[wptpa id=”7″]<\/p>\n
In art there are those who are mavericks, rebels, in other words, artists that nobody knows but whose eccentric, twisted works are sometimes just as interesting as those by more renowned artists. Or in some cases even more so.<\/p>\n
For several years, every year at the same time and on the same road at exactly the same place, going at the same speed, Florian B intentionally drives over the speed limit. Inertia: His action, which he wouldn\u2019t directly call artistic, consists of maintaining a state, creating an identical reproduction.<\/p>\n
To take a stand against constant change, against progress?<\/p>\n
But where\u2019s the subtraction then? The story isn\u2019t over yet. Later, Florian B. explains himself to the authorities by saying the following:<\/p>\n
\u201cUnsure as to how many points are left on my driver\u2019s permit, I decided to consult my most recent traffic offenses that led to fines. There are three absolutely identical ones, dated 07\/21\/2015, 07\/21\/2016 and 07\/21\/2017 respectively, that require further explanation.\u201d It is then Florian B.\u2019s job to logically contest these absurd offenses, which are identical in almost every way\u2014same time, same place, same speed when the offense took place\u2014aside from being spaced one year apart, 2015, 2016, and 2017. Will the authorities in question perceive it as a bug in their computer system? The verdict is still out.<\/p>\n
Florian B. makes institutions face up to truth.<\/p>\n
Art history is swarming with transgressions, and that\u2019s a good thing.<\/p>\n
Artists are figures that always subtract themselves in one way or another, with or without elegance, from what they should be.<\/p>\n
In 2016, critic Andrew Russeth published an article in the American art journal ARTNEWS Magazine entitled \u201cWhen Felonies Become Form: The Secret History of Artists Who Use Lawbreaking as Their Medium1<\/a><\/sup>\u201d. He recalls a relatively unknown event from 1976 in which German artist Ulay (who was 33 at the time) stole an artwork by from the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, Der arme Poet<\/em> (1839), a painting that had been admired by Hitler. After stealing it, he hung it in the living room of a Turkish family in Berlin. The action was the subject of a film. And of course the artist was quickly arrested. He could choose between 36 days in prison or paying a fine of 3,600 Deutschmarks. He fled the country, which put an end to the case. Strange thing: Ten years later, in 1986, the painting was stolen again while on loan to an exhibition in Denmark, and has not been recovered since. According to Russeth, the adventure is a kind of paradigm in the sense that it so aptly shows how things function when \u201cfelonies become form\u201d: the artist commits a crime, publicizes it, and when the authorities get involved, the artist slips away. Russeth concludes his article by quoting one of American ex-president Richard Nixon\u2019s political rules regarding \u201cexecutive privilege\u201d (in 1974, during the Watergate scandal, Nixon requested to invoke a privilege that would protect the confidentiality of his conversations): \u201cWhen the President does it,\u201d says Nixon, \u201cthat means that it is not illegal.\u201d In the context of art, this rule can be conveniently rephrased: \u201cWhen an artist does it, it isn\u2019t illegal.\u201d But of course, the author reminds us, we already know that this phrase will never satisfy the artists, the judges or any other moral defenders.<\/p>\n So let\u2019s get down to the facts! Art has many established connections to deviance.<\/p>\n