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DEADLY 'DISNEY' ART

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Killer princesses invade Stockholm streets

Graffiti paintings of Disney’s fairytale princesses brandishing guns and knives have been mysteriously appearing on walls around Stockholm, garnering global attention after photos went viral on Facebook. The man behind them is a Swedish Street Artist known only as “Herr Nilsson”.

Killer princesses invade Stockholm streets

The mysterious artist spoke with The Local via Facebook.

What are you trying to say with your work? Some people have speculated you’re saying “Don’t trust anyone”, others reckon it’s a criticism of pop-culture. Who’s right?

I like these discussions – and they are both right. Because of my kids I´m surrounded by toys, games and movies for the moment. Of course there’s a lot of creativity in the toy and entertainment industries for children – but most of the cartoon characters, female in particular, are very stereotyped and predictable. Always so innocent, fair and harmless. The Dark Princesses are a comment on violence, but they are also a comment to how we look upon good and bad in the world. Everybody expects a fairytale princess to always look good and behave well. If I was one of them I would revolt after a couple of days. And in my world they do.

SEE A GALLERY OF HERR NILSSON’S FAIRYTALE PRINCESSES HERE

Your mascot is “Herr Nilsson”, the pet monkey of Pippi Longstocking, holding a Molotov-Cocktail in his hands. Why?

My daughter has a cuddly toy of Herr Nilsson and he was with us everywhere a couple of years ago. She could not be without him. He is a harmless character compared to Pippi in the stories. That made me start to think of the revolting monkey, throwing a burning molotov cocktail at Villevillakulla with Pippi’s ponytail as a fuse.

So Herr Nilsson is rebelling against his owner?

My main intention was to let a harmless creature act very violently. Why he did it is up to you as a observer to interpret. But yes, your reading sounds reasonable.

Say, how old are you?

I can’t tell you that, I’m afraid.

Alright, so when did you start with Street Art?

I started about 1 and a half years ago. The monkey with the molotov cocktail was my first piece.

I have created a lot of exhibitions in different types of galleries but these ideas didn’t work out there. I wanted to stage a situation where my artwork interacted with people on the street and the real environment, not a fictional environment in a gallery.

Were your pictures similar to those you’re doing now or something different?

I have worked with a lot of media but it has always been images, mostly drawings and paintings. Sometimes a gallery or museum is great but then the audience is prepared to look at art. But when you put up a piece in the street you talk directly to the audience without that prepared shield. The street audience also includes people without any interest in art, the ones that never would go in to a gallery or museum.

So, galleries and museums are outdated because they do not reach the public?

In Stockholm the discussion about art is very cramped. It’s highly intellectualized in the newspapers. If you travel down to Skåne in the south of Sweden art is enjoyed by ordinary people without any education in arts. Everybody can talk about the pieces without having the feeling that they don’t understand. Sometimes the works of art demand a very high level insight or preparation, like Bruce Nauman for example. He is great, but my pieces in this project are comments about violence, good and evil, feminine and masculine. I also use very strong symbols from pop culture and cartoons. These comments and symbols are for everybody, not only the art audience.

Stockholm has a “Zero Tolerance” Policy to Street Art, in 24 hours a picture is supposed to be removed. Ever thought of doing your art in another city?

Yes but it’s more of a practical thing because I live here.

If someone would ask you to put your street art in a gallery, would you do it?

I have been thinking of it and it has to be solved in an other way. These pieces are made for the specific sites.

In your opinion, how should the city handle street art?

Like a voice. We have the right to say what we like. In the public space it´s only rich companies who can speak to the public with their brainwashing ad campaigns.

But they pay for the advertisement space.

Yes of course. It means that only the rich have the right to speak.

SEE A GALLERY OF HERR NILSSON’S FAIRYTALE PRINCESSES HERE

By Steffen Daniel Meyer

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ART

African-born director’s new vision for Berlin cultural magnet

One of the rare African-born figures to head a German cultural institution, Bonaventure Ndikung is aiming to highlight post-colonial multiculturalism at a Berlin arts centre with its roots in Western hegemony.

African-born director's new vision for Berlin cultural magnet

The “Haus der Kulturen der Welt” (House of World Cultures), or HKW, was built by the Americans in 1956 during the Cold War for propaganda purposes, at a time when Germany was still divided.

New director Ndikung said it had been located “strategically” so that people on the other side of the Berlin Wall, in the then-communist East, could see it.

This was “representing freedom” but “from the Western perspective”, the 46-year-old told AFP.

Now Ndikung, born in Cameroon before coming to study in Germany 26 years ago, wants to transform it into a place filled with “different cultures of the world”.

The centre, by the river Spree, is known locally as the “pregnant oyster” due to its sweeping, curved roof. It does not have its own collections but is home to exhibition rooms and a 1,000-seat auditorium.

It reopened in June after renovations, and Ndikung’s first project “Quilombismo” fits in with his aims of expanding the centre’s offerings.

The exhibition takes its name from the Brazilian term “Quilombo”, referring to the communities formed in the 17th century by African slaves, who fled to remote parts of the South American country.

Throughout the summer, there will also be performances, concerts, films, discussions and an exhibition of contemporary art from post-colonial societies across Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania.

‘Rethink the space’

“We have been trying to… rethink the space. We invited artists to paint walls… even the floor,” Ndikung said.

And part of the “Quilombismo” exhibition can be found glued to the floor -African braids laced together, a symbol of liberation for black people, which was created by Zimbabwean artist Nontsikelelo Mutiti.

According to Ndikung, African slaves on plantations sometimes plaited their hair in certain ways as a kind of coded message to those seeking to escape, showing them which direction to head.

READ ALSO: Germany hands back looted artefacts to Nigeria

His quest for aestheticism is reflected in his appearance: with a colourful suit and headgear, as well as huge rings on his fingers, he rarely goes unnoticed.

During his interview with AFP, Ndikung was wearing a green scarf and cap, a blue-ish jacket and big, sky-blue shoes.

With a doctorate in medical biology, he used to work as an engineer before devoting himself to art.

In 2010, he founded the Savvy Gallery in Berlin, bringing together art from the West and elsewhere, and in 2017 was one of the curators of Documenta, a prestigious contemporary art event in the German city of Kassel.

Convinced of the belief that history “has been written by a particular type of people, mostly white and men,” Ndikung has had all the rooms in the HKW renamed after women.

These are figures who have “done something important in the advancement of the world” but were “erased” from history, he added. Among them is Frenchwoman Paulette Nardal, born in Martinique in 1896.

She helped inspire the creation of the “negritude” movement, which aimed to develop black literary consciousness, and was the first black woman to study at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Reassessing history

Ndikung’s appointment at the HKW comes as awareness grows in Germany about its colonial past, which has long been overshadowed by the atrocities committed during the era of Adolf Hitler’s Nazis.

Berlin has in recent years started returning looted objects to African countries which it occupied in the early 20th century — Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Namibia and Cameroon.

“It’s long overdue,” said Ndikung.

He was born in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, into an anglophone family.

The country is majority francophone but also home to an anglophone minority and has faced deadly unrest in English-speaking areas, where armed insurgents are fighting to establish an independent homeland.

One of his dreams is to open a museum in Cameroon “bringing together historical and contemporary objects” from different countries, he said.

He would love to locate it in Bamenda, the capital of Cameroon’s restive Northwest region.

“But there is a war in Bamenda, so I can’t,” he says.

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