Ready-NameAldo Milohnić (Over-identification through Over-multiplication) 122

Janez Janša, Janez Janša, Janez Janša Signature – Lojze Peterle 3, Ljubljana, 2007 Action Digital photography, 4368 x 2912 px Photo: Miha Fras Courtesy: artists

Janez Janša, Janez Janša, Janez Janša Signature – Lojze Peterle 2, Ljubljana, 2007 Action Black marker on photography, 20 x 30 cm Photo: Borut Kranjc Courtesy: artists

Janez Janša, Janez Janša, Janez Janša Signature – Lojze Peterle, Prežganje, 2007 Action Black marker on photography, 13 x 18 cm Courtesy: artists that case it will denote only one, specific, and In the 5th Book of particular God, for instance the Christian God. On the other hand, as we know, people from different cultures, different continents, Moses (Deuteronomy) 123 can believe in different gods, and in that of the Holy Bible case, the name God will be a general name and will be connotative. This means that there are God’s Ten there is a class of spiritual phenomena which are all called God. As explained by Commandments and John Stuart Mill in his study System of Logic – later on discussed 1 Cf. for instance the article by relates to the (and criticized) John R. Searle “Proper Names” one of them (1958), Saul Kripke’s book name of God which should simply not be many times by Naming and Necessity (1972) mentioned without a good reason: his successors1 in etc. “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord the philosophy of 2 A well known example is Mill’s syntagm “the present thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold language – there is Prime Minister of England”. him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” a third kind of name He explains the situation as follows: “‘Prime Minister of In other words, despite of the fact that you that is individual England’ is a general name; the should always think on your God, that you but still connotative, attributes which it connotes are supposed to love him with all of your one that consists may be possessed by an indefinite number of persons, heart and soul, you are nevertheless not of connotative in succession, however, not allowed to pronounce the Lord’s name, attributes.2 simultaneously, since the meaning of the name itself except in appropriate circumstances. It In common imports (among other things) seems that this commandment follows the parlance, additional that there can be only one such person at time. This being the same logic of discursive economy as the first descriptions case, and the application of the commandment that introduces monotheism (attributes) are not name being afterward limited, by saying that you should not have any necessarily attached by the article and the word present, to such individuals other God except the Lord, your God. to a proper name. as possess the attributes at In other words, less is more; having only However, there one indivisible point in time, it becomes applicable only to one God, you will not split your “theistic” are examples of one individual.” Quoted from: sentiments on different objects of your love, cases when proper A. P. Martinich (ed.). 1996. The Philosophy of Language. and by mentioning his name only in special names function as New York and Oxford: Oxford situations, you will show even more love and homonyms, and the University Press, p. 247. respect to your beloved God than by calling most recent example his name every time in every situation. in Slovenia is the decision of the three If we are to look back at theological artists – formerly known as Žiga Kariž, Emil discourse from the perspective of the Hrvatin and Davide Grassi – to officially philosophy of language, we must uncover change their names to Janez Janša (a name what kind of God we are talking about. which we, in Slovenia, automatically associate In “classical” proposition proper names with the present Prime Minister Janez Janša). are denotative and general names are Because of that homonymic effect, they are connotative, so if the name God is used by a presented in the media as Janez Janša, the monotheist, it will be a proper name and in director of the Maska Institute; or visual artist Janez Janša; or Janez Janša, formerly of people and turned into a kind of multiple known as Davide Grassi, etc. name. Moreover, this pirating is committed The first impression on the multiplication in reality, following the legal government of the name Janez Janša is that it is a procedure prescribed for official renaming. 124 collective pseudonym of the artists, Žiga In that sense, the renaming has certain real Kariž, Emil Hrvatin, and Davide Grassi. as well as symbolical consequences; the new Pseudonyms are quite a usual phenomenon name is no longer a pseudonym, rather, it in the art world, especially in the field of starts to function as a homonym, it is shifted literary production, art criticism, or rather, into a more complex net of meaning. Of writing. Substituting one’s own name with course, this act of a radical intervention on a pseudonym is a method of securing one’s own personality provokes a question anonymity in an otherwise public domain. that simply cannot be avoided: why did the There are different types of pseudonyms; artists decide to change their names to the usually, one pseudonym is used by only one same name as the present Prime Minister of person but there are well known examples Slovenia? Furthermore, why is this uniformity of a single pseudonym being shared by many (multiplication of the same name) so people, as was the case in the 1980s “Neoism” important? art movement. Collective pseudonyms are *** also called “multiple names”. Oliver Marchart, Despite the fact that the present Prime author of a book on Neoism,3 explains what a Minister of Slovenia is not the only individual 3 Oliver Marchart. 2001. multiple name really with the name Janez Janša – at the moment Neoismus: Avantgarde und means: “A multiple there are at least 10 people with this same Selbsthistorisierung. Klagenfurt and Wien: Edition Selene. name is a name, name in Slovenia – it would be naïve to think 4 Oliver Marchart. 2002. which can be used that this act of renaming is not somehow “Political Strategies as by anybody. Santa connected with the person of the present Artistic Strategies: the Use of Multiple Names”. In: Strategije Claus, for instance, Prime Minister. On the other hand, the predstavljanja – Svet umetnosti is a multiple name. artists’ insistence that they had strictly 2000/2001. Edited by Barbara Borčič and Saša Glavan. Anybody who uses personal reasons for their renaming to Janez Ljubljana: SCCA. the name of Santa Janša, can be interpreted as a conceptual Claus, puts on a stance producing a whole range of meanings. beard, and wears red clothes becomes Santa It is, firstly, a reiteration of a notorious phrase Claus. In the art field this is a fairly common used by politicians when they don’t want to practice and Neoism is a movement, which is give concrete explanations for certain radical the most famous for extensive use of multiple decisions (such as, the act of resignation from names, in particular the name of Monty an important political position). Secondly, Cantsin, Karen Eliot, and occasionally also by saying that they changed their names for Luther Blissett.”4 personal reasons, the artists productively In the case of three new Janez Janšas contradict two principles: on one hand, the – similarly to the case of Neoism – we can collaborative principle of (artistic) group think about multiplication of a name but work, promoting collectivity, commonality we cannot think about the phenomenon etc., and on the other hand, the strictly in terms of pseudonym. In this case a “real individualistic principle of liberal societies name” is actually being “pirated” by a group insisting on the primacy of (self)deliberate, ALDO MILOHNIĆ Ready-Name (Over-identification through Over-multiplication)

rational, and “free” subject of civil liberties compares the artists’ act of renaming with (including being able to claim the right to the “ready made” method of producing art privacy for “personal reasons” after making objects (Duchamp’s Fountain is the most certain decisions that are rather related to the known and paradigmatic example of that 125 public sphere). Thirdly, there is the negation method). of supposed “proper reasons” for changing As far as Janša’s political slogan is the name or, rather, taking the name of the concerned, it is only one among many other politician Janez Janša, can only increase elements of the artists’ “identification” with the amount of interest (from the media, the political figure (or better to say, with their art critics, and political commentators) in political target). In addition, all three artists those “proper reasons” and, consequently, became members of Janša’s party; during for the project as such. Last but not least, the presidential elections they wore T-shirts this phrase (“proper reasons”) might be very with the portrait of Lojze Peterle, (who was useful argument for defending the “good” presidential candidate of the coalition of (or at least, not “malicious”) intentions of the leading right wing parties, including the Janez Janša, Janez Janša and Janez Janša (the Prime Minister Janez Janša’s party SDS); artists) when taking the name of Janez Janša they also visited Mr. Peterle’s headquarters (the politician). Although there is practically to publicly comment on the primary results. no provision in the Slovenian Law on Proper As their oppositional standpoints before Names which might be utilized as a sufficient the renaming were well known, this radical legal basis for a hypothetical lawsuit against political turn could not be grasped without a the Janša artists, a threat of a legal action conceptual explanation. from the side of their political target is always This method is usually referred to as latent. “subversive affirmation” and it is well known, My second question – why it is important especially in the politically propulsive to multiply the name – was already answered art practices of former-socialist Eastern by Blaž Lukan in his paper delivered at European countries. Inke Arns and Sylvia the AGRFT symposium in October 2007 Sasse, editors of a special issue on subversive (Borštnikovo srečanje, Maribor). As he says, affirmation for the Slovenian performing arts the Janša artists might have changed their journal Maska, offered a possible definition original names for personal reasons “but it of the concept. “Subversive affirmation is a fact that the three artists chose the same is an artistic/political tactic that allows name and they thus achieved a certain degree artists/activists to take part in certain social, of identity with the best-known Janez Janša political, or economic discourses and to and – after all – everyone else who bears this affirm, appropriate, or consume them while name (there are at least ten of them now). simultaneously undermining them. It is If we try to theorize their act, we could say characterized precisely by the fact that with that they have produced a series.”5 Lukan affirmation there simultaneously occurs a continues with examples of this “series”, distancing from, or revelation of, what is including Janša’s motto: “The more we are, being affirmed. 6 Inke Arns and Sylvia Sasse. 5 Blaž Lukan. “The Janez Janša the faster we will In subversive 2006. “Subversive Affirmation: On Mimesis as a Strategy of Project”, in this volume, pp. reach the goal!” Later affirmation there 11-28. Resistance”. Maska (Ljubljana), on in the paper he is always a surplus vol. XXI, no. 3-4 (98-99), p. 6. which destabilizes affirmation and turns it society, saturated with nationalism, wild into its opposite.”6 Subversive affirmation can neoliberal capitalism, servile journalism, and have different forms, one of them is known corporativism. If that is “the goal” from the as “over-identification”. Historically, during Janša’s motto (“The more we are, the faster we 126 the regime of former Yugoslavia, this was will reach the goal!”), then “we” are supposed the tactic for radical criticism of the political to play the role of the soldiers of that post- system. Invented by the Slovenian art fascist revolution. One of the possible ways to movement Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK), resist such a scenario is to take literally both the basic principle of the over-identification the subject (“we”) and the object (“the goal”), method is embedded in reasoning about a and this is precisely what has happened in the political system as an internalized cynicism. case of the “Janša project”. The most effective way to break through this *** ideological barrier is not to take the “classical” What is the mechanism of this artistic dissident position (as that is precisely what subversion? In my interpretation, this is expected and even desired by the system mechanism is centered in the personal itself), but to do the opposite, to engage in pronoun “we”, a complex linguistic category a fanatic struggle for the (criticized) Idea in consisting of I + others (you, they…), and a its “purest” and the most “authentic” form. proper name (Janez Janša) as the dominant As pointed out by Arns and Sasse, “the element “I” in the formula we = I + others. tactic of NSK did not formulate itself in an Supporting references for this thesis are to be openly critical discourse on the state and found in Jakobson and Benveniste’s writings its ideology; nor did it distance itself from on the peculiarities of personal pronouns and ideology through irony or ironic negation. proper names. On the contrary, it was about a repetition, an The personal pronoun “we” belongs to a appropriation of components and elements class of grammatical units which Jaspersen of the ruling ideology, a game with these calls “shifters”. According to Roman Jakobson, ‘ready-mades’.”7 the general meaning of a shifter cannot be Thus, it seems that the Janša artists are defined without a reference to the message, working with political “ready-mades” on “the sign I cannot represent its object several levels in an attempt to subvert the without ‘being in existential relation’ with this ideology of the (present) ruling party in object.”8 Personal pronouns are grammatical Slovenia. Their method of over-identification categories, which is to say, they exist only is adapted to a post-socialist situation in language; more precisely, according to 9 with the SDS right-wing ruling party as Benveniste, personal 7 Ibid., p. 10. an obscure combination of nationalist pronouns refer only 8 Roman Jakobson. 1990 ideology, neoliberal economics, Stalinist-like to “speech reality” [1957]. “Schifters and Verbal Categories”. In: On Language. hierarchical intra-party organization, and and can be defined Cambridge / London: Harvard totalitarian tendencies in overruling key only in terms of University Press, p. 388. 9 Émile Benveniste. 1988 [1956]. mass-media, state, and quasi-state funds speech acts and not “Narava zaimkov” [The Nature and corporations. If we take seriously these in the realm of extra- of Pronouns]. In: Problemi key elements of the ruling party ideology, grammatical objects. splošne lingvistike I [Problems in General Linguistics]. in a not-so-distant future the brave new Furthermore, Ljubljana: ŠKUC / Filozofska Slovenia might end up as a post-fascist Benveniste explains fakulteta, p. 274 ALDO MILOHNIĆ Ready-Name (Over-identification through Over-multiplication)

that singular forms of personal pronouns alienation effect of the serial renaming to are not automatically translatable into their Janez Janša’s name is precisely an absurd type plural counterparts. For instance, “we” of subversive affirmation; over-multiplication doesn’t mean simple multiplication of the of Janez Janša’s is a consequence of over- 127 same objects (personal pronoun “I”), it is identification with the ideological mechanism rather a fusion between “I” and “not-I” (I of interpellating individuals as subjects.12 + you, I + they, etc.). In other words, “we” Althusser’s notion 12 Cf. Louis Althusser. 1971. attaches to “I” a certain multitude of other of “interpellation” “Ideology and Ideological 10 State Apparatuses”. In: Lenin amorphous global persons. is an allusion to the and Philosophy and Other While the personal pronoun is always Biblical story of Essays. New York and London: related to a message, a proper name – on the Moses being called Monthly Review Press. 13 “And Moses said unto God, 10 Émile Benveniste. other hand – cannot by God, whose Behold, when I come unto the 1988 [1946]. “Struktura be defined without name is tautological, children of Israel, and shall say osebnih odnosov v glagolu” 13 unto them, The God of your [Relationships of Person in the reference to the “I am that I am”, fathers hath sent me unto you; Verb]. In: ibid., pp. 253-255. code. “In the code or the Subject and they shall say to me, What 11 Jakobson, ibid., p. 387. of English, Jerry with a “capital is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto means a person S” in Althusser’s Moses, I am that I am: and he named Jerry.” The circularity is obvious, nomenclature. “God said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am says Jakobson, since “the name means thus defines himself hath sent me unto you.” (The anyone to whom this name is assigned. The as the Subject par Holy Bible, The Second Book of Moses, Exodus, chapter 3, appellative pup means a young dog, mongrel excellence, he who paragraphs 13 and 14.) means a dog of mixed breed, hound is a dog is through himself 14 Althusser, ibid., p. 179. used in hunting, while Fido means nothing and for himself 15 Ibid., p. 180. more than a dog whose name is Fido.” He (‘I am that I am’), paraphrases Bertrand Russell by saying that and he who interpellates his subject, the “there are many dogs called Fido, but they do individual subjected to him by his very not share any property of ‘Fidoness’.”11 In that interpellation, i.e. the individual named sense, political derivation of this linguistic Moses. And Moses, interpellated-called by theory, would lead us to the conclusion that his Name, having recognized that it ‘really’ the “we” in Janša’s motto consist of Janez was he who was called by God, recognizes Janša as the speaking subject and at the that he is a subject, a subject of God, a same time the totalizing pronoun in the subject subjected to God, a subject through function of the dominant signifier saturating the Subject and subjected to the Subject. the infinite chain of “not-I”, a multitude of The proof: he obeys him, and makes his (grammatical) persons attached to him. people obey God’s Commandments.”14 According to Benveniste, “I” is always a Later on in the text Althusser explains dominant element of “we”, for there is no that the ideology of Christian theology “we” which is not originating from “I”; the multiplies religious subjects by an absolute relationship between “I” and the multitude Subject; reduplicated subjects (the Christian of “not-I’s” is asymmetrical and hierarchical. multitude) and the Subject (God) are in a In other (political rather than linguistic) mirror relation. The message of this Biblical words, only one Janša suffices for the mission mirror structure is that “those who have (of Janša’s party) to be completed. The recognized God, and have recognized themselves in Him, will be saved”.15 In the Reich and Fascist Italy. These and other context of a modern secular state, the act historical examples illustrate and confirm of overtaking the nominal identity of the the fact that (re)naming has a lot to do with political Subject (the name of the Prime power, especially with the juridical and 128 Minister as the most powerful politician administrative apparatuses of the totalitarian in a parliamentary democracy) might be a state. Provisions regulating legal use of counterpart to the Althusserian example proper names are, however, part of the legal of interpellation by means of theological systems of many contemporary democratic identification. In other words, if they wanted states. An instructive example, which can to point out that political idolatry is deeply be found in legal systems of many European embedded in the present regime of the Prime countries,17 is the provision stipulating that Minister Janša, the three Janša artists have the name has to mirror the biological sex of obviously found a provocative way to do it. the person. In other words, a male is not able As to how subversive they have been in that to bear a female name, and vice versa. Legal regard, it is too early to say, as it would be experts might have a difficult job satisfying

nearly impossible to predict the results of that provision in 18 “The most drastic, although the forthcoming Slovenian parliamentary certain situations, in practice rather exceptional example of limiting of the elections. particularly in the freedom of expression *** case of a physical through a proper name, is the The very fact that an individual can change (surgical) changing obligation of an individual to change his or her name, his or her name indicates that, besides of the biological sex. enforced by the state. It is an naming and renaming, the contemporary Furthermore, some example when the state in fact forces an individual to refrain state has at its disposal other possibilities states limit the right from expression of certain to control the personal identities of its of an individual to information (which he or she might be proud of), implicitly 16 See Kovačič’s contribution in inhabitants (such as write his or her name originating from his or her this volume, pp. 101-106. tax numbers, social with lettering from name, not even to mention 17 For instance, Spain, Romania, and health security its original language, other human rights being Germany, Czech Republic, violated by such a demand: Poland etc. (Kovačič, ibid.) numbers, etc.). rather transcribing right to use one’s own language As demonstrated it with the letters of and script, as stipulated in 16 the article 62 of the Slovenian in Tadej Kovačič’s comparative analysis that country’s official Constitution, or special rights between the European legal system and language. of the national minorities, as regulated by the article 64 of some others with regard to their policies of In her text on the same Constitution, as well names and name changing, states commonly proper names and as economic rights. An example cited security concerns as the reason for human rights, [of violation of economic rights] would be a movie actor or placing limits on the right to change name. Barbara Novak actress deprived of the right If a person is being prosecuted or other emphasizes that the to change his or her strange, unusual name; since such a criminal proceedings are imposed on him, right of an individual name would be difficult to the state will not allow renaming. On the to keep or freely memorize by the audience, he or she could probably suffer other hand, there are historical examples change his or her loss in income.” (Barbara of forced renaming carried out by the name is a human Novak. 1997. “Osebno ime in state; for instance, it happened to many right. The state’s človekove pravice” [Proper Name and Human Rights]. inhabitants of non-German and non-Italian intervention into Pravnik, Ljubljana, vol. 52, no. ethnic origin in the times of German NS that sphere of the 1-3, p. 87.) ALDO MILOHNIĆ Ready-Name (Over-identification through Over-multiplication)

individual’s privacy is necessary in conflict art finds itself in the hysterical situation of with the doctrine for the protection of human having to worship law as the guarantor of rights in the contemporary democratic state. its own “autonomy” in relation to politics According to Novak, it is not only about (freedom of artistic expression etc.) and the 129 violation of political rights, it is also about economy (copyright and the material gains depriving a subject of his or her economic implied thereby), while at the same time rights.18 Thus, the relationship between a always having to fight for “autonomy” in state and an individual regarding (re)naming relation to the legal 20 In his article “Politicization might be interpreted as an intersectional sphere and within of Law” Jean-Louis Genard states that “the legal system point of the spheres of politics, law, and the legal sphere itself is dominant to the spheres economy. If we try to grasp the concept of (in terms of having a connected with it, but fighting for their autonomy. Because the the three Janšas in that sense, it seems that right to define what is power relationships are very the project deals precisely with that complex a work of art, who is asymmetrical, these spheres are in danger of getting their relationship. an artist, etc.). Under own logic suppressed by legal “Engaged art” as we know it from the last political pressure and logic.” (In: Pravo in politika century has been interfering in the political threatened by civil [Law and Politics]. 2001. Edited by: Jelica Šumič Riha. Ljubljana: sphere through a “secondary elaboration” suits, art is running Liberalna akademija, p. 134.) of the ideological content. According to for the patronage of 19 “When art gains autonomy, Rastko Močnik, this legal regulations, where it can exercise its it cannot take any (dominant) artistic “refraction” specific privilege of “artistic freedom”. ideology as its ideological basis; it founds itself on itself of the ideologically How then to be radical in the auspices of as its own ideology. But since already-prefabricated contemporary neoliberal capitalism, with its the prevailing ideology of capitalism is the exchange of reality originates inherent cynicism and a fictional freedom of commodities, the modernistic from the modernist an autonomous subject of human rights? This autonomous moment is only autonomous moment may be the key question of today’s “engaged a transitional phase: when art takes itself as its own of art production art” production. If art is to be radical, it ideological base, the inevitable in the 20th century. must not only be critical of ‘society’, but next step is for it to found itself on the artistic ideology as Due to the inherent also of its own ontological predispositions, the ideology of exchange. Art logic of the dominant bringing it to a point where it has to cross the begins to understand itself as commodity...” (Rastko Močnik. economic system, the boundary between art and non-art. In that 1983. Raziskave za sociologijo political autonomy of sense, the Janša trio is not only a benevolent književnosti [Researches for art ends up in its own artistic provocation. Janez Janša is neither the Sociology of Literature]. 19 Ljubljana: DZS, p. 204.) A more commodification. a pseudonym of the three artists nor a detailed derivation of this early Besides the economy, “multiple nickname” of a group of artists; it thesis supplemented by the concept of artistic “secondary it is also the legal is the real, officially-changed, name of three elaboration” is to be found in sphere which took persons consciously risking various political, Močnik’s article ‘EastWest’, published in Maska, Ljubljana, a leading role in the artistic, and private misinterpretations of summer 2004, no. 3-4/86-87, political daily life their gesture. pp. 10-19. of contemporary Theeconomic threat of their renaming is democratic states, quite obvious: in a market driven art system including the art production and the cultural functioning predominantly on artist’s names sphere in general.20 In short, contemporary as brands and guarantors of a marketing 130

Janez Janša, Janez Janša, Janez Janša Ballot Paper, Ljubljana, 2007 Blue ink and print on paper, 21 x 14,8 cm Courtesy: artists

success, changing an already well-known method in the conditions of a neoliberal name into a name which is completely society. The gesture of the Janša trio is not anonymous within the art world could subversive because of an openly expressed result in less interest from curators, cultural criticism of the 22 During its mandate (2004-

21 2008), Janša’s government has Of course, since the project operators, and actual Slovenian ignored frequent warnings is controversial in its own potential audience.21 government and from various local and right, it is not surprising that The legal aspect of the Prime Minister international organizations there are different views on its regarding violation of human material gains and losses. Some the project of an Janša but, on the rights of minorities, especially interpretations assess the Janša official renaming is contrary, because Roma, so-called “Erased” trio’s gesture as nothing more people, asylum seekers. It has than a shameless marketing comprehensible only of their absurd also been remanded for its trick and a politically corrupted if we think about over-identification continuous attempts to take deed counting on higher over independent media and subventions of the Slovenian it as an example of with the political suppress the anti-corruption Ministry of culture. subversive affirmation party in power and committee. ALDO MILOHNIĆ Ready-Name (Over-identification through Over-multiplication)

its leader. Their position is strictly within, exercise in exploring boundaries between not outside of, the system; they obey the the law and conceptual art. It is a project law but, at the same time, they also insist on following the tradition of the artistic practices the government’s respect of the rule of law. of the last century, persistently questioning 131 At least in the case of the present Slovenian – even to this day – their own media and the government, it makes sense to insist that it status of the artist; moving the set boundaries has to show more respect for equal treatment of the artistic field; often “dematerializing” of all its inhabitants.22 On the other hand, artistic products by shifting the focus from in their own artistic work Janez Janša, Janez product to process, from the hand-made, Janša, and Janez Janša have to deal with self-manufactured works of art to ready- certain limitations of their right to artistic made objects. Jurists have good reason for expression. Precisely their exhibition NAME frustration now that modern artists have Readymade (steirischer herbst festival, Graz, acquired the right to proclaim “unilaterally” October 2008) is an excellent example of anything they designate as art – including the double-edged sword of legal rights and their identity cards, 24 The “legal order” cannot obligations; if the identity cards and other passports and other accept what Haimo Schack calls 24 “the monopoly on definition” personal documents of the three artists are personal documents. of the artist, “subjectively exhibited in a gallery, it means that until the Furthermore, legal designating what art is.” See end of the exhibition period, in the spirit of experts have to Haimo Schack. 2004. Kunst und Recht: Bildende Kunst, the law, they function as “persons without delineate boundaries Arhitektur, Design und papers”. It means that, for instance, they between the right of Fotografie im deutschen und internationalen Recht. Köln: cannot legally travel outside of the EU as artistic expression, Carl Heymanns Verlag, p. 4. the border control would not allow them on one hand, and the to cross the border without showing valid obligation of an artist – as any other person passports or at least (in some cases) identity – to fully respect the legal order, on the cards. For an artist who is hyper-active other. The boundary between the permitted on the international scene – and all three and the forbidden is never completely Janšas produce a lot of their projects abroad, clear in democratic societies, and it is per including non-EU countries – it is a serious definitionem artists who should persistently handicap. probe this “grey zone” to see how far it A more cynical comment on that situation extends. The exhibition NAME Readymade would be a quotation from Shakespeare’s (as well as the whole three Janša project) play The Merchant of Venice, when Portia opens some new possibilities and challenges says to Shylock (whose insistence on a strict in that direction. execution of the law has a boomerang effect It was Matisse who once said that artists on him): should periodically change their names; “For, as thou urgest justice, be assured Janez Janša, Janez Janša, and Janez Janša have Thou shalt have justice more than thou been actively working on materialization of desir’st.”23 that idea since 2007, and I am sure that they 23 William Shakespeare. 1969. On the have not yet said the last word on their Janša The Merchant of Venice. other hand, the project. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 73 (4th act, Name Readymade 1st scene). exhibition is an