ALEXANDER HAHN

electronic media artist

A N D R O I D  P L A N T

(1982, 2 b/w video channels, 2 monitors, speakers, paper, acrylic, TCM doll, dimensions variable)   

 Installation at the Whitney Museum Independent Studio Program, New York, 1982


History sometimes loops in eerie echoes. "ANDROID PLANT"  was created in response to the tragedy of the January 13, 1982 plane crash into the 14th Street Bridge over the Potomac. On January 30, 2025 another plane went down in the same waters.


The installation uses a combination of video, painted elements, and sculptural figures. Eight paper silhouettes of anamorphic human figures, borrowed from "De humani corporis fabrica," the 1543 book by Andreas Vesalius, line the walls and frame the two central video monitors.

Left Monitor: Displays a map locating the plane's tragic crash into the 14th Street Bridge.

Right Monitor: Shows a male nude moving the broken tip of a toy airplane up and down, its motion creating the ambient sound —pitch rising with ascent, falling with descent.

Wall Installation: The wall behind the monitors is adorned with colored paper shapes, cut-out missile trajectories, explosion clouds, and jet fighters freeze mid-attack, lifted straight from the video game "Missile Command". A war game strategy frozen in static paper — starkly at odds with the relentless speed of the video game’s unfolding battle.

TCM Doll: It introduces a scale shift, perhaps serving as a stand-in for the viewer, observing the unfolding drama.