Kompromat

Benjamin John Hall

Key technical piece, 2016.

Concealed as a design detail and woven into the back of the wedge on this black and white T-strap is a gunpowder-fuse trim. This fuse can be activated from up to 20 metres away and is detonated wirelessly by opening, pretending to drink and then crushing the accompanying soft drink can. Kompromat is Russian for ‘compromising material’ about a politician or other public figure. These materials are generally used to create negative publicity, to damage reputations or for use in blackmail. This pair of shoes is not intended to hurt anyone wearing them or standing in the vicinity; instead they are designed to place the wearer in a compromising situation in which the potential of being arrested and questioned is increased.

Shoes: optic white goat leather with gloss Italian box calf, gunpowder-fuse trim and printed components.
Soft drink can: 3D-printed components, aluminium can.

© Benjamin John Hall, photo by Levin Haegele.


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