Nocturn: The Waco Re-enactment (2004)
15 min video Documentation of a reconstruction of the FBI's secret psychological warfare assault on the infamous Branch Davidian religious community in Waco, Texas, at a secret, remote location close to London.
Nocturn: The Waco Re-enactment was initially a live event made with the Institute Of Contemporary Art in London on 16th September 2004. This video documents the event.
160 audience members were taken by coach to a remote sports ground outside of London and subject to a recreation of the psychological warfare audio that FBI used during their siege of a religious community in 1993.
The audience were chaperoned on buses by uniformed guards. The sports stadium was lit 60 1000 watt lights and stadium lighting focused on the audience who trapped in the stadium.
On the 28th February 1993, The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) launched a disastrous raid on the Branch Davidian religious community in Waco Texas. A 51 day siege followed which culminated in the deaths of almost all the Davidians when their church, Mt Carmel, caught fire after being gassed with CS for over six hours by the FBI.
During the siege the FBI used psychological warfare tactics against the Davidians: So called "Psychotronic" warfare, a form of sensory deprivation which involved blasting the Davidian's buildings with loud, continuous audio and bright light. The audio included the sound of babies crying, Nancy Sinatra singing 'These Boots are Made for Walking, The sound of helicopters circles and Slaughtered rabbits screaming.
Using first-hand testimony from interviews with survivors and academic researchers, the event recreated some of these original sounds, which included babies crying, circling helicopters, high pitched rabbit screams and dentist drills. The reconstructed audio was broadcast at 100 decibels to the audience who were temporarily trapped in the stadium.