People's Heroes
The G.U.N.-Ladies were invited by ”Kulturbyrået Mesen” (The Culture Bureau Mesen) and ”Rom for kunst ” (Room for Art) to do the project ”People´s Heroes” during the summer months of May-August.
Prior to realizing this project we were questioning the role of the hero and the idol in today’s society. Who are today’s heroes and do we need them and to what extent? We discussed the problematic of raising somebody up on a pedestal. At the same time we acknowledged the fact that looking up to someone also has its positive side. It can be a driving force and it can be a source of inspiration. This being our starting point we wanted to do a little investigation.
Through May 2nd-6th The G.U.N.-Ladies were out around Oslo, asking 1033 people the question ”Do you have a hero/heroine?”. The diversity of people around Oslo S when it comes to age, occupation and ethnicity constitutes a cross section of the population. In this way the survey could give some indication of what people in general think about heroes today. The result of the survey was to be presented on the facade of the station. But seeing that we would probably get more heroes than we could fit up there we chose to do a “Top 10” listing.
With this kind of listing we also came to understand how statistics work, for all the unique heroes we got through our survey, over 200, are not counted for. This means, of course, that there are more heroes figuring than the actual 10 listed. This raises the question whereas a survey like this actually can say something of what people in general mean. Our survey did not have any limitations when it cam to sex, age or nationality. This of course widened the answers we got immensely. In this sense our project questions the notion of “the voice of the people”
287 people answered that they did not have any hero at all. A lot of people said that in today’s society we don’t need any heroes, some said that there were not any people they respected enough to have them as heroes, and others said that heroes are just ordinary people with human faults. Even though so many stated that they did not have a hero, over 70% actually did have one, even if in some cases this hero was themselves. And maybe it has become such, through our individualized western society where reality stars come and go, that 15 min of stardom actually is possible.
The typical heroes that won wars crossed the poles and climbed great mountains were hardly mentioned. When we asked what a hero was many stated that it was somebody who did something for other people, somebody who fought for what they believed in, somebody who stood up when others tried to break them down.
Through May 2nd-6th The G.U.N.-Ladies were out around Oslo, asking 1033 people the question ”Do you have a hero/heroine?”. The diversity of people around Oslo S when it comes to age, occupation and ethnicity constitutes a cross section of the population. In this way the survey could give some indication of what people in general think about heroes today. The result of the survey was to be presented on the facade of the station. But seeing that we would probably get more heroes than we could fit up there we chose to do a “Top 10” listing.
With this kind of listing we also came to understand how statistics work, for all the unique heroes we got through our survey, over 200, are not counted for. This means, of course, that there are more heroes figuring than the actual 10 listed. This raises the question whereas a survey like this actually can say something of what people in general mean. Our survey did not have any limitations when it cam to sex, age or nationality. This of course widened the answers we got immensely. In this sense our project questions the notion of “the voice of the people”
287 people answered that they did not have any hero at all. A lot of people said that in today’s society we don’t need any heroes, some said that there were not any people they respected enough to have them as heroes, and others said that heroes are just ordinary people with human faults. Even though so many stated that they did not have a hero, over 70% actually did have one, even if in some cases this hero was themselves. And maybe it has become such, through our individualized western society where reality stars come and go, that 15 min of stardom actually is possible.
The typical heroes that won wars crossed the poles and climbed great mountains were hardly mentioned. When we asked what a hero was many stated that it was somebody who did something for other people, somebody who fought for what they believed in, somebody who stood up when others tried to break them down.
Surprisingly enough, at least for us, was that so many had their heroes within the closest family. Mommy was high on the list only outnumbered by “Nobody”, which in effect renders her the number one hero. Though she tops the list she is still the only woman if you don’t count God, whom we will not coin any sex. And also quite interesting was the fact that the other heroes amongst the top ten who were not daddies or up in the sky performing miracles (superman), were men of colour. Ronaldhino, Bob Marley and Nelson Mandela.
We chose to present the ten most popular heroes as Flash Tattoos on a background of gold. Fredrik Dahle from Bad Boys Tattoo and Stein Are Olufsen from Classic Tattoo in Oslo designed these Flash Tattoos. In addition we showed the animation ”Eat a Hero” on the advertising screen on top of the building next to the facade. The day of the opening was celebrated with NSB´s (Norwegian State Rail) own band playing while we served the public small cakes with heroes who did not make it to the ”Top 10”. In that way we gave the people the opportunity to unite with their hero through a ritual act of cannibalism.
The project has its own website, but unfortunately it is only in Norwegian. There are however a lot of photos which you can look at: http://www.folketshelter.romforkunst.no
You can also see http://www.mesen.no and http://www.romforkunst.no
We chose to present the ten most popular heroes as Flash Tattoos on a background of gold. Fredrik Dahle from Bad Boys Tattoo and Stein Are Olufsen from Classic Tattoo in Oslo designed these Flash Tattoos. In addition we showed the animation ”Eat a Hero” on the advertising screen on top of the building next to the facade. The day of the opening was celebrated with NSB´s (Norwegian State Rail) own band playing while we served the public small cakes with heroes who did not make it to the ”Top 10”. In that way we gave the people the opportunity to unite with their hero through a ritual act of cannibalism.
The project has its own website, but unfortunately it is only in Norwegian. There are however a lot of photos which you can look at: http://www.folketshelter.romforkunst.no
You can also see http://www.mesen.no and http://www.romforkunst.no
