Interview by Giulia Buono
March 2007
UBERMORGEN.COM (Lizvlx/Hans Bernhard):
We find it justifiable to damage or destruct existing art works and
property as a statement - improving the artwork or making a performance to
maximize fame and value in the art market. Every year, hundreds of thousands of
art objects and cultural goods are being destroyed by governements, by nature
and by corporations. Damaging or destructing artworks as an art form is just a
drop in the ocean. An interesting anectode is from Tracy Emins Bed. Yuan Cai and Jian Jun Xi Ianjun stripped off their shirts
and proceeded to jump around and have a pillow fight on Tracy Emin's winning
entry for the 1999 Turner prize My Bed. In contrast to this action, "The Last Thing I Said Is Don't
Leave Me Here" and "The Hut" by Tracey Emin (1999) were
destroyed in the Momart warehouse fire in Leyton, East London, on May 24, 2004.
To judge the individual actions by artists is viable, but it is solely
up to the individual and should not obey to any general rules, laws or social
or even corporate standards. For ourselves we wish that our work becomes so
attractive that artists from other fields are drawn to it and start to destroy
or enhance the pieces (One good thing is that our work belongs to Museums or
Collectors, so we are not directly affected by it, at least financially). In
terms of sampling and use of copyrighted material (one of our domain is the
digital one) we are welcoming any kind of intervention, be it very aggressive,
unpolite, destructive or whatsoever. Our work is here to be used Ð although we
love the aesthetics of very fine prints on canvas or photos Ð but a certain
percentage could as well be (mis)used by other artists. Maybe we should demand
for a percentage of works by every artists to be put into the public domain for
manipulation, to maltreat and to destruct; but probably that would make the
objects less desireable... and we are aware that we are talking about very
unique pieces of art (i.e. Duchamps urinal, Malevich paintings, etc.).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_artworks