“Bank traces on the identity of Janez Janša”
“The artists that in 2007 renamed themselves to Janez Janša established their own name as a work of art. Even more precisely, the gesture of renaming became a work of art. By doing so, they opened up numerous questions: what is the relationship of the name to its subject and what is the relationship of the state to its subjects, principally how authority identifies its taxpayers and subjects of rights. The social, political, legal and philosophical implications of a person’s name were also the topics of the 2012 documentary "My Name is Janez Janša.”
“For their project, the artists used an option offered by banks to their clients – they used so-called personalised cards. Bank users can apply for a card with a personalised motif, if the latter fits with the bank’s rules and guidelines. Banks, for example, do not allow motifs with unsuitable words, trademarked symbols or images. For the All About You exhibition, each of the artists first enlarged the image of his identity card, divided it into a hundred pieces the size of a bank card and during the following fifteen months systematically, again and again, applied at the bank for new personalised cards. Each of those cards now carry a piece of the image from that identity card.”
The full article, written for the Delo Newspaper by Jela Krečič, is available here.