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An Inginvenient Truth

By David Topping

Thorarinn Ingi Jonsson—he of fake ROM bomb fame—has given an interview to the Post, the first since his conviction for mischief and subsequent probation in September. The interview’s short, but there’s a lot to take away from it: Jonsson reveals that his piece was “equally as big” in his native Reykjavik as here, but “in Toronto, it was crazy. Hate mail, and death threats, and people coming up on the street and threatening me”; he discusses some of the ways in which 9/11 was art (a comparison that, however disquieting, has been made by everyone from Jean Baudrillard to Elizabeth Wurtzel); talks about a piece of his in Reykjavik that pissed off the neighbours there; and claims that “besides the interruption to the benefit, the public response, and the way people handled the piece, I consider [the ROM piece] my finest work to date, in a certain way.” Oh, and he really likes it here and hopes to come back: “I’m so in love with Toronto. I wish they were more positive towards me.”

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  • friend68

    From the interview: “But it was also that people weren’t prepared to accept a conceptual art piece that took place unannounced and in a public space instead of quietly inside a gallery.”
    His self-disillusionment, his insistence on making the judgement on those who just aren’t smart enough to get it, rather than to really take a hard look at his own projects just makes this guy come off like an arrogant idiot.
    In the world we live in, even pre-9/11, placing something that looked a lot like a bomb outside a public place during a very public event could have had no other consequence that what happened that night. He probably thinks yelling “Fire” in a crowded theatre is a really clever piece of art too, and those that would be trampled to death would be at fault for not recognizing it as such.

  • PickleToes

    If Toronto’s lucky he’ll stay in Iceland.

  • torontothegreat

    9/11 = art?
    huh?

  • dowlingm

    good riddance

  • tripper

    If everything is art, then so was the public reaction to his stunt.
    He has entirely too high an opinion of himself and his art. But I suppose without raging egomaniacs there would be no art at all. So I don’t know. I just hate smug little poor little rich boy art school hipsters like him.

  • ked

    bored already

  • spacejack

    Artistic fame via the path of least resistance. That’s integrity!

  • PickleToes

    Hah, yeah, “hipster” was the word I said when I clicked the National Post link and saw his picture.

  • Svend

    His act didn’t affect me and was only an inconvenience to others.
    I’ve seen “art” on this site that pissed me off more and made the city uglier.
    I guess this means he failed.

  • rek

    The guy doesn’t know what recontextualization is. I hope he comes back to Toronto and resumes his art career, if only to learn from his mistake.

  • tripper

    Considering the dire economic straits Iceland is presently in, he might be back sooner than we think.

  • kstop

    Leaving aside the more obvious twatitude, there’s this:
    “There was a piece I did this spring for the Icelandic Art Academy which was equally as controversial here. I rented this massive speaker system and I took it to the top floor of the schools’ office building, in downtown Reykjavik, and five times a day I played the Muslim call to prayer.”
    Wow! What an edgy concept! Shame he stole it:
    “In the summer of 2007, Gees sneaked automated speakers into famous church towers in various Swiss cities and in one mountain village. At the times of Islamic prayer the call of the muezzin could be heared. The context for this action is the heated debate in Switzerland that ensued after right-wing conservative politicians demanded the ban of minarets.”
    What’s really telling about this is that the original was an artistic response to a sociopolitical event, whereas the twit from Iceland’s was just annoying (and not as elegantly executed by the sounds of things). Seems to be a thing for him.

  • EricSmith

    tripper: You beat me to it — surely the abuse he got was just Toronto participating in his brilliant artistic endeavour. Luckily, contrary to your assertion, there are plenty of artists who aren’t “raging egomaniacs”.

    kstop: Good catch.

    From the interview:

    “I really like raising the question, but I don’t have an answer to it.”

    No way, really?

    “I’m so in love with Toronto. I wish they were more positive towards me.”

    And they wish you wouldn’t threaten them with horrible death. What a crazy, idiosyncratic city.

  • Vincent Clement

    Leave it to Topping and the Torontoist to extend his 15 minutes of fame.

  • RealityCheck

    The Post interviewed him, not Topping.
    This guy is what I and so many people think of first when we hear artist. Especially when we hear “subsidies for…” Grade AAA douchebag bullshit artists.
    This project was created through a government funded entity – OCAD. Yet it caused millions in damage and terrorized a city. Time to end all funding for tertiary art education and all subsidies to artists. Make art and sell it to whomever, just don’t force the public to pay for it.
    Same for pro sports – heck all supposedly profit making ventures. No subsidies for anyone, be it Bombardier, Bare Naked Ladies, or the Leafs.

  • rek

    The problem with your Harperist diatribe is that, as was made clear 11 months ago, Jonsson acted without the knowledge of any OCAD faculty or staff except the student lawyer.