Ministry Blog

The latest numbers for the statistics at the Ministry Website has just come in and it’s as always interesting reading. The statistics is divided up in two since there is two different addresses leading to the Website. The statistics show a clear trend that the newer address (ministryofart.se) is being used much more frequently now. There is a obvious up going trend and there is also clear steps where the figures has gone up. For the last three months of 2007 the figures were up - probably due to the Biennale in Eslöv. In November 2007 there was a total of over 100.000 which is a new record!

The statistics show that in two years the numbers are definitely up for the Ministry Website. In 2006 the total was just under 81.000, in 2007 it was a total of stunning  550.000! In 2008 so far the total for 5 months is about 350.000. Since 2006 the figures is almost 10 times higher on the average. If we would guess we think that the Ministry News Blog is the probable cause for the up going trend. For 2007 and up till today the average per day has been between 2000 and 2500. The peak was in November 2007 when the Biennale in Eslöv was running, the highest number per day was 3399. And the trend is strong it seems.

As stated before, the Ministry has entered a Team (TEAM EMOAJ) in the WTC 2008 in Canada. Perhaps someone is asking themselves:

WHAT is The World Telekinesis Competition!?

For your information:

May 16 to June 14, 2008

Opening Friday, May 16, 7 to 10pm

Deluge Contemporary Art

636 Yates Street

Victoria, BC, Canada

The 2008 World Telekinesis Competition is a first if its kind event, in which teams from around the world compete to psychically influence the behavior of a candle. Players are not expected to be physically present during during competition, but rather will compete remotely from their home locations around the world. The World Telekinesis Competition is an open event, and all teams who satisfy the submission requirements have been included in the competition.

Project StatementThe 2008 World Telekinesis Competition brings together teams from disparate geographic locations to enact their own visions of telekinetic potential in competition with one another, with the ultimate aim of crowning a singular winning team. The winning team will receive a trophy as well as bragging rights, both of which will — eventually — be returned for next year’s competition. The first of a yearly series of competitions, the 2008 World Telekinesis Competition is open to artists, psychics and otherwise interested parties who are willing to engage with the competitive framework according to which this tournament will proceed.

Telekinesis — the remote psychic influence of object behaviour — has a history of controversy and provocation. Neither proven or dis-proven, the possibility of remote psycho-kinetic influence remains active as a potentially relevant force within our current modalities of understanding. We invite explorations into possible strategies for telekinetic influence — not stated, but enacted through competitive interaction with other like-minded teams. Stated otherwise, our mission is not to explore rhetorical strategies for telekinetic participation but rather to assess the relative merit of any given method of psychic influence by its equally relative efficacy in a competitive structure.

Competition StructureThe 2008 World Telekinesis Competition follows basic competitive rules for multi-team events. Based on an assessment of the number of participating teams, a preliminary competition structure was randomly determined, in which two teams will compete remotely to psychically influence the behaviour of a game candle. The winning team will advance to the subsequent round while the losing team will be eliminated. This competition structure will continue until only one team is remaining. This team will be crowned the winner of the 2008 World Telekinesis Competition.

Selection of TeamsNoxious Sector Artist Collective — in collaboration with Deluge Contemporary Art — composed and disseminated an international call for submissions for the 2008 World Telekinesis Competition. Teams responded to the call for participation on an international level, resulting in the 28 teams comprising the tournament.

About Noxious SectorNoxious Sector is a formalized forum for informal inquiry. Dedicated to the exploration of questions of the imaginative, the paranormal and the absurd, Noxious Sector attempts to redefine the meaning of artistic possibility through extended propositions that challenge consensual norms while also provoking stimulating forums for dialogue and discourse.

http://www.noxioussector.net

http://www.deluge.ws

Contact: Deborah de Boer, Director/Curator

Read more at this blog about TEAM EMOAJ at WTC

The Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the Ministry of Art & Jump, might think that Earth is shrinking! In Bonn, Germany, researchers revealed last summer that the planet is smaller than we thought. The last measurement was five years ago, and when the two measurements was compared – the difference is half a centimeter.

German scientists from the University of Bonn took part in an international project to measure the diameter of the world and came up with the 5 mm decrease. The scientists rounded the diameter of the Earth up to 12,756.274 kilometers (7,926.3812 miles) for the general public.

Though it may appear a trifling difference, Axel Nothnagel, who led the researchers, said the difference is crucial in the study of climate change. “It may seem a very small difference, but it is essential for the positioning of the satellites that can measure rises in sea level,” he said. “They must be accurate to the millimeter. If the ground stations tracking the satellites are not accurate to the millimeter, then the satellites cannot be accurate either.”

The system of measurement used by the Bonn geodesists (geoscientists who study the size of the Earth) in the two-year project consisted of radio waves that were transmitted into space. “A network of more than 70 radio telescopes worldwide receives these waves. Because the gauging stations are so far apart from each other, the radio signals are received with a slight time lag,” Nothnagel said. “From this difference we can measure the distance between the radio telescopes to the preciseness of two millimeters per 1,000 km.” The procedure is called Very Long Baseline Interferometry or VLBI. The technique can be used, for example, to demonstrate that Europe and North America are moving apart at a rate of about 18 mm a year. The findings were reported in the Journal of Geodesy.

More about the news about City of Eslöv and Chancellor of Justice in Swedish press:

http://skanskan.se/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080427/NYHETER/65637939
http://hd.se/skane/2008/04/27/kommunen-stoppade-vilks-anmaels-jk/
http://wwwc.aftonbladet.se/vss/telegram/0,1082,70839055_852__,00.html
http://www.metro.se/se/article/2008/04/28/06/5127-45/index.xml
http://hd.se/landskrona/2008/04/27/kommunen-stoppade-vilks-anmaels-jk/

The City of Eslöv has been reported to The Chancellor of Justice in Sweden. The City banned an invited artist from their own exhibition (Eslöv Biennale Nov 2007).

Sydsvenskan.se har släppt en kortfattad nyhet om att Eslöv har anmälts till JK. Dock har Sydsvenskan inte nått Konstministern för en kommentar. Minister Axwik är inte ensamt ansvarig för anmälan. I dagsläget har inte JK lämnat något besked om när eller om man kommer att fatta något beslut i ärendet.

Ärendet gäller diskussionerna som uppkom vid Eslövas Biennalen förra hösten (november) då Vilks blev avstängd av kommunen kort tid före Biennalens invigning, trots att han stått som inbjuden närmare ett år i förväg. Frågan som väcks är förstås om Kommuner får eller bör göra såhär, och det är en viktig fråga som vi bör få svar på. Det finns ett system i vårt samhälle som ska fungera även om någon känner sig hotad. Det bör nog undersökas om ett systemfel har inträffat, och om en Kommun ska agera som man gjorde, som om man vore en privat organisatör som utestänger någon och anger “säkerhetsskäl” som orsak.

Today news reached the Ministry that the 2008 World Telekinesis Competition schedule for the first round of the tournament has now been determined and is available at the WTC homepage, click to see schedule round 1.

Based on a randomly determined selection, Eternal Ministry of Art & Jump will be facing the Plastic Shamen in the first round of competition. The match is scheduled for Saturday May 17th at 11:00am PST (6pm GMT) and will follow competition rules as indicated on the WTC website.

On the WTC Official Website you can also read about all the participating teams.

In fact, the post 800 (and 801) on this blog is already passed, past tense.  But it’s not too late to celebrate yet another posting milestone for the NewsBlog! Since the start there has been an increasing speed of growth. Blogstatistics has revealed that post number 801 has already been posted even before this article.

Several new features has been added since the startongoing. Browse through the archives and categories or use the excellent blog’s own search-engine to find old articles and experience what is and has been going on, in, at and around the Ministry of Art & Jump.

From the start the blog was intended as a “News Blog” but the blog also became an insight in the life of the artist Fredrik Axwik and the Minister a.k.a Fredrik Larsson - which in fact is not always the same, or two different things… The Ministry News blog deals in fact with anything that revolves around the Ministry of Art & Jump (that includes thoughts, ideas, art projects, philosophy, psychology, culture - and much more) about the Trinity (the Artist, the Minister and the Ministry).

Welcome back, and make this your browsers start page! (If you use Firefox you can actually add several web pages as your start page/s). The Ministry supports and recommends the use of Firefox browser! It’s fast, free and safe (and very easy to use).

Dusting off the old Helipad during the weekend.

The weekends nice weather has given ample time for dusting off the old Ministry Helipad that has been sadly mistreated by the former owner. After the restoration it will be put back into use and will serve as a landing pad both for the Ministry and for hired landings. Companies will be able to rent the Helipad for landings and pickup’s for a moderate international standard fee. So far it has only hosted a few VIP-landings and some internal transports. The Helipad will be in the International Register for Private and Corporate Helipads (IRPCH) within 6-8 weeks. Contact the Ministry for booking and availability information. GPS coordinates will be provided on request if necessary, they will be available through the International Register as soon as all red tape has been carried out. The Ministry welcomes airmen!

Top story today, is of course the Ministrys announcement today of the officially participation of the EMOAJ Team in the 2008 World Telekinesis Competition.

The WTC is being held in Victoria (BC) in Canada May 16 - June 14, 2008. It was in February that the Ministry got the invitation from Canada to enter the WTC, and now we can confirm the participation. The Minister was invited to Canada last year (June-July 2007) to perform his HopArt. The trip to three cities in the province of British Columbia was a highly successful tour and led to several new cooperations. The host of the WTC, Deluge Contemporary Art and the Noxious Sector was however not among the organizations that stood behind the HopArt Tour of North America. Parts of the Noxious Sector was although very helpful to the Minister while performing and working in Victoria. Mr Jarvis deserves a special credit for his toil.

Read more about the unique competition at the official WTC website.

The official banner of the EMOAJ Team (courtesy of Noxious Sector).

The World Telekinesis Competition is an open event, and all teams who have satisfied the submission requirements have been included in the competition. If you like you can check out the teams in the competition and check out the detailed information about the different participating teams here. Read all about the EMOAJ Team.

Note: The name of the EMOAJ Team is of course an acronym of the Eternal Ministry of Art & Jump. You can read an interview with the organizers of the WTC here.

Ja, Konstministerns och Ministeriets konst-strejk fortgår, för alla er som frågat och undrat. Självklart! Ministeriet sitter i samtal för att bestämma hur man ska agera angående den Kinesiska Olympiaden. Frågan är inte om nåt ska göras, utan vad som ska göras. Ministern kommer i alla fall inte att närvara eller medverka vid invigningsceremonierna. Oavsett vad som tidigare varit bestämt.

Ministeriet återkommer med besked i ärendet så fort beslut är fattade. Tills dess uppmanas alla att stänga av TV:n eller byta kanal så fort något från Olympiaden visas. Speciellt om TV:n i fråga är tillverkad i Kina! Våga vägra OS!