A Human Being A Machine

by Army of Clowns, audio written and performed by Harold Lehman
Time: 2m46s

Army of Clowns was a collaborative art group founded in 1998 in Austin, TX and disbanded in 2007.  Rick Delaney, Morgan Knicely and Harold Lehman created AOC to continue the work of the legendary and now defunct multimedia performance based group - Circus of Fools. A Human Being A Machine presents two men [both portrayed by Morgan Knicely] seated at a table.  As one begins to eat a hot dog, the other begins to 'uneat' it. At a glance the work is humorous and lighthearted.  On another level, the video comments on the way we repeatedly 'feed' ourselves what we've already digested, avoiding experiences that are outside of our norm.  The video also invokes our fascination with watching others perform mundane activities -- eating, or sleeping, shopping, etc. This is a carry over of all the reality TV series that are prevalent today.