad?

I had just finished a project that dealt
with the U.S. coalition side of the war

and it was a black armband that was called
the Empathetic Device which accumulated,

in realtime, the names, ranks, cause
of death and location of U.S. service

members who had died overseas and each
time the Department of Defense or Syncom

released their data, it would stab me
in the arm.

And so, I became aware that there was
a spectacle associated with our own

people who are dying overseas, but
a disproportionate amount of casualties

were the civilian casualties.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.