Lars Vilks

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Lars Vilks

Lars Vilks at the site of Nimis in Kullaberg
Birth name Lars Endel Roger Vilks Lanat
Born (1946-06-20) 20 June 1946
Helsingborg, Sweden
Nationality Swedish
Field Conceptual art
Sculpture
Works Nimis (1980-)
Arx (1991-)
The Muhammad Drawings (2007)

Lars Vilks (born 20 June 1946) is a Swedish artist, who garnered both fame and notoriety for his drawings of Muhammed, which resulted in at least one failed attempt to assassinate him.

Personal background

Lars Endel Roger Vilks Lanat was born in Helsingborg, Sweden, to a Latvian father and a Swedish mother.[1][2] He earned his doctoral degree in art history from Lund University in 1987, and worked at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts from 1988 to 1997. From 1997 to 2003, he was a professor in art theory at the Bergen National Academy of the Arts. As an art theorist, Vilks is a proponent of the institutional theory of art. [citation needed]

Artistic career

Although an academically trained art theorist, Vilks is a self-taught artist. In the 1970s, he started painting, and in 1984, he embarked on creating the idiosyncratic sculptures that have been his hallmark, starting with Nimis. At this time, in the early 1980s, postmodernism made its definite entry into the Swedish art scene, using inspiration from e.g. the French art philosopher Jean-François Lyotard. Conceptual artists took the place of the earlier modernists on the contemporary art scene. These conceptual artists did not want their art to have any aesthetic or programmatic content, but often focused on the artist's self. Vilks was part of this movement in Sweden. He turned himself in as a piece of art to the spring saloon at Vikingsberg, Helsingborg, and turned his own car into a piece of art at the fall exhibition at Skånes konstförening.[3]

Nimis and Arx

Nimis. Wood sculptures by Vilks at Kullaberg.
See also: Ladonia (micronation)

In 1980 Vilks created two wooden sculptures, Nimis and Arx, made entirely of drift wood, now located in the Kullaberg nature reserve in Höganäs, Skåne. In 1996, the small area where the sculptures are located was proclaimed by Vilks as an independent country, "Ladonia". Nimis was sold to Joseph Beuys as a means to circumvent the Swedish building code laws concerning unlawful building process. The sculpture of Nimis is now owned by concept artist Christo; the legal document documenting the sale is on display at the Swedish Museum of Sketches. [citation needed]

Critical reception and media attention

Vilks has characterized his own skill in the actual crafts involved in sculpture as quite limited, and although his artistic ideas can be seen as characteristic for his generation of Swedish conceptual artists, he has remained something of an outsider in the Swedish art scene for most of his career. He and his works have typically been treated with silence by the Swedish art establishment, as they have been deemed as not interesting enough, and seen mostly as the product of simple provocation. One of the few works of Vilks to be incorporated into a collection is the concrete sculpture Omphalos, measuring 1.6 meters high and weighing one tonne, which is owned by Moderna Museet after it was first bought by fellow artist Ernst Billgren for 10 000 Swedish kronor.[3]

Vilks' long-standing controversies with different authorities due to his activities in the nature reserve Kullaberg, where Nimis, Arx and Landonien are all located, receive significant attention in Swedish media, which has mostly portrayed Vilks' work as specifically designed to be provocative. This attention has turned the area into something of a tourist attraction. In Vilks' activity as an art theorist, he comments on his own artistic activities in the second or third person. His different works of art, his actions, actions by those authorities with whom Vilks has been in conflict, and the media attention, are brought together in a Gesamtkunstwerk.[3] He has described himself as an "equal opportunity offender" in his critical depictions of religion. In addition to his depictions of Muhammad, he also once drew Jesus as a pedophile.[4]

Muhammad drawings controversy

Main article: Lars Vilks Muhammad drawings controversy

In 2007 Vilks was embroiled in an international controversy after he made a series of drawings depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad as a roundabout dog. The drawings were initially intended to be shown at a local art exhibition at Tällerud, just outside Karlstad, in Värmland, Sweden in July 2007 but were removed from the exhibition by the organisers, citing security concerns and fear of violence from Muslims, shortly before its opening.[5]

Following the first refusal, Vilks submitted the drawings to several other art galleries in Sweden, including the distinguished Gerlesborg School of Fine Art in Bohuslän where he is a frequent lecturer, but all declined to show the drawings for the same reason. The controversy gained international attention after the Örebro-based regional newspaper, Nerikes Allehanda, published one of the drawings on 18 August to illustrate an editorial on self-censorship and freedom of religion.[6]

While other leading Swedish newspapers had published the drawings at this time, this publication led to protests from Muslim organizations in Sweden as well as condemnations from several foreign governments including Iran,[7] Pakistan,[8] Afghanistan,[9] Egypt,[10] and Jordan [citation needed] as well as by the inter-governmental Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which also called for the Swedish government to take "punitive actions" against Vilks.[11] Following this controversy, Vilks has been forced to live under police protection after having received several death threats, including a statement by the al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq which has offered up to $150,000 for his assassination.[12][13][14]

Assassination plot

In 2009, a failed plot to kill Lars Vilks was hatched. Three U.S. citizens, Colleen LaRose (known as "Jihad Jane"), Mohammad Hassas Khalid and Jamie Paulin Ramirez, participated in the plot. On 9 March 2010, LaRose's federal indictment was unsealed charging her with trying to recruit Muslims to murder Vilks.[15][16]

On the same day, seven people were arrested in the Republic of Ireland over an alleged plot to assassinate Vilks. Police officers close to the investigation said those arrested were foreign-born Irish residents, mostly from Yemen and Morocco and had refugee status.[17][18] Of the seven, three men and two women were arrested in Waterford and Tramore, and another man and woman at Ballincollig, near Cork.[17] Garda Síochána (the Irish police force), which conducted the arrests with support from the National Support Services and the counter-terrorist Special Detective Unit, said the suspects ranged in age from mid 20's to late 40's.[19] The Irish police added that throughout the investigation they had been "working closely with law enforcement agencies in the United States and in a number of European countries".[19]

Violent attacks

On 11 May 2010, Muslim protesters assaulted Vilks while he was giving a lecture about free speech at Uppsala University. The attacks started when a film about Islam and homosexuality [???]. The film in question was Iranian artist Sooreh Hera's Allah ho Akbar. Vilks' eyeglasses were broken but he did not suffer any serious injuries, and was escorted to safety by security, while a few of the protesters were detained by police. Despite previous death threats, this was the first act of violence against Vilks.[20]

On 24 November 2010, a video produced by the Somali Islamic organization Al-Shaabab was sent out. In the video, a Swedish speaking voice appeals to "all the Somali brothers and sisters" in Sweden, to leave that country and come to Somalia to fight for Al-Shabaab. He announces a death threat against Lars Vilks. On 12 December 2010, a suicide bomber in Stockholm said in a message to media and the Swedish Security Police that "Now will your children, daughters and sisters die the same way our brothers and sisters die. Our actions will speak for themselves. As long as you don't end your war against Islam and degradation against the prophet and your foolish support for the pig Vilks." [citation needed]

On 10 September 2011, three men were arrested on suspicion of preparing to commit terrorist crimes in Gothenburg.[21] Two days after the arrest, the crime classification was changed to conspiring to murder. It was revealed a few days later that Vilks was the intended target of the three men.[22][21]

Bibliography

  • (1987) Konst och konster (in Swedish; dissertation), Malmö: Wedgepress & Cheese, ISBN 91-85752-57-6.
  • (1993) Att läsa Arx (in Swedish), Nora: Nya Doxa, ISBN 91-88248-43-7.
  • (1993) Arx : en bok om det outsägliga (in Swedish), Nora: Nya Doxa, ISBN 91-88248-47-X.
  • (1994) Nimis och Arx (in Swedish), Nora: Nya Doxa, ISBN 91-88248-50-X.
  • (1995) Konstteori : kameler går på vatten (in Swedish), Nora: Nya Doxa, ISBN 91-88248-94-1.
  • (1999) Det konstnärliga uppdraget? : en historia om konsthistoria, kontextkonst och det metafysiska överskottet (in Swedish), Nora: Nya Doxa, ISBN 91-578-0331-5.
  • (2002) T.O.A. : [teori om allting] (in Swedish), Malmö: Galleri 21, ISBN 91-631-2330-4.
  • (2003) Myndigheterna som konstnärligt material : den långa historien om Nimis, Arx, Omfalos och Ladonien (in Swedish), Nora: Nya Doxa, ISBN 91-578-0429-X (hardback).
  • (2004) Spartips : 34 tips för konstnärer, kommuner, vissa obemedlade samt underbetalda (in Swedish), Nora: Nya Doxa, ISBN 91-578-0451-6.
  • (2005) Hur man blir samtidskonstnär på tre dagar : handbok med teori (in Swedish; co-author: Martin Schibli), Nora: Nya Doxa, ISBN 91-578-0459-1.
  • (2011) ART: den institutionella konstteorin, konstnärlig kvalitet, den internationella samtidskonsten. Nora: Nya Doxa, ISBN 978-91-578-0590-4

See also

References

  1. ↑ Rubin, Birgitta (21 March 2010). "Lars Vilks: Jag siktar på hela religionsfältet" (in Swedish). Dagens Nyheter. Retrieved 22 March 2010. 
  2. ↑ Lars Vilks profile at State of NovelArt.org
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Vikten av att vara Vilks "The importance of being Vilks", Svenska Dagbladet, 27 June 2010 (Swedish)
  4. ↑ "Police: Swedish cartoonist object of attempted attack". 11 May 2010. Retrieved 4 January 2014. 
  5. ↑ Brink, Bosse (21 July 2007). "Teckningar på Muhammed togs bort" (in Swedish). Svenska Dagbladet. Retrieved 27 August 2007. 
  6. ↑ Ströman, Lars (18 August 2007). "Rätten att förlöjliga en religion" (in Swedish). Nerikes Allehanda. Archived from the original on 18 August 2007. Retrieved 4 January 2014. 
  7. ↑ "Iran protests over Swedish Muhammad cartoon". Agence France-Presse. 27 August 2007. Retrieved 27 August 2007. 
  8. ↑ "Pakistan condemns the publication of offensive sketch in Sweden" (Press release). Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 30 August 2007. Retrieved 31 August 2007. 
  9. ↑ Salahuddin, Sayed (1 January 2007). "Indignant Afghanistan slams Prophet Mohammad sketch". Reuters. Retrieved 9 September 2007. 
  10. ↑ Fouché, Gwladys (3 September 2007). "Egypt wades into Swedish cartoons row". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 September 2007. 
  11. ↑ "The Secretary General strongly condemned the publishing of blasphemous caricatures of Prophet Muhammad by Swedish artist" (Press release). Organisation of the Islamic Conference. 30 August 2007. Retrieved 9 September 2007. 
  12. ↑ Scherlund, Erik (31 August 2007). "Lars Vilks hotad till livet" (in Swedish). TV4Nyheterna. Retrieved 12 September 2007. 
  13. ↑ "Vilks to get police protection". Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå/The Local. 16 September 2007. Retrieved 16 September 2007. 
  14. ↑ "Bounty set over Prophet cartoon". BBC News. 15 September 2007. Retrieved 15 September 2007. 
  15. ↑ Emily Friedman; Jason Ryan (9 May 2010). "American Colleen LaRose Called Herself Jihad Jane". ABC News. Retrieved 6 January 2014. 
  16. ↑ "Jihad Jane arrested". NBC News. Retrieved 6 January 2014. 
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 "Arrests over alleged plot to kill cartoonist". Raidió Teilifís Éireann. 9 March 2010. Retrieved 9 March 2010. 
  18. ↑ Stack, Sarah (9 March 2010). "Seven held in Ireland over plot to assassinate cartoonist Lars Vilks". The Independent. Retrieved 9 March 2010. 
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 "Searches in Waterford and Cork on 9 March 2010." (Press release). Garda Síochána. 9 March 2010. Retrieved 9 March 2010. 
  20. ↑ Risling, Matt. "Muhammad cartoonist assaulted during lecture". Associated Press. 
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Kate Deimling (21 September 2011). "Mohammad Cartoonist Lars Vilks Was True Target of Foiled Terrorist Attack at Swedish Art Biennial". Artinfo. Retrieved 13 August 2012. 
  22. ↑ "Lars Vilks believed to have been the target". Goteborgdaily.se. Retrieved 13 August 2012. 

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