It's what happens after each display that will be the most exciting! (reports to come in 2017 - 2018)
For example, Donald Trump's unwashed dinner fork (obtained in 2011) was dipped into raw halal meat at an art festival in Newcastle, Australia in 2016. Owch!!
For example, Donald Trump's unwashed dinner fork (obtained in 2011) was dipped into raw halal meat at an art festival in Newcastle, Australia in 2016. Owch!!
#RichForks (The Beginning of an exhibition touring our unequal world)
Please note: This is NOT a ticketed event. It is a free exhibition.
Here's the #RichForks Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/TheRichForks/
Working as a waiter - Swiping luxury forks from the world's richest people and displaying them to the public?
The exhibition at Footscray Community Arts Centre in May 2016 was very successful! There was also a great spoken word event alongside it by Melbourne Spoken Word featuring Benjamin Solah, Santo Cazzati, Natalie Acreman and Rowan White. There was also great media responses to the exhibition:
May 2016
#RichForks at Footscray Community Arts Centre
National TV - Channel Ten’s The Project (Australia) Quote by presenter Peter Helliar “There are no knives in the exhibition because they’re all in the backs of previous Prime Ministers” (hahahah!!) (Unfortunately I don't have the footage to this)
http://www.starweekly.com.au/lifestyle/food-for-thought-in-fork-exhibition/ (Australia)
https://www.crikey.com.au/2016/04/29/thats-forked-up/ (Australia)
http://www.willpjk.com/newsfeat/the-rich-forks-exhibition-an-expose-of-those-fed-with-silver-spoons (Australia)
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/apr/27/crumbs-and-all-prince-harry-hillary-clinton-and-julia-gillard-have-cutlery-swiped-for-exhibition (Australia)
http://www.creammagazine.com/2016/04/what-the-fork/ (Australia)
http://melbourneartsclub.com/104/ (Australia)
http://boingboing.net/2016/05/12/gallery-show-of-forks-stolen-f.html (USA)
http://hyperallergic.com/295536/artist-skewers-inequality-by-stealing-forks-used-by-the-1/ (USA)
http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/steal-this-fork-artist-15-years (USA)
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/28/arts/forks-exhibition-rudd/ (UK)
http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/artist-steals-forks-rich-and-famous (USA)
http://www.elle.com/culture/art-design/news/a35954/prince-harrys-used-fork-in-exhibition/ (USA)
https://www.360nobs.com/2016/04/grimy-art-australian-artist-displays-dirty-forks-used-rich-famous/ (Nigeria)
(April, 2016) The Footscray Community Arts Centre (May 5th to May 21st) will display two luxury dinner forks to the public: One that was used recently by billionaire casino mogul James Packer, and the other by British royal family member Prince Harry. They had used these specific dinner forks at one of their countless luxury hotel dinner functions/events in the time period spanning 1999 to 2015. Saliva and tiny specs of food from their mouths remain on the forks, so the objects will be vacuum sealed to prevent spread of bacteria while on display.
Endless high quality food and drink, silver service and luxury hotel rooms adorn the daily routines of the idle rich these days more than ever. It's no surprise that this occurs when only 62 people own as much wealth as the poorest 3.6 billion people on this planet. Luxury items including 5/6 star hotel food and wine is always at the finger tips of the extremely wealthy. And they don't lift a finger when it comes to washing the silverware, setting the tables or cooking the exorbitantly priced food. Thousands of hotel workers (waiters, chefs, stewards/dishwashers, laundry workers) bend over backwards, working ridiculous hours to bring food and wine to the mouths of the world’s extremely wealthy. And many of these workers can barely afford housing, let alone food on a daily basis. But this daily routine of the world's obscenely rich - having access to free, high quality cuisine while attending corporate functions, is hidden from many of us.
What if artefacts from this political/cultural activity of the wealthy class were taken from under their noses and displayed to the public? This exhibition is a result of that exact task. Taking something back. Re-appropriating a tiny piece of the vast amount of wealth stolen from us (recall the trillions of public money used to bailout the banks post GFC?). So, this is an exhibition for the people, by people. It’s a small gesture, but symbolically and perhaps artistically, it can mean the world.
Luxury dinner forks have been collected over a 15 year period, complete with the saliva and food stains of their users, and will be displayed in public/community spaces.
This exhibition at Footscray Community Arts Centre’s Gabriel Gallery will be the first in a series of #RichFork exhibitions touring the world in the years to come. It is no accident that the venues chosen for this touring series are venues ostensibly run by local communities, labour groups and/or publicly funded spaces.
Frequently Asked Questions
Many questions have mounted about #RichForks already, so a series of 8 frequently asked questions have been compiled concerning the #RichForks exhibition:
1. Is this for real?
Yes.
2. Will there be a high level of security at the venue?
While it may seem that a high level of security is needed because of the profile of their users, these forks will be viewed as property of the local community, and will therefore be exhibited as any other object would- requiring standard security measures that maintains the exhibition space for all viewers during the weeks the forks are displayed.
3. How long did it take to collect the forks?
This was completed over a 15 year period, and may be ongoing.
4. From where did the forks come?
Luxury hotel function rooms and corporate dinners from around the world - the types of places where the extremely wealthy dine and discuss and confirm business deals with each other and with world leaders. For example, when events occur like the World Economic Forum, the wealthy must be accommodated somewhere close to the forum site, so it’s usually 5-star luxury hotels.
5. Who got hold of the forks? Was it a solo or team effort?
Unfortunately this information cannot be fully disclosed. It's worth keeping in mind that thousands of hotel workers serve food and drinks to the wealthy every day.
6. Is this art?
That is of no real concern here. Perhaps the best way to view them are as artefacts appropriated from the cultural behaviour of the extremely wealthy. A counter-example would be the British empire looting artefacts from the Aboriginal people of Australia over the last 200 years, then displaying them in Museums. This exhibition can be seen as the opposite of this.
7. Is this legal? It is stealing isn’t it?
It depends which way you look at it. Banks around the world appropriated trillions of public money after the GFC to fill their own pockets. Did they ask us for permission? Rupert Murdoch’s company received $880 million from the Australian tax office in 2014 due to some kind of business restructure in the past. Who’s committing legalised crime here? James Packer’s casino billions are made by stealing the incomes and well-being of the poor, and Prince Harry’s royal wealth is built upon 100s of years of looting through the colonization of foreign countries.
8. Do those wealthy people know about their forks being used in this fashion?
No permission was sought from them, which is one of the main points of the exhibition.
9. How many other forks are there in the whole series?
It isn't conclusive. Other forks have come from the mouths of US politician Hillary Clinton, media billionaire Rupert Murdoch and mining magnate Gina Rinehart. These and others will be exhibited in future as part of the world tour.
Please note: This is NOT a ticketed event. It is a free exhibition.
Here's the #RichForks Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/TheRichForks/
Working as a waiter - Swiping luxury forks from the world's richest people and displaying them to the public?
The exhibition at Footscray Community Arts Centre in May 2016 was very successful! There was also a great spoken word event alongside it by Melbourne Spoken Word featuring Benjamin Solah, Santo Cazzati, Natalie Acreman and Rowan White. There was also great media responses to the exhibition:
May 2016
#RichForks at Footscray Community Arts Centre
National TV - Channel Ten’s The Project (Australia) Quote by presenter Peter Helliar “There are no knives in the exhibition because they’re all in the backs of previous Prime Ministers” (hahahah!!) (Unfortunately I don't have the footage to this)
http://www.starweekly.com.au/lifestyle/food-for-thought-in-fork-exhibition/ (Australia)
https://www.crikey.com.au/2016/04/29/thats-forked-up/ (Australia)
http://www.willpjk.com/newsfeat/the-rich-forks-exhibition-an-expose-of-those-fed-with-silver-spoons (Australia)
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/apr/27/crumbs-and-all-prince-harry-hillary-clinton-and-julia-gillard-have-cutlery-swiped-for-exhibition (Australia)
http://www.creammagazine.com/2016/04/what-the-fork/ (Australia)
http://melbourneartsclub.com/104/ (Australia)
http://boingboing.net/2016/05/12/gallery-show-of-forks-stolen-f.html (USA)
http://hyperallergic.com/295536/artist-skewers-inequality-by-stealing-forks-used-by-the-1/ (USA)
http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/steal-this-fork-artist-15-years (USA)
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/28/arts/forks-exhibition-rudd/ (UK)
http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/artist-steals-forks-rich-and-famous (USA)
http://www.elle.com/culture/art-design/news/a35954/prince-harrys-used-fork-in-exhibition/ (USA)
https://www.360nobs.com/2016/04/grimy-art-australian-artist-displays-dirty-forks-used-rich-famous/ (Nigeria)
(April, 2016) The Footscray Community Arts Centre (May 5th to May 21st) will display two luxury dinner forks to the public: One that was used recently by billionaire casino mogul James Packer, and the other by British royal family member Prince Harry. They had used these specific dinner forks at one of their countless luxury hotel dinner functions/events in the time period spanning 1999 to 2015. Saliva and tiny specs of food from their mouths remain on the forks, so the objects will be vacuum sealed to prevent spread of bacteria while on display.
Endless high quality food and drink, silver service and luxury hotel rooms adorn the daily routines of the idle rich these days more than ever. It's no surprise that this occurs when only 62 people own as much wealth as the poorest 3.6 billion people on this planet. Luxury items including 5/6 star hotel food and wine is always at the finger tips of the extremely wealthy. And they don't lift a finger when it comes to washing the silverware, setting the tables or cooking the exorbitantly priced food. Thousands of hotel workers (waiters, chefs, stewards/dishwashers, laundry workers) bend over backwards, working ridiculous hours to bring food and wine to the mouths of the world’s extremely wealthy. And many of these workers can barely afford housing, let alone food on a daily basis. But this daily routine of the world's obscenely rich - having access to free, high quality cuisine while attending corporate functions, is hidden from many of us.
What if artefacts from this political/cultural activity of the wealthy class were taken from under their noses and displayed to the public? This exhibition is a result of that exact task. Taking something back. Re-appropriating a tiny piece of the vast amount of wealth stolen from us (recall the trillions of public money used to bailout the banks post GFC?). So, this is an exhibition for the people, by people. It’s a small gesture, but symbolically and perhaps artistically, it can mean the world.
Luxury dinner forks have been collected over a 15 year period, complete with the saliva and food stains of their users, and will be displayed in public/community spaces.
This exhibition at Footscray Community Arts Centre’s Gabriel Gallery will be the first in a series of #RichFork exhibitions touring the world in the years to come. It is no accident that the venues chosen for this touring series are venues ostensibly run by local communities, labour groups and/or publicly funded spaces.
Frequently Asked Questions
Many questions have mounted about #RichForks already, so a series of 8 frequently asked questions have been compiled concerning the #RichForks exhibition:
1. Is this for real?
Yes.
2. Will there be a high level of security at the venue?
While it may seem that a high level of security is needed because of the profile of their users, these forks will be viewed as property of the local community, and will therefore be exhibited as any other object would- requiring standard security measures that maintains the exhibition space for all viewers during the weeks the forks are displayed.
3. How long did it take to collect the forks?
This was completed over a 15 year period, and may be ongoing.
4. From where did the forks come?
Luxury hotel function rooms and corporate dinners from around the world - the types of places where the extremely wealthy dine and discuss and confirm business deals with each other and with world leaders. For example, when events occur like the World Economic Forum, the wealthy must be accommodated somewhere close to the forum site, so it’s usually 5-star luxury hotels.
5. Who got hold of the forks? Was it a solo or team effort?
Unfortunately this information cannot be fully disclosed. It's worth keeping in mind that thousands of hotel workers serve food and drinks to the wealthy every day.
6. Is this art?
That is of no real concern here. Perhaps the best way to view them are as artefacts appropriated from the cultural behaviour of the extremely wealthy. A counter-example would be the British empire looting artefacts from the Aboriginal people of Australia over the last 200 years, then displaying them in Museums. This exhibition can be seen as the opposite of this.
7. Is this legal? It is stealing isn’t it?
It depends which way you look at it. Banks around the world appropriated trillions of public money after the GFC to fill their own pockets. Did they ask us for permission? Rupert Murdoch’s company received $880 million from the Australian tax office in 2014 due to some kind of business restructure in the past. Who’s committing legalised crime here? James Packer’s casino billions are made by stealing the incomes and well-being of the poor, and Prince Harry’s royal wealth is built upon 100s of years of looting through the colonization of foreign countries.
8. Do those wealthy people know about their forks being used in this fashion?
No permission was sought from them, which is one of the main points of the exhibition.
9. How many other forks are there in the whole series?
It isn't conclusive. Other forks have come from the mouths of US politician Hillary Clinton, media billionaire Rupert Murdoch and mining magnate Gina Rinehart. These and others will be exhibited in future as part of the world tour.
|
(above) A dinner fork used by Rupert Murdoch at a corporate dinner some time in 2013. And a dinner fork used by former U.S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton circa 2010.
(Right) Detail of food stains on underside of fork used by Hillary Clinton circa 2010 |
|
RICH FORKS & WORKERS
An interview with V-T-R (Van T. Rudd) by Din Heagney
Early April, 2016
This interview was about V-T-R's #RichForks project
DH: In your previous work, you’ve take an object to be symbolic of something, often related to class and conflict. How do objects work in your art practice?
V-T-R: I like the way certain objects have an immense power, in an abstract way but also in a type of material way. One of my favourite works is called A Piece of Car from Afghanistan from 2009. Although I didn’t reveal how a small piece of an Afghan civilian car was brought here from Afghanistan, I did reveal the car was destroyed by a US missile. The object, which was a piece of tyre, had this story and power about it, compressed into it. The aim was to concentrate as much as possible the role of U.S intervention into the Middle East into this small piece of car tyre. That work was more about conflict between rich and poor countries.
DH: So what was your interest in the fork as an object?
V-T-R: It came up as the most ideal object to focus on. Glass was too fragile and knives too sharp. Spoons too amicable. Napkins did come into mind, because someone like billionaire Gina Reinhart would leave lipstick marks on them, but they just didn’t have the solid, compact nature about them, and not everyone is familiar with cloth napkins. Forks seemed like the right choice because many people in the world would know what they are.
I’m interested in the way objects we collectively produce on a mass scale, such as five-star forks, are bound by laws. It’s a bizarre thing really. We handle them day-in-day-out, from manufacture to waitering service, our sweat is quite literally all over them, and yet it’s criminal to claim them as ours because another, smaller group of people have the money to own them, right from the factory itself through to the exclusive dinner table. And on top of that, we’re serving these people luscious food that we can’t eat either. It’s quite comical when you think about it, like something out of a Charlie Chaplin skit.
I also draw a similarity between a piece of cutlery and a hospitality worker, or workers in general. Workers are treated the same as forks, as though they’re commodities. In large numbers and seemingly powerless, they are shoved around, bought and sold on the market, and are considered disposable when no longer useful. However, there’s a difference. A human is not a fork. As opposed to an object such as a fork, the human, a waiter in this instance, has the ability to think and act.
DH: Did you aim to create a collection from the start, one you retained and kept pristinely unclean?
V-T-R: It’s an interesting question, because to exhibit them was never on the cards. It was only over the last two years that there was any thought of exhibiting them. It was clumsily collected, actually. It’s not like I have a cryogenics system. It’s more like a lunch bag system with basic labelling using a piece of string and cardboard to just capture the origins, although the records of times are a bit sloppy as it wasn’t planned. But the forks themselves haven’t been cleaned, they are as they were, although there’s a bit of… well, you could say weathering that occurs over time, so they’re certainly not pristine.
DH: The exhibition was 15 years in the making, but how did it all start?
V-T-R: It started as a type of collection, when I was working as a waiter at the --------- Hotel in the late ‘90s. I was going through what a lot of staff in that industry were experiencing: basically serving lots of well-off people at political functions of the major political parties and serving extremely wealthy people who travel around the world to various business conferences, while being asked to sign agreements that took away more worker’s rights. That’s how the idea germinated. Knowing that you’re handling the very same object that has just been in the mouth of a ‘dignitary’ fascinated me and some other workers.
DH: Were these at the same venue, or difference places with different people?
V-T-R: Well, it began in a solitary situation, but that changed. Conversations start and you can’t avoid the collective nature of it. So the forks are from multiple venues, that’s the best thing about this. Workers in this industry are spread far and wide, and what happens in conjunction with that is that people who are extremely wealthy, who own multinational corporations and fly in on their private jets, hopscotching globally to different five-star hotels, are always there and so the possibilities are endless. Hillary Clinton was here in Australia around 2010, talking to politicians over various dinners regarding military strategy in the Middle East. Those moments, eating lavish dinners in corporate function rooms, are pretty much an everyday experience for them.
DH: Workers in this instance are often invisible to those they serve.
V-T-R: Yes, which is part of service. But when it comes to matters like hotel employers associations aiming to cut workers’ weekend rates and other basic rights, that’s when we can feel a little bit more angst against this group, because they’re often together promoting negative views on wages and workers generally. A lot of them wouldn’t know the level of back-breaking work that goes into the running of hotels, like polishing thousands of pieces of cutlery and glassware for each event.
DH: Are you concerned about legal action?
V-T-R: That’s always that concern in my work and the reason why the process of this exhibition can’t be entirely revealed. However I’d like to think it would be pretty stupid of the ultra wealthy elites to chase down a few forks considering many of them escape paying taxes, destroy unions and the environment and increase poverty. But who knows what they’ll do to crush dissent?
Some would label this exhibition a result of stealing, theft of private property. That’s why it’s important to remember the other side of this coin. Who was it that stole trillions of dollars of public money to bail out the banks after the global financial crisis? It certainly wasn’t hospitality workers who were bailed out. Comparing a few forks to trillions of dollars makes it clear what is more criminal. In some ways, this plays with the concept of looting, a term originated during the British East India company’s massive theft of land and cultural objects from Asian countries around the 17th and 18 centuries. It’s a kind of reversal of that. I call it di-looting, which also sounds like diluting.
Seeing a fork used recently by Prince Harry underscores not only the fact that monarchies are still relatively wealthy today, but it also reflects the early imperialist ventures, having colonised Aboriginal land and stolen Aboriginal artefacts and taken them back to their museums where they placed their own labels on them. This is about the power of people to name things as artefacts.
DH: So you are ‘dilooting' the fork into an art object that connects people at different levels within the system?
V-T-R: I would hope that anyone that looks at these objects can see beyond the surface of them and stitch together a story about the political and economic weight of the person who used it. Hopefully it’s also a wedge-like portal into a culture most of us know nothing about, or maybe it’s like a tiny window into an exclusive club that most of us can’t be part of. And yet members of this club don’t know that a fork they once used has been taken from them.
DH: We could say the fork here is an artefact that represents class and power?
V-T-R: Yes, because I’m not really concerned if they are art or not. I prefer to see them as artefacts in reverse, as di-looted or reverse looted. It’s taking something small from the cultural activity of the ultra rich and calling it an artefact by displaying it to the public. Except, they’re not relics from hundreds of years ago. They are of this current time period and aim to reflect the gross wealth inequality inherent in the capitalist system.
------------------------------------
Din Heagney works as a writer and editor in art and design.
He is currently a graduate researcher at the Centre for Cultural Partnerships, Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne (2015–), where he is developing the Vislan translation project (2014–). He also teaches into industrial design at the School of Architecture and Design, RMIT University, Melbourne (2014–). Din's work has appeared in magazines, websites and exhibitions in Australia, China, Germany, Italy and the USA. His editorial work includes: managing editor of Here art grows on trees ~ Simryn Gill for the Australian Pavilion at Venice Art Biennale (2013), and 18th Biennale of Sydney: all our relations (2012); guest editor of Artlink Asia Pacific Magazine (2012), and un Magazine (2010); editor of Portraits From a Land Without People (2009), and Making Space: artist-run initiatives in Victoria (2007).
Din was artistic director of Platform (2006-10), and curator of BOX (2005-07). He continues to work with other writers, artists, designers and curators in the development and presentation of new work.
An interview with V-T-R (Van T. Rudd) by Din Heagney
Early April, 2016
This interview was about V-T-R's #RichForks project
DH: In your previous work, you’ve take an object to be symbolic of something, often related to class and conflict. How do objects work in your art practice?
V-T-R: I like the way certain objects have an immense power, in an abstract way but also in a type of material way. One of my favourite works is called A Piece of Car from Afghanistan from 2009. Although I didn’t reveal how a small piece of an Afghan civilian car was brought here from Afghanistan, I did reveal the car was destroyed by a US missile. The object, which was a piece of tyre, had this story and power about it, compressed into it. The aim was to concentrate as much as possible the role of U.S intervention into the Middle East into this small piece of car tyre. That work was more about conflict between rich and poor countries.
DH: So what was your interest in the fork as an object?
V-T-R: It came up as the most ideal object to focus on. Glass was too fragile and knives too sharp. Spoons too amicable. Napkins did come into mind, because someone like billionaire Gina Reinhart would leave lipstick marks on them, but they just didn’t have the solid, compact nature about them, and not everyone is familiar with cloth napkins. Forks seemed like the right choice because many people in the world would know what they are.
I’m interested in the way objects we collectively produce on a mass scale, such as five-star forks, are bound by laws. It’s a bizarre thing really. We handle them day-in-day-out, from manufacture to waitering service, our sweat is quite literally all over them, and yet it’s criminal to claim them as ours because another, smaller group of people have the money to own them, right from the factory itself through to the exclusive dinner table. And on top of that, we’re serving these people luscious food that we can’t eat either. It’s quite comical when you think about it, like something out of a Charlie Chaplin skit.
I also draw a similarity between a piece of cutlery and a hospitality worker, or workers in general. Workers are treated the same as forks, as though they’re commodities. In large numbers and seemingly powerless, they are shoved around, bought and sold on the market, and are considered disposable when no longer useful. However, there’s a difference. A human is not a fork. As opposed to an object such as a fork, the human, a waiter in this instance, has the ability to think and act.
DH: Did you aim to create a collection from the start, one you retained and kept pristinely unclean?
V-T-R: It’s an interesting question, because to exhibit them was never on the cards. It was only over the last two years that there was any thought of exhibiting them. It was clumsily collected, actually. It’s not like I have a cryogenics system. It’s more like a lunch bag system with basic labelling using a piece of string and cardboard to just capture the origins, although the records of times are a bit sloppy as it wasn’t planned. But the forks themselves haven’t been cleaned, they are as they were, although there’s a bit of… well, you could say weathering that occurs over time, so they’re certainly not pristine.
DH: The exhibition was 15 years in the making, but how did it all start?
V-T-R: It started as a type of collection, when I was working as a waiter at the --------- Hotel in the late ‘90s. I was going through what a lot of staff in that industry were experiencing: basically serving lots of well-off people at political functions of the major political parties and serving extremely wealthy people who travel around the world to various business conferences, while being asked to sign agreements that took away more worker’s rights. That’s how the idea germinated. Knowing that you’re handling the very same object that has just been in the mouth of a ‘dignitary’ fascinated me and some other workers.
DH: Were these at the same venue, or difference places with different people?
V-T-R: Well, it began in a solitary situation, but that changed. Conversations start and you can’t avoid the collective nature of it. So the forks are from multiple venues, that’s the best thing about this. Workers in this industry are spread far and wide, and what happens in conjunction with that is that people who are extremely wealthy, who own multinational corporations and fly in on their private jets, hopscotching globally to different five-star hotels, are always there and so the possibilities are endless. Hillary Clinton was here in Australia around 2010, talking to politicians over various dinners regarding military strategy in the Middle East. Those moments, eating lavish dinners in corporate function rooms, are pretty much an everyday experience for them.
DH: Workers in this instance are often invisible to those they serve.
V-T-R: Yes, which is part of service. But when it comes to matters like hotel employers associations aiming to cut workers’ weekend rates and other basic rights, that’s when we can feel a little bit more angst against this group, because they’re often together promoting negative views on wages and workers generally. A lot of them wouldn’t know the level of back-breaking work that goes into the running of hotels, like polishing thousands of pieces of cutlery and glassware for each event.
DH: Are you concerned about legal action?
V-T-R: That’s always that concern in my work and the reason why the process of this exhibition can’t be entirely revealed. However I’d like to think it would be pretty stupid of the ultra wealthy elites to chase down a few forks considering many of them escape paying taxes, destroy unions and the environment and increase poverty. But who knows what they’ll do to crush dissent?
Some would label this exhibition a result of stealing, theft of private property. That’s why it’s important to remember the other side of this coin. Who was it that stole trillions of dollars of public money to bail out the banks after the global financial crisis? It certainly wasn’t hospitality workers who were bailed out. Comparing a few forks to trillions of dollars makes it clear what is more criminal. In some ways, this plays with the concept of looting, a term originated during the British East India company’s massive theft of land and cultural objects from Asian countries around the 17th and 18 centuries. It’s a kind of reversal of that. I call it di-looting, which also sounds like diluting.
Seeing a fork used recently by Prince Harry underscores not only the fact that monarchies are still relatively wealthy today, but it also reflects the early imperialist ventures, having colonised Aboriginal land and stolen Aboriginal artefacts and taken them back to their museums where they placed their own labels on them. This is about the power of people to name things as artefacts.
DH: So you are ‘dilooting' the fork into an art object that connects people at different levels within the system?
V-T-R: I would hope that anyone that looks at these objects can see beyond the surface of them and stitch together a story about the political and economic weight of the person who used it. Hopefully it’s also a wedge-like portal into a culture most of us know nothing about, or maybe it’s like a tiny window into an exclusive club that most of us can’t be part of. And yet members of this club don’t know that a fork they once used has been taken from them.
DH: We could say the fork here is an artefact that represents class and power?
V-T-R: Yes, because I’m not really concerned if they are art or not. I prefer to see them as artefacts in reverse, as di-looted or reverse looted. It’s taking something small from the cultural activity of the ultra rich and calling it an artefact by displaying it to the public. Except, they’re not relics from hundreds of years ago. They are of this current time period and aim to reflect the gross wealth inequality inherent in the capitalist system.
------------------------------------
Din Heagney works as a writer and editor in art and design.
He is currently a graduate researcher at the Centre for Cultural Partnerships, Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne (2015–), where he is developing the Vislan translation project (2014–). He also teaches into industrial design at the School of Architecture and Design, RMIT University, Melbourne (2014–). Din's work has appeared in magazines, websites and exhibitions in Australia, China, Germany, Italy and the USA. His editorial work includes: managing editor of Here art grows on trees ~ Simryn Gill for the Australian Pavilion at Venice Art Biennale (2013), and 18th Biennale of Sydney: all our relations (2012); guest editor of Artlink Asia Pacific Magazine (2012), and un Magazine (2010); editor of Portraits From a Land Without People (2009), and Making Space: artist-run initiatives in Victoria (2007).
Din was artistic director of Platform (2006-10), and curator of BOX (2005-07). He continues to work with other writers, artists, designers and curators in the development and presentation of new work.