Bilal introduces "Ben" and asks him to explain what they are doing to correct a problem with the server, as it was being overwhelmed by the number of hits as people logged onto watch, chat and fire paint balls. Ben expresses the thought that it is an uncanny experience in having to fix a computer issue so that more people can "come and shoot your friend".
Bilal then relates how he had discussed with another friend, Erin, about how frustrated some people had become with the difficulties logging onto the website. Aaron related how after the story appeared in the news papers(The Chicago Tribune?) he began receiving angry phone calls from people who couldn't log on the site due to the sudden increase in traffic through their server. He mentions one particular individual who phoned several times demanding to know why the site wasn't functioning. Aaron went on to report the person said they were impatient to Bilal get shot. He could hear others in the background laughing. He mused that performance art often calls for participation, but in this case, the anxiety was to shoot someone with a paintball gun.
Bilal mentions that one of the objectives in his project was both it's success( which has mentioned elsewhere as reaching people who would not normally be involved in art galleries or performance art) and its failure. He describes the failure of technology, networks as part of his manifesto. He then says he will update the blog later as says good by.
The day 8 video resumes about an hour later. He says he is under constant bombardment and the damaged shields are allowing paint to splatter him. He lets the camera roll for a moment, flinching each time as the gun fires. The recording then obviously stops and restarts.
Bilal begins by thanking louis for bringing fruit tapes and
Ben then describes how suddenly the gun fires rapidly, rather than with a thirty second gap, as the computer had been coded with. Ben then says they traced the IP address to MIT" And we're onto you". They tape then stops again.
Bilal returns reminding us that it is day eight, saying their are a few problems. The ability to shoot rapidly has further damaged the screens, so Bilal sets out to repair them. First he asks Ben if the gun can shoot, then asks him to fire the paintball gun. Luis and
Bilal demonstrates the damage, and then mentions that someone using an MIT address had done this damage. The implication is that it could have been Bilal that had been hit a a concentrated stream of paintballs. The video breaks with Bilal saying he would be back soon.
When he returns he is speaking to his friends saying that he wants to make sure they are not being shot at, and so he had asked Ben to test fire the gun to make sure it was disabled. A pause in recording is followed by a sequence of drilling holes in plexiglas and attaching it to the screens with zip ties. he notes this was a temporary fix until he could get thicker plexiglas. He goes out of room to reactivate the gun. On his video recording, Bilal ponders how long it would take before the gun is fired after it is reactivated. The answer was less than 25 seconds. Bilal says his good bye for the day and the video recording ends.
1.Bilal, Waffa (mewaffa)”paintball project day 8”
Youtube video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4yApRkisa4 posted May 14, 2007, retrieved 21thAugust, 2010
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