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The Devil and Mr. Jonsson
A little over a year ago, Thorarinn Ingi Jonsson walked into the Royal Ontario Museum, left a bomb just inside its entrance, and walked out. The bomb, of course, was fake, a replica created for a class project at OCAD, but that hardly mattered: it looked just like the real thing, and when it was discovered, wrapped in a plastic bag with a note that said “this is not a bomb” on it, it shut down not only the museum and a significant stretch of Bloor Street but an AIDS fundraiser. Jonsson spoke to Torontoist before turning himself in to police; after that, he was thrown out of OCAD, charged with (and pleaded guilty to) mischief, placed on probation, and returned to Iceland, before coming back to Toronto in February and, only recently, speaking to press again.
Not too long ago, we asked Jonsson if he wanted to do something for Torontoist about his past year, now that he’s off probation and back in the city. Jonsson was interested, and he’s chosen to express himself with—appropriately—more art, though the only thing this piece might threaten is your carpal tunnel syndrome. It’s a 640 x 5184 pixel image (appropriately titled loka.jpg) that includes some familiar imagery: OCAD, Old City Hall, the ROM, explosions, planes about to crash into office buildings, etc.
Jonsson says that the image is “a narrative of my interactions with institutions and their mortal employees for the past year and a month. The underlying creed these institutions live, kiss and kill by is underlined in the coldness of their building materials.” So now you’ll surely get it! Jonsson’s piece is after the fold.
