Performance commissioned by Kalmar Museum of Art, Sweden. During the inauguration of the new art museum in Kalmar a suspicious individual sneaked around the premises mounting sculptures made of carrots, alarm clocks, red and blue cables, metal wire and tape. On direct orders from the Swedish secret police the performance was stopped since the Culture Minister refused to give her inaugural speech if it were to continue. The speech , as it later turned out, was about how art must be allowed to be free and provocative.
Isn't that akin to yelling fire in a crowded theatre, or your right to swing your fist ends at my nose, sort of thing?
ReplyDeleteYes, little art, run free.
Admittedly it's a pretty asinine "art" project.
ReplyDeleteI think its about being a rude, attention grabbing jerk in a way that you can attempt to justify your actions by claiming its art
ReplyDeleteI guess it can be. Though this was commissioned by the museum.
ReplyDeleteI think it's brilliant. Pointing out the absurd paranoia promoted by government is a fine function of art. Highlighting the hypocrisy gets bonus points too in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI can see legitimate concern over this art project.
ReplyDeleteI know personally I've lost 15 hours personal time in six separate incidences due to "security alerts".
1) IRA threat in hotel where my sisters ballet class was.
2) Evacuation from university due to bomb false alarm.
3) Electricity removed from rail network while station searched for device (3 hours in unheated train 300 yards beyond station so couldn't de-train,after being diverted to an alternate station to start journey.)
4 & 5) Security alert on Mersey Tunnels during rail strikes, one hour each.
6) Evacuation from London Underground.
Now does anyone still use visible toonish bombs? Probably not, it's more likely an old Ford Transit van, but still, with this visual clutter, and crying wolf a genuine device could be planted amongst the "art".
Banning this art project is the same thinking as not allowing realistic toy guns, and requiring orange plugs in muzzles of replicas. It stops kids getting shot by nervous police.
How many have been killed by exploding carrots in the past hundred years? Not including Bugs Bunny, of course...
ReplyDeleteLost hours to industry?
ReplyDeleteBelieve me, when the only road is closed for an hour, or a whole campus is evacuated in the middle of an exam, you start to see these nuisances as larger problems.
The carrots won't harm anyone, but the idiot who runs away in panic, straight into traffic, or five city blocks being closed down until the Army give the all clear, that is the issue, the reaction, not the action.
You may remember the incident(s) which led to the removal of the "ionizing radiation" stickers from the Dinky toy of the Eagle Freighter (Space 1999).
Related articles -
ReplyDeletehttp://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/weird-news/2530028/Toy-sparks-radiation-lock-down
http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main/merc/vmmedinky.html
Hahaha !
ReplyDeletePerfect, the the text and the pictures.
"The speech , as it later turned out, was about how art must be allowed to be free and provocative."
Haha !
Bah. Definitely another publicity stunt.
ReplyDeletePretending to denigrate yourself in order to grab people's attention is a classic. Reverse psychology, and all that.
Me, I just don't believe in Terror-art-ists.
"Yes, little art, run free."
LOL!
Oh, and while at it: "FREE BRIAN!"
I've got this guy to thank next time I need to cause a false bomb alert. Let's see...
- Carrots. Check.
- Cheap chinese alarm clock. Check.
- Black sticky tape. Check.
Oh, almost forgot. It doesn't look half as sinister if I forget the several wires. At least one must be red. Check, please.
If anybody needs me, I'll be at the national Defense Ministry.
Either having it cleared in record time with some, erm, artistic vegetables, or visiting its underground cells for a long (but free) stay.
With the Lebanese, you never know when you can count on their sense of humour. :-p
"with this visual clutter, and crying wolf a genuine device could be planted amongst the "art"."
That's giving Osama far too much taste and culture. Only a Dada would bomb an art event, anyways.
..."or a whole campus is evacuated in the middle of an exam, you start to see these nuisances as larger problems."
Everything is relative. One year, I lost three full months of school because of the war.
Yoo dekadent amerikanskis panik for just ONE bomb? Ach, ach, ach, vhat vimps!
"Nothing to fear but fear itself." I wonder... Would the release of a few white mice in a charity ladies' gathering, causing a fatal panic, be prosecuted as a terrorist act? Even if you're not the one who let off the first "eek!" as an igniting spark?
"It stops kids getting shot by nervous police."
Not in american-occupied Iraq.
Perhaps that local fad for realistic toy weapons might explain a bit of it...
"How many have been killed by exploding carrots in the past hundred years? Not including Bugs Bunny, of course..."
BUGS IS DEAD??!?!!? First Michael Jackson, now Bugs... BOO-HOO-HOO!
Actually, I read decades ago a toon comic story (starring Pif le Chien) about giant black alien rabbits using exploding carrots as grenades. Was titled "Night of the Rabbit", or something like that.
"Now does anyone still use visible toonish bombs?"
See? It *IS* artistic then!!!
MEEP! MEEP! (Bomb likeness & design © ACME Corp.)
What a shame to confuse art and stupidity.
ReplyDeleteAh, but stupidity at such a point can be considered an art form!
ReplyDelete"Oh, almost forgot. It doesn't look half as sinister if I forget the several wires. At least one must be red. Check, please."
ReplyDeleteOr all blue.
"Cut the blue wire!"
"They're ALL blue wires!"
Or:
ReplyDelete"Cut the green wire!"
"Um, did I mention on my job application that I'm color blind?"