PINOCCHIO'S LUGER (2019)
Materials: Decommissioned Pistole Parabellum 08, steel plate, electronics
Dimensions: 14 x 14 x 10 in
Collaborator (Programming): Kostadin Ilov
Pinocchio’s Luger is a reflection on the ambiguous nature of truth and the widespread dissemination of false information in today’s media. This satirical piece was created by disabling a German Luger p08 gun and fitting it with an elongating barrel, inspired by Carlo Collodi’s famous fictional character, Pinocchio. Like it’s namesake, the Luger’s proboscis visually portrays the truthfulness of a statement. This mechanical work is programmed to be driven by a real-time data feed from the fact-checking website, PolitiFact.
Each press of the play button draws forth one of the ten latest fact-checks from PolitiFact. The graduated barrel extends or contracts in accordance with PolitiFact’s truth rating for a given statement. An internal lead screw and a stepping motor, controlled by a single-board computer running a Python script, drive the mechanical movement.
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/32c327a18585947d88dac6a9c70aebff/333b389d-5923-4771-9c5d-33260715b8c8_rw_1920.jpg?h=f7778de36faa2e701493424af8390910)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/32c327a18585947d88dac6a9c70aebff/634f5999-535b-4074-8607-bbd42eab3867_rw_1920.jpg?h=a1ff6d2f4698ef96c274eb50e8aedbd8)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/32c327a18585947d88dac6a9c70aebff/e7a93521-c514-4a23-b041-9b3c8b460cd9_rw_1920.jpg?h=2f0927c58942febdcae096d27a0c3780)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/32c327a18585947d88dac6a9c70aebff/898bfba2-c647-441c-a08f-e49a642fd002_rw_1920.jpg?h=dc791caa6d9523590f126a5d53256563)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/32c327a18585947d88dac6a9c70aebff/5a2ce88f-bd87-4b4f-9621-caa6dc77797b_rw_1920.jpg?h=0a0228e1c9b0a66a98eddf80f4837103)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/32c327a18585947d88dac6a9c70aebff/f38beb3b-68f4-4dab-9c0b-3ac1d0581c3a_rw_1920.jpg?h=e97ae617d86d556b3a5887d4a9e0c1fc)
© 2019 Constantine Zlatev