By Aziz Fall
13.12.11
Could be the end of the road for an inmate on death row. It could also be the incomplete rendering of a countdown of some sort. Or it could be a rainy day in Copenhagen where chill and winds are playing absolute rulers.
In fact it turns out to be a day where it would make sense to find shelter in a tunnel and there we have it.
Today is when the Tunnel kids reclaim their due, the streets of the city to make good on the promise of freedom, freedom to be who they are no matter where they are. For that to happen discrimination has to be put to rest and that is the mission today.
To understand the event taking place right now in the heart of Copenhagen, one could send a look back at the French artistic movement called surrealism and one of its most remarkable manifestations known as “Le cadavre exquis”. Each one of us has a part to play, no matter what that may entail. And when we all bring on our part on the table something will happen.
Copenhagen wants to fight discrimination; and the Fiction Pimps are taking the challenge head on as they revisited the history of the city and bring to life one of its enduring urban legends. It is said that former King Christian the 7th built a comprehensive network of underground tunnels to have a safe way out in case of emergency. That network now is becoming the propriety of youngsters who no longer feel they are welcome in the society either because of their looks, their endeavor, their choice of life or death…
So today the Fiction Pimps take their cause up and challenge the citizens about the misfortunes and sufferings tied to being discrimated. They called on the tunnel kids to reverse the roles and invade the cities. They will be setting several gates in different vital spots of the city and wont let people pass through unless they live up to some insane criteria designed to highlight the absurdity of discrimation.
In some places you need to have long ears to be granted access through the door, in others you have to be of some specific height or of some specific color- the idea being to make it almost impossible to comply with the criteria.
It is certainly for the Fiction Pimps a direct way to make people feel in their guts what it means to be marginalized.
In collaboration wiht the city council, whose overall campaign “Bland dig i byen” wants to create a more vibrant community in the city of Copenhagen, the Fiction Pimps will for a day plant the seeds of wonder braced to germ and grow for a long time to come. They will make you face and live your own carelessness because there shall be no innocent if a single soul has been alienated by the dark shadows of discrimination.
13.12.11 certainly will occur only once, yet its relevance and its urgency are here to stick onto our mental hard disk. That is the destiny of an art piece with purpose.
