It's hard to explain exactly what Nimis In Ladonia is. Calling it an art installation is probably the most succinct. It is an inhabitable series of buildings and approaches the political or performative realm with its farcical ambitions as a "micro nation". Apparently several thousand pakistanis applied for refuge status.
In a sense it's somewhat symbolic of the at-times-absurd greater Scandinavian utopian welfare state and the general policy towards immigrants and refuges here.
From the ladonia.net: [in 2002]
"Approximately 4000 Pakistan citizens apply for citizenship in Ladonien in hope for a better life. The news gets global distribution and Ladonian inhabitants increases rapidly from 5 000 to 10 000 (however, no Pakistan citizens were accepted)."
In a sense it's somewhat symbolic of the at-times-absurd greater Scandinavian utopian welfare state and the general policy towards immigrants and refuges here.
From the ladonia.net: [in 2002]
"Approximately 4000 Pakistan citizens apply for citizenship in Ladonien in hope for a better life. The news gets global distribution and Ladonian inhabitants increases rapidly from 5 000 to 10 000 (however, no Pakistan citizens were accepted)."
On the other hand the inaccessibility of it all is part of the appeal. Granted we made things harder on ourselves than it had to be (train to ferry to 4 hour bike ride to 2 hour hike), but unlike some of the conceptually inaccessible but otherwise convenient mid-century modern art on display at a place like the near by Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, it doesn't take cultural capital to appreciate Nimis. It does, however, take time and energy. This is kind of the appeal of Burning Man and it's interesting how physical inaccessibility seems to go hand in hand with an "ad-hoc" aesthetic and utopian autonomy. More pics here.
