The Kingdom of Elgaland-Vargaland
“On the 14th of October 1991 a meeting took place in Stockholm, Sweden, between Carl Michael von Hausswolff and Leif Elggren. The event resulted in an agreement to establish a new country as a work of art. “
Borders around the world are represented by lines on the map. Lines are also representations of connections. Elgaland-Vargaland uses all the lines that devide the world into pieces, in order to connect it, to unite it. The absolute character of the act of naming one’s self “The King” (or rather half-The-King) of a utopic universal Kingdom, is a luxury that only Art can realize without violence; to construct a new world on the existing world without political consequencies, and make a political statement at the same time.
They deal with the freedom of the choice of belonging somewhere that cannot be defined in physical terms; if our space does not exist, we have to invent it. We are constantly moving between these border lines, so how much time do we spend on the move? In nowhere, in-between, in non-places? What if we reversed that, what if we stood still for a few minutes, while everything else around us keeps moving? What if we rearranged the world structure? What if we took over? What if we used Art as the medium in order to (re)define ourselves in space and time?
Using the internet as a tool and occupying it as part of their territory, Leif Elggren and Karl Michael von Hausswolff, share the title of the King of Elgaland-Vargaland, which they finally founded in May 1992. They are co-monarchs of a nowhere-everywhere land, which consists of the borderlines between all the other countries of the world. Made out of no material, this Kingdom is spreading around the planet and can be wealthier than any other, a global State of Mind.
visit the Digital Territory of Elgaland-Vargaland (KREV):
(About Eirini: Sociology, Cultural Management, Literature & Poetry, Theater & Dance)