aliot-lookingoutwards07

1033 Objects by Ingrid Burrington

This project is a “visualization” of items which have been transferred to police departments around America from the Pentagon. The project plays off of 1033 Program — an initiative to transfer excess military equipment from federal agencies to civilian law enforcement agencies. At the time of the project about 200,000 objects had been transferred. In an attempt to convey the quantity of objects and ambiguity of the program, the website displays 1033 random objects. The viewer gets a good sense of the sort of items transferred and while it would take an inordinate amount of time to read the information, the items are arranged in a grid so the scrolling motion down the page drives home the notion that there are VERY VERY many of them.