Enough
Matt Kenyon
This is one of two works from Kenyon being exhibited for the first time at brg.
First introduced in 1965, flexible plastic wrist “zip tie” restraints have become a ubiquitous sight at mass demonstrations. Because they are low cost, easy to apply, and lightweight, they are used by domestic police, prisons, and military worldwide. Zip Tie handcuffs, sold under the problematic brand names “Safariland” and “Cobra Cuffs,” provide law enforcement personnel a convenient way to detain individuals. Unlike metal handcuffs, plastic restraints also allow police to circumvent limits on chain of custody and administrative oversight by using an anonymous, disposable piece of plastic. While the nature of the object may be disposable, people are not -– despite how they are often treated by police.
Swamp’s Enough encodes audio into the ridges of the plastic zip tie handcuff. As each of the tails are pulled through the locking mechanism, embedded sound waves in the handcuffs audibly generate the word “Enough.” The object of mass arrests and detentions is reclaimed by the way it announces the hidden audio signature: Enough is Enough.