EMPIRE NORTH is always at the cutting edge of technology, at the research of new products in the important area of Non-Lethal-Weaponry. This young, ambitious Danish company is currently developing brand new kinds of identification tools and anti-riot-equipment, tailored for the modern urban battlefield, combining outstanding Danish design and know-how.Spiegel Online (24.3. 2005) berichtet ausführlich über den dänischen Aktionskünstler JAKOB BOESKOV ("Wie ein Däne die Waffenlobby foppte"), der mit seiner Fake-Firma "Empire North" groß ins Waffengeschäft eingestiegen ist. Die Geschichte klingt abenteuerlich, aber wenn es um große "Würfe" geht, dann sind diese Herrschaften nicht zimperlich ...
Hier die Orginalpresseerklärung:
Weapons that shoots microchips into the bodies of innocent civilians. An artist smuggling blueprints for fake technology inside Chinas first international weapons fair. Laughing arms traders drinking 30 year old Chivas Regal among teenage models advertising new weapons. No, it´s not a scary sci-fi movie. It´s a blast of an art show by Danish artist Jakob S. Boeskov
MY DOOMSDAY WEAPON is Jakob S. Boeskov´s debut solo exhibition and its more than just art. It´s also a media sensation and a daredevil prank with a message. Its based upon events that, without exaggerating, can be described as one of the most important political art-stunts of the 21st century.
As the CEO of the fictional Scandinavian arms company Empire North; Boeskov traveled to Beijing in June 2002. He came to infiltrate CIEPE (China International Exhibition on Police Equipment) a startling event where the international weapons dealer jet-set for the first time rubbed shoulders in China. With him he had 300 fake business cards and a poster of a horrific hi-tech weapon.
This weapon (“The ID Sniper”) was designed to shoot off GPS (Global Positioning System) microchips into the bodies of innocent civilians, whose movements later could be followed by authorities via the GPS satellite system.
Boeskov presented his futuristic art weapon in constant fear of being revealed as a fraud and describes the 3 days at the weapons fair like this “…It was the worst 3 days of my life, like being trapped inside a nightmarish sci-fi novel that you authored yourself.”
The outcome of the events shall not be revealed here, but it´s a fact that Jakob S. Boeskov got extremely positive responses for his weapon and one Chinese company even gave Boeskov some very lucrative offers.
With MY DOOMSDAY WEAPON Jakob S. Boeskov shows the need to set new standards for political art, proving that conceptual art can be just as entertaining as a Hollywood blockbuster.
His own word for this new art-style is `fictionism´ which he describes like this:
“Turn you worst fears about the future into a product. Present this product in present day reality. Report the reactions.”
Is the “hacking of reality” that is MY DOOMSDAY WEAPON a morbid joke, or one of the most important artistic statements of the new millennium? See the show and decide for yourself.
Jakob S. Boeskov was born in 1975 and lives in Copenhagen.
The Thing, 601 West 26th Street, New York, New York Tel.: 0012129370443
Opening April 23, 2004 7-10 pm * Opening talk April 23 6 pm
Exhibition duration: April 26 - May 21 2004 Mon-Fri 1-6 pm (open upon request)
www.jakobboeskov.com
www.empirenorth.dk
bbs.thing.net
Jakob S. Boeskov can be contacted on this address: jakobboeskov [at] mail.dk
The exhibition is sponsored by The Danish Arts Council, The Committee For Visual Arts
The Danish Arts Council, The Committee For International Art
By the way Boeskov war auch mit von der Partie, als es hieß "Dänen für Bush".
kg2u - am Donnerstag, 24. März 2005, 11:58 - Rubrik: Fake
