Urban Pedestals
Outdoor group exhibition in Helsinki, Finland, using the electricity boxes in the streets as pedestals for art.
ta’bac amletH
2008
Book, fragrance
The work ta’bac amletH consists of two ready-mades; a paperback, Shakespeare’s Hamlet translated to Klingon, a fictive language from the Star Trek universe, and the classical men’s fragrance Tabac sprayed on the book pages and cover.
The book’s placement in public space, apparently abandoned, comments on the passing of entertaining books, that travellers leave behind in hotels or at hostels. The majority of these books are in English, but many are written in other languages, which may seem like Greek to the unskilled. These incomprehensible, yet recognizable cultural objects make sense and non-sense at the same time.
ta’bac amletH reeks of masculinity og nerdiness, and the Klingon Hamlet posing on the cover with a Klingon skull, also possesses some duality in his appearance. The Klingon race is warlike and proud, almost bestial, a contrast to the skilled readings of Shakespeare. The Tabac fragrance is about values from the 1950s, in our calendar, and in our culture it is regarded as possessing masculine character traits. A Klingon would never wear perfume, because it is in direct conflict with its nature, and it highly appreciates the natural odour of the body.
The piece is very much a contextual work about language. As a visitor from Denmark, though not Hamlet’s Kronborg, then yet a stranger’s view on Helsinki and Finland, the Finnish language, to a Dane, might as well be Klingon. In fact, Finnish politician Jyrki J.J. Kasvi has translated his website to Klingon, as part of his re-election campaign for the Parliament in 2007. He kept his seat in the Parliament and has been most active in the Committee for the Future.
ta’bac amletH
2008
Book, fragrance
The work ta’bac amletH consists of two ready-mades; a paperback, Shakespeare’s Hamlet translated to Klingon, a fictive language from the Star Trek universe, and the classical men’s fragrance Tabac sprayed on the book pages and cover.
The book’s placement in public space, apparently abandoned, comments on the passing of entertaining books, that travellers leave behind in hotels or at hostels. The majority of these books are in English, but many are written in other languages, which may seem like Greek to the unskilled. These incomprehensible, yet recognizable cultural objects make sense and non-sense at the same time.
ta’bac amletH reeks of masculinity og nerdiness, and the Klingon Hamlet posing on the cover with a Klingon skull, also possesses some duality in his appearance. The Klingon race is warlike and proud, almost bestial, a contrast to the skilled readings of Shakespeare. The Tabac fragrance is about values from the 1950s, in our calendar, and in our culture it is regarded as possessing masculine character traits. A Klingon would never wear perfume, because it is in direct conflict with its nature, and it highly appreciates the natural odour of the body.
The piece is very much a contextual work about language. As a visitor from Denmark, though not Hamlet’s Kronborg, then yet a stranger’s view on Helsinki and Finland, the Finnish language, to a Dane, might as well be Klingon. In fact, Finnish politician Jyrki J.J. Kasvi has translated his website to Klingon, as part of his re-election campaign for the Parliament in 2007. He kept his seat in the Parliament and has been most active in the Committee for the Future.