Art: Pedro Reyes creates working musical instruments from decommissioned arms

Disarm is a series of musical instruments created by artist Pedro Reyes from the remnant parts of decommissioned weapons. The guns, taken from a hoard of illegal weapons collected by the Mexican army, have been repurposed into mechanical musical machines, programmed and operated by computers, but also able to be played by humans. For a recent show at the Lisson Gallery Pedro opened the exhibition with a live performance of the instruments, before they were exhibited alongside mixed media works exploring similar themes of societal responsibility.

Pedro believes the act of transforming the utility of these killing machines is “…more than physical. It’s important to consider that many lives were taken with these weapons; as if a sort of exorcism was taking place, the music expelled the demons they held, as well as being a requiem for the lives lost.”