► eBROCHURE (PDF)
► PRINT ON DEMAND
► LIST ON ISSUU
Artist and media critic Alessandro Ludovico interviews the three artists named Janez Janša. It’s no coincidence that they have the same name and not by chance that they share it with the former Slovenian Prime minister: they deliberately and officially changed the names they’d had from birth to Janez Janša. They also joined the right-wing SDS party led by their homonymous counterpart. After that they experienced a “visible disappearance” from having canceled their previous names but simultaneously having gained huge visibility thanks to their radical gesture. Changing your name is similar to dying: it affects more people other than just you. But name-changing also raises ontological questions about identity, referentiality and, finally, about the status of a work of art. With their bureaucratic performance, the three Janez Janšas have invented two new types of readymade: the personal name, and personal identification documents. Neither of them can be sold or reproduced.
Colophon
Alessandro Ludovico: An interview with Janez Janša, Janez Janša and Janez Janša
PostScriptUM #1
Series edited by Janez Janša
Language: English
Publisher: Aksioma – Institute for Contemporary Art, Ljubljana
Head of Publishing: Marcela Okretič
Design: Luka Umek
Layout: Sonja Grdina
(c) Aksioma | Text and image copyrights by authors | Ljubljana 2014
Printed and distributed by: Lulu.com
In the framework of Masters & Servers
Supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and the Municipality of
Ljubljana.
Originally published in Neural #34 (Winter), pp. 40-43, Bari 2009.