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Monday, 6 March 2006

"The Art Newspaper is an invaluable source of information about art and the art world. It focuses on personalities as well as issues, but eschews gossip and stresses accuracy embracing an editorial policy that consistently reveals a high degree of seriousness and sense of responsibility". Philippe de Montebello, director, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

A failed coup dtat in Guantanamo Bay

Posted 13 January 2006

By Emma Beatty

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Danish artists group Parallel Action attempted to culturally hijack Guantanamo Bay last month with the aid of a ghettoblaster and a recording of Beethovens Third Symphony (The Art Newspaper, September 2005, p.37), but their performance piece did not go quite according to plan. The leader of the The intrepid actionistas set sail group, Thomas Altheimer, 33, a former actor, flew from his native Denmark to Jamaica on 18 November, from where he hoped to recruit a party of parallel actionists to overthrow Guantanamo, the US-leased territory on the island of Cuba where roughly 510 prisoners of war are held without trial by the US government, most of them since the war in Afghanistan in 2001. The artists hoped a blast of Beethovens Eroica from a boat moored offshore would send the American forces fleeing in terror and that they and their crew could occupy the military base and have a great party. The inspiration for the musical protest was the episode when the US military forced Manuel Noriega from his refuge in the Vatican embassy in Panama by blasting him with pop music. Unfortunately, Altheimer was not as successful. First, he could not raise sufficient funds to rent a decent sized boat in which to set sail. Instead, he set out from Jamaica in a 20-foot vessel with a crew of just five sailors: all hired Jamaicans. He then failed to recruit any volunteers, as his attempts to lure backpackers with the promise of a free adventure proved fruitless; the modern backpacker is a non-political beast he found. Altheimer and his motley crew set sail at midday from Jamaica, expecting to make Guantanamo in nine hours. He had, however, failed to check the weather forecast and the boat soon ran into the high seas and strong winds. One engine broke and the boat drifted off-course. Their nine-hour passage turned to 28, and they were forced to dock in mainland Cuba, 60 kilometres from target, tired, weak and seasick.

Undiscouraged, Altheimer proceeded to launch his musical assault by land and hired the services of a local taxi-driver. The artists arrived at the perimeter fence boxing off the US territory on 28 November; they positioned themselves on a high mountain slope with good views of the yellow prison huts that have become the byword of US injustice. The artists took aim, pointed their speakers at the huts, and played two movements of the symphony at full blast. The result? Not a stir in the camp below. Altheimer had hoped to be arrested, to be abused, to confuse or confound the enemy: but the enemy remained resolutely unprovoked. Was he disappointed? Yes, of course, he says, but hope reigns eternal; he is already planning a second assault. He says next time he will raise more funds, and get a better boat. He will sail in June and Beethovens Third will be played from the water as originally planned. Will the weather be any better next June, we asked? Ever the idealist, Altheimer admitted he had not actually considered this, but he has, however, written to Cuban leader Fidel Castro to ask for assistance for his summer venture. He is still waiting for an answer Through our actions we hope to instigate more actions, whether parallel actions or parallel realities, that will set off displacements that will diversify the current single strain of reality. All our actions are conducted according to the principle of hope, he added. In a previous action, Altheimers group toured Iraq for three weeks with a box called Democracy in the lead-up to the January 2004 elections. The box contained some tea and coffee cups, pencils, and proposals for world democracy. We were in the position of court jesters, said Altheimer of his Iraq venture.

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