Kunstterrorist

Kunstterrorist Organisation (a German phrase "Kunst" meaning "Art"), aka KTOrg, is a radical art collective from Croatia founded by graphic designer/artist Filip Filkovic.

Art

KTOrg is probably best-known for the controversial political art works created by the founder Filip Filkovic. Filkovic was also involved in the making of art pieces for Cautese Nationál Postal Disservice project founded by James Cauty of The KLF. Together with Cauty, Filkovic created some of the works in 2007 and 2008 until the final closure of CNPD. According to the official website of Kunstterrorist Organisation, all the works ever created and published via their web shop hold direct reference to popular culture via dystopian and counterculture ways and also directly criticizes the world government's policies and the erosion of freedom. Along with limited edition printed works, Filkovic also produces Cinderella stamp artwork. During the C2 exhibition in Zagreb in 2008, Filkovic published a number of highly controversial works which reflected the popular culture and Croatian high officials. Work "iVo" which features Croatian prime ministed Ivo Sanader with iPod headphones was a well discussed work in the media and gathered a number of positive reactions. In addition to the "iVo" work, KTOrg announced that "iVo" (now being a fictional characted in their fictional monarchy "Counterculture Monarchy of Discordianism") was to be elected for president of the monarchy - for that purpose, a fictional website was set up at www.ivoforpresident.com.

Multi-Media Activism

Along with guerilla activism, members of KTOrg are involved in music production as "Kunstterrorist Audio Noize". The audio tracks are released via British Death to Music anti label. The band consist of six members and the music varies in genres from electronica to punk/rock and gabba. The members of Kunstterrorist Audio Noize also did a number of remixes for other bands.

Characteristics

KTOrg draws influence and constantly references the Culture jamming movement in art, activism and music. The organisation also strongly support Copyleft and Free Culture Movement and apparently (according to their official web site) are giving everything they have ever created for free on 12.12.2012. The work surrounding KTOrg also highly references discordianism as their influence. The discordianism references can be mostly noticed with their frequent newsletters and the information given on their official web page.

Counterculture Monarchy of Discordianism

Members of KTOrg claim that they are settled in a fictional country they call "Counterculture Monarchy of Discordianism" (www.cmdland.com). Members discussed the reasons for creating the fictional country as purely out of copyright reasons. In 2008, cmdland.com published several fake company web sites that look as if they were real corporate web pages. The launch of fake web sites was explained in the official newsletter from the organisation as "The beginning of something wonderful".

List of fake web sites set up by KTOrg:
* Harford Asylum [http://www.harfordasylum.com]
* 9-Elevel [http://www.9-eleven.us]
* Eniroil [http://www.eniroil.com]
* Make Charity History [http://www.makecharityhistory.org]
* iVo [http://www.ivoforpresident.com]
* Lentil Coke [http://www.lentilcoke.com]
* Which Came First [http://www.whichcamefirst.org]
* Strain Mail [http://www.strainmail.com]
* Hadden Global [http://www.haddencorp.com]

References

* Featured artworks at Kontejner Mag [http://www.kontejnermag.com/pc.asp#xpath=/gallery#xpathid=21083#lang=eng]
* StudentNet.hr - Exhibition information [http://www.studentnet.hr/cooltura/show/2978/]
* NowPublic - KTOrg sticker example [http://www.nowpublic.com/carbon-poison-sticker-infected-kunstterrorist-organisation]
* Kunstterrorist Organisation interview on HRT television [http://video.aol.com/video-detail/kunstterrorist-hrt-1-transfer-07062007/2206710755]
* Index.hr article on Kunstterrorist Organisation [http://www.index.hr/xmag/clanak/dizajnerski-dvojac-kunstterrorist--goeklektik--pljuska-u-lice-konzervativnim-umjetnickim-medijima-/346526.aspx]
* ZagrebInfo article on Kunstterrorist Organisation [http://www.zagrebinfo.net/zagreb/dogadanja/izlozbe/kunstterrorist]
* PlanB article on Kunstterrorist Organisation [http://www.planb.com.hr/vijesti/pop-kultura/c2-collaboration]
* Art Exhibition Video - 23.06.2008 [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Asy5OGpmG9M]
* Tportal article on Kunstterrorist Organisation [http://www.tportal.hr/kultura/izlozbe/page/2008/06/18/0256006.html]
* Nacional article on Kunstterrorist Organisation [http://www.nacional.hr/articles/view/46652/]
* Xmag article on Kunstterrorist Organisation [http://www.index.hr/xmag/clanak.aspx?id=391575]
* C2 exhibition press release [http://www.collaboration.nu/press/]
* ArtCandy featured KTOrg works [http://www.artcandy.co.uk/]

External links

* [http://www.kunstterrorist.com Official website of KTOrg]
* [http://myspace.com/kunstterrorist The Official Myspace profile from Kunstterrorist Audio Noize]
* [http://www.cmdland.com Counterculture Monarchy of Discordianism official web page]