| THE THING on Wed, 21 Apr 2004 12:32:22 +0200 (CEST) |
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| <nettime> [ The Thing ] Opening 04.23.04 > MY DOOMSDAY WEAPON |
MY DOOMSDAY WEAPON An exhibition by Jakob S. Boeskov April 23 - May 21 2004, Mon-Fri 1-6 pm >> Opening Talk: April 23 2004, 6 �7 pm >> Opening Reception: April 23 2004, 7-10 pm THE THING 601 West 26th Street, Floor 4 New York, NY 10001 t: (212) 937-0444 w: http://bbs.thing.net e: [email protected] Weapons that shoot microchips into the bodies of innocent civilians. An artist smuggling blueprints for fake technology inside China�s first international weapons fair. Laughing arms traders drinking 30-year-old Chivas Regal among teenage models advertising new weapons. No, it�s not a chilling sci-fi movie; it�s reality, and a project by Danish artist Jakob S. Boeskov. Boeskov traveled to Beijing in June 2002 posing as the CEO of Empire North, a fictional Scandinavian arms company. He infiltrated CIEPE (China International Exhibition on Police Equipment) -- an event where, for the first time, jet- setting international weapons dealers rubbed shoulders in China. In order to blend in, Boeskov brought 300 fake business cards and a poster of a horrific, hi-tech weapon. This weapon, the ID Sniper, was designed to shoot GPS (Global Positioning System) microchips into the bodies of innocent civilians, whose movements later could be followed by authorities via a GPS satellite system. Boeskov describes the 3 days at the weapons fair as �the worst 3 days of my life, like being trapped inside a nightmarish sci-fi novel that you authored yourself.� With MY DOOMSDAY WEAPON, Boeskov develops what he calls �Fictionalism,� illustrating a need for political art to take risks by �hacking reality.� He asks artists to �Turn your worst fears about the future into a product. Present this product in present day reality. Report the reactions.� To read Boeskov's essay on the CIEPE and Empire North, please visit: http://events.thing.net/Boeskov_text.html And to hear Boskov speak about this project on the WNYC program The Next Big Thing, visit: www.nextbigthing.org/archive/episode.html?04092004 Jakob S. Boeskov was born in 1975 and lives in Copenhagen, Denmark. MY DOOMSDAY WEAPON is his first New York solo exhibition. For more information about Boeskov and Empire North, see www.jakobboeskov.com and www.empirenorth.dk. He can be contacted at: [email protected]. For an online version: http://events.thing.net ---------------- This exhibition is sponsored by the Danish Arts Council, the Committee For Visual Arts, and the Committee For International Art. THE THING is funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. ---------------- THE THING /// 601 W 26th St 4th floor NY 10001 212.937.0444 To unsubscribe, send an email to [email protected] with "unsubscribe" (without quotes) in the body of the email. To subscribe, send an email to [email protected] with "subscribe" (without quotes) in the body of the email. # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: [email protected] and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: [email protected]