November 29, 2007
Ceci N'est Pas Une Bombe
Thorarinn Ingi Jonsson has, as he put it to Torontoist in a phone interview earlier today, "seen better days."
The Integrated Media OCAD student and his final project for his advanced video class are the direct cause––intended or not––for yesterday's bomb scare at the Royal Ontario Museum, and, a day later, Jonsson is now suspended from OCAD and is wanted for questioning by police.
Inspired by Marcel Duchamp's readymades pieces (the most famous of which is the urinal-cum-art-piece Fountain), Jonsson wanted to make a piece for his final project about recontextualization: the idea that the context changes the meaning of a piece of art. In this case, something that is "quite clearly not dangerous, but when you put it in a different context the viewer recontextualizes it": a fake pipe bomb, and fake YouTube videos showing its fake explosion.
Yesterday at about 4 p.m., Jonsson walked into the ROM with the fake bomb inside a bag. Attached to the bomb was a note that read "This is not a bomb." Jonsson thought that the note meant he wasn't breaking the law: he had been advised by an OCAD Student Union lawyer before installing the piece, he says, against spreading false news, and told that he should not attempt to deceive people about the bomb's legitimacy. (That's why, for instance, one of the descriptions for the videos he later uploaded read: "Fake footage of the fake bombing at the Royal Ontario Museum capturing the fake moment of impact.") Though Jonsson intended to leave the pipe bomb outside of the bag out in the open in a "noticeable spot," "almost like a presentation," he says there were "too many people around," and he decided to keep the sculpture inside the bag, placing it on the right-hand side of the ROM's Bloor Street entrance with the declarative note visible on top.
"I went a bit down the street, as soon as I came out of the gathering," he told us, "and I dialed up the ROM and they asked for an extension and I hadn't really thought that far, so I typed in some random last name and I ended up reaching some girl at some office at the ROM and I simply told her: 'Listen there's no bomb by the entrance to the museum,' and then I hung up."
Jonsson went straight from the ROM back to school for 5 p.m. to give his presentation of his final piece, where he "revealed the extent of the project." People in his class, he says "were really impressed with the extent I went to." Worried that there was a possibility of legal action, he hadn't told his professors about the piece until the night it was installed.
When Jonsson got back home, he uploaded the videos he'd recorded earlier that day to YouTube (to an account that featured other videos––like the one of Osama Bin Laden on the roof of the World Trace Center watching as hearts pour out of the building and Bob Dylan's "The Man In Me" plays––that Jonsson says are "completely unrelated"). Then, he e-mailed the addresses of them to several news organizations.
"I didn't really expect it go so crazy."
Nothing happened until about ten that night, when Jonsson starting hearing about the "crazy circus" that the ROM and its surrounding area had been turned into: streets shut down, bomb squad on hand, and an AIDS gala cancelled (which Jonsson says he had no idea about and that he does "feel bad about"). A day later, "the police are looking for me," he admits (he intends to approach them, and he fears a mischief charge); while OCAD has taken disciplinary action against him as well, suspending him from the school today for non-academic misconduct.
Photo courtesy of Thorarinn Ingi Jonsson.
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What's Icelandic for "colossally fucking stupid"?
I'm no lawyer, but a "go ahead and do it!" with caveats doesn't sound like the best legal advice.
Oh dear. This reminds me of an incident that happened when I was at OCA(no D). Some students decided to film a scene outside the old Stewart building involving a shootout (with fake guns). Cops showed up within minutes and made it clear that it's important to get permits for this sort of thing.
P.S. "recontextualize" - worst bullshit art term ever. But I suppose he's made his first steps toward becoming a successful publicity-stunt/gimmick "artist".
According to Internet translators, it's "risavaxinn bölvaður heimskur". Shall I also translate "selfish ignorant pea-brain?" If you want to absolutely panic people as to the possible presence of a bomb, leaving notes and messages that something is "not a bomb" is pretty much guaranteed to do it.
If I saw a package with "This is not a bomb" written on it, the first thing I'd be doing is calling the cops. And then finding the closest means of egress.
Is this a scoop? I haven't seen an interview anywhere else. If so—excellent job. If not—still pretty impressive.
"This is not a bomb"? Was he aping Duchamp or Magritte?
:P Of course, it's already in the title. Good on me for reading too fast.
When I made comment in the previous thread (about being quite proud to have quit that school while I was ahead) I was going to quip that I bet a professor had signed off on this project.
I was slightly off. A lawyer had. Although, having known a few OCAD profs, I bet the professor would have thought it was a great idea too, (had he known about it ahead of time).
OCAD. Pffft. What a bunch of whack jobs.
I think the sign that the kid knew what he was doing was a bad idea, was the fact that he saw a lawyer first, left the bomb in the bag because he was worried "it would cause a scene" and that he did not know about the AIDs gala, and feels pretty bad about getting it canceled.
Dude: if you didn't foresee something like this happening, then you obviously didn't think this through quite well enough, did you?
I hope the gala sues the kid to recoup funds, and the kid sues the lawyer. Everybody's happy!
Thank you. I mean it. This incident makes me feel a little better about those dudes who hung the Lite-Brites all over Boston.
That's really good product placement for Duracell.
Robin: Yup, we were the first media outlet to break the photo and interview, after David Topping's frantic afternoon pulling it together.
@uskyscraper: No, actually it's "Thorarinn Ingi Jonsson".
@Gloria: Yes, he was. They're both spinning in their graves as we speak.
One thing I hope that happens is that they make no changes whatsoever to the entrance or operating procedure of the museum.
If this fuckwit has caused them to rethink their openness and to perhaps install metal detectors, etc. I will personally hunt him down and kick him in the junk.
In the immortal words of Faux Alex Trebek:
"What are you, Icelandic or retarded?"
Point the second: Art school legal rep or no, the correct legal advice regarding this project is four words -- "Don't fucking do it." Who did this guy clerk for, Lionel Hutz?
I mean ... gah! My legal expertise comes from David E. Kelley shows and Law and Order reruns, and I know that is was a pretty damn stupid idea. How did that 'advisory' conversation go?
"Well, if you clearly label this amazing good facsimile of a pipe bomb as NOT a bomb, you're in the clear!"
This whole story wins!
Can someone a bit more artistically inclined tell me exactly how this qualifies as art? Strikes me as something that someone who can't paint/draw/sculpt/write would do to get into art school and hang out with all the other tight-jeaned hipsters....
He's a talented painter, I'll give him that.
He's been interviewed by CityTV. Watch cp24.
I hope he gets more than a misdemeanour charge.
What I really hope is that no overzealous cop thought this was one of the vendors the ROM had commercially-cleansed from the sidewalk getting revenge, and had them hauled in because of a spoilt little boy's playing with "art".
How much do you wanna bet that this guy never passes through an airport easily again for as long as he lives? He should just walk directly to the secondary screening room as soon as he enters the terminal.
What a chicken. Even if his initial scheme had been a brilliantly inspired artistic gesture, he wussed out and didn't follow through. Afraid of getting caught? I'll bet he was. By shocking co-incidence, everyone else is afraid of getting blown the hell up.
He was willing to compromise his concept for his own comfort, but not for anyone else's. Thanks for nothing, maestro.
this is the stupidest thing since that one guy made a urinal and called it "art"
"How much do you wanna bet that this guy never passes through an airport easily again for as long as he lives? He should just walk directly to the secondary screening room as soon as he enters the terminal."
You forgot to add 'and bend over.'
@22: He didn't make the urinal. That was the point.
At least urinals don't send people running for their lives. Most of them.
yeah that was my bad attempt at humor. this guy is a retard.
I've looked at his unwatchabe YouTube videos, but I still can't figure out his concept. I've seen the CityNews interview, in which he denies responsibility for the consequences of his actions ("I blame the situation"), but the most I can make of the concept is "ja, ja, I recontextualize, bork-bork."
No, you dumbshit, lying around in public scaring people is a traditional context for bombs fake and real alike. Me doing a Swedish Chef imitation but attributing it to an Icelandic pseudo-meta-terrorist is more of a recontextualization than that.
what a complete and utter tool.
i am astonished that he had no idea that this might not be a good idea. no thought on his actions whatsoever.
But for today at least,Thorarinn Ingi Jonsson is the most famous fuckwit in Toronto. And that's really what it's all about.
lol I love how in his interview with CityTV, he says how the device was clearly a sculpture, and didn't resemble a bomb at all.
Judging from the picture here on torontoist, that definitely looks like nothing but a bomb.
OCAD has issued a statement denying that the bomb was made for a course. (Thanks to Beth Maher for the tip.)
Dude's set. He's going to be ridiculously famous for the rest of his career at least. Oh yes, you're the chap who blew up the ROM, smashing idea, that.
Wouldn't recontextualizing require something that doesn't even remotely resemble a bomb being staged as if it were? For example a pineapple or a Cabbage Patch Kid doll, with a note declaring it to not be a bomb, would make far more sense from that perspective.
680news says he has surrendered to police.
How can anyone call that art? It's idiocy, not art.
Jonsson has now been arrested and charged with one count of common nuisance and mischief interference with property.
from OCAD: "The faculty involved have been fully cooperative and have been suspended with pay pending the outcome of the investigation."
What a way to ruin your chances of ever getting a degree anywhere... get your professors suspended from their job!
How "art imitates life"....so many innocent people affected by the actions of one idiot...just like a REAL bomb going off. I hope Jonsson gets to complete the experience... in a jail cell.
This whole episode sounds like a deleted scene from Art School Confidential.
P.S. Lay off the Icelanders, folks!
does anyone know what time the bail hearing is?
Can someone a bit more artistically inclined tell me exactly how this qualifies as art?
There is, at least, a pretty nice Toronto connection on this score. Marshall McLuhan, famous Torontonian: art is anything you can get away with.
(By which standard, this just might not be art.)
I wish he blew up the new addition to the ROM, that's a worse crime inflicted on the city.
And I was shouted at for saying that thsi was typical artist crap? Recontextualize bombing the ROM for credit, with Prof knowledge.
He definitely will be getting internal inspections every time he crosses a border or gets on a plane, serves the idiot right.
Some people share that sentiment, too.
oh in toronto you're damned if you do, damned if you don't. toronto the good, the boring, the conservative, etc.
along comes a little weirdness in sharp angles and suddenly it's okay to blow it up. because the old building was soooooooooo old and sooooooo wonderful.
it's still there people. and now it has an addition. it's going to be okay.
regarding the kid: he's all sorts of pretentiousness messed up. a fake bomb? after 9/11??? a complete and ridiculous idiot. I'm ashamed he's from toronto.
RC: Typical artist crap? Somehow I doubt you have a clue what the typical artist is like or what they're up to.
Art is not the exclusive domain of a handful of eccentrics looking for attention and finding it by breaking the law or pissing on whatever you think is sacred. For the actual handful of eccentrics like that, you play right into their hands when you spout off nonsense like this.
Why, in 2007, do some art students still think that aping Duchamp is avart-garde? Duchamp was avant-garde nearly a century ago!
"Avant-garde" is meaningless nowadays. I don't fully understand his idea that something that looks like a bomb in a public place is being "recontextualised" by people thinking its a bomb. Because it has a note on it saying its not a bomb? If someone pulled a gun on you, and said "don't worry, it's a fake", would it be reasonable to believe the person?
OCAD. Woo hoo.
@45, Jecann: I agree it's definitely not avant garde, especially to those more acquainted with the art world, but to the average joe, it's still that ... AKA as they call it, "artsy crap." It seems to take a long time for the most cutting edge art to trickle down to the general public, and apparently for Duchamp's stuff, it still hasn't gotten to that point.
Architects were designing steel and glass buildings at least five decades ago and there are still people who just hate it on principle, even the examples that are widely acknowledged as the best of the best.
I'd say between artists and those who have an art education, and your average citizen, there's about a two-century delay.
@David Topping, I had a hard time opening The Star this morning because I had to peel Rosie DiManno's face off the photo (above) that you scooped.
How sweet it must be for you... congrats.
Wow condescension never sounded so good. (rollseyes)
I don't get it. He specifically said it was NOT a bomb. How could anyone mistake it for a bomb? It's not illegal to NOT make a bomb, is it? If that's the case, I'm going to prison for sure.
Or, as his name is probably more accurately rendered, Þórarinn Ingi Jónsson.
The irony of a bunch of moneyed pooftahs running for their lives at an AIDS fundraiser is a bit rich...
Skippy: you look at that photo and wonder how anyone can mistake it for a bomb?!
If anybody feels like donating to CANFAR, Here's the link.