The “Give Me Your Soul, I’ll Give You a Goat” Art Project
God-like artist Kristian von Hornsleth has a bright idea for the
poor, desperate people of an African village called Buteyongera in
Uganda: He’ll give you a goat or a pig or Ronald McDonald himself in exchange for adding “Hornsleth” to your first name.
An entire village whose people are all named Hornsleth. Priceless.
The artist, whose previous art shows have been entitled
F*** You Art Lovers and Rape, Steal, Kill Burn, has already persuaded
307 people to add Hornsleth to their first names on their state ID
cards.The rewards were 242 pigs and 65 goats. Another 207 people have signed up to change their names.
The result will be a ‘work of art’ consisting of photos of the villagers holding up their ID cards.
To be called We Want To Help You But We Want To Own You, it will
apparently make a statement about Third World aid when it is displayed
in art galleries in the West.
Aside from the absolute joy Hornsleth derives from giving an entire
African village his beautiful name, he’d like you to know it would
not have been possible without the selfless, superhuman fondness
Buteyongerans have for goats and pigs (them having nothing to eat,
notwithstanding) and the inspiration constantly stirred by the
wonderful aid-giving, sincerely non-exploitative First World.
