fredag den 10. oktober 2008
The Youth House versus The Father House
Autumn 1999 – after a series of quarrels with the activists about a fire and the necessary restoration of Ungdomshuset, the city of Copenhagen decided to sell Jagtvej 69. The activists using the house would thereby be evicted. They on their side reacted by hanging a highly satirical banner on the facade of the house: ”FOR SALE INCLUDING 500 VIOLENT PSYKOPATHS FROM HELL”. This text later on became one of the principal reasons for the religious sect The Fatherhouse to buy and destroy the house. My version of the banner is a half-size replica, made from an unclear photo of the original banner. Its a sculpture ’in between reproduction and ready-made’ – a formula used several times throughout the 69 works in this project. Its intended to give a double sense of ’the real event’ and a museological artifact.
The banner provoked Ruth Evensen, head of the fundamentalist christian movement The Fatherhouse, immensely. She felt obliged to God to clean up, rinse out the evil of Ungdomshuset. In a slow but effective deceptive operation she managed to buy up the foundation which first bought the house from the city of Copenhagen in september 2001. The Fatherhouse is hierarchically centered around Ruth Evensen. Apart from Ungdomshuset their main themes are fights against homosexuality and free abortion. But the Ungdomshuset-case is by all means Ruth Evenesnes claim to fame, ad she is given almost unlimited speaking-time in the mainstream media.
My portrait of Ruth Evensen is made from a official portrait photo of her, found on the web-page of The Fatherhouse. The use of black background and white figure/foreground is inspired by the graffitti and banner design in and around Ungdomshuset. It also adds to the mask-like character of her face. Ruth disguised as The Father (or is it the other way around) on a mission from God – The Father, as a stand-in for the will of God, hunting and haunting the evil Youth – The Youth disguised as psykopaths from Hell. God has many faces. Hell has frozen over. Ghosts.
Autumn 1999 – after a series of quarrels with the activists about a fire and the necessary restoration of Ungdomshuset, the city of Copenhagen decided to sell Jagtvej 69. The activists using the house would thereby be evicted. They on their side reacted by hanging a highly satirical banner on the facade of the house: ”FOR SALE INCLUDING 500 VIOLENT PSYKOPATHS FROM HELL”. This text later on became one of the principal reasons for the religious sect The Fatherhouse to buy and destroy the house. My version of the banner is a half-size replica, made from an unclear photo of the original banner. Its a sculpture ’in between reproduction and ready-made’ – a formula used several times throughout the 69 works in this project. Its intended to give a double sense of ’the real event’ and a museological artifact.
The banner provoked Ruth Evensen, head of the fundamentalist christian movement The Fatherhouse, immensely. She felt obliged to God to clean up, rinse out the evil of Ungdomshuset. In a slow but effective deceptive operation she managed to buy up the foundation which first bought the house from the city of Copenhagen in september 2001. The Fatherhouse is hierarchically centered around Ruth Evensen. Apart from Ungdomshuset their main themes are fights against homosexuality and free abortion. But the Ungdomshuset-case is by all means Ruth Evenesnes claim to fame, ad she is given almost unlimited speaking-time in the mainstream media.
My portrait of Ruth Evensen is made from a official portrait photo of her, found on the web-page of The Fatherhouse. The use of black background and white figure/foreground is inspired by the graffitti and banner design in and around Ungdomshuset. It also adds to the mask-like character of her face. Ruth disguised as The Father (or is it the other way around) on a mission from God – The Father, as a stand-in for the will of God, hunting and haunting the evil Youth – The Youth disguised as psykopaths from Hell. God has many faces. Hell has frozen over. Ghosts.
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