For several years now, steirischer herbst has been accompanying Janez Janša, Janez Janša and Janez Janša. It was with them we made our first major exhibition and published the book NAME Readymade back in 2008.

Now, we are back there: same festival, same gallery… Forum Stadtpark.

This time we take our documentary movie My Name is Janez Janša as the starting point for the project [FREE] Janez Janša, a series of on-line publishing events, presenting content and free materials related to the film which will be delivered to you over the next months: the first one is a brand new essay by Mladen Dolar. A special guest blog written by Vuk Ćosić will then be launched on January 6th 2015. And finally in April a FREE online release of the movie will be made available online to everyone with subtitles in seven languages. All of this thanks to our partners and friends from steirischer herbst and Artribune.

The essay What’s in a Name? by Mladen Dolar is already out. The Slovenian philosopher, cultural theorist and film critic gives us a philosophical joy-ride through the name and naming as well as name change of the three artists known as Janez Janša, Janez Janša and Janez Janša.

You can get your free e-copy (pdf and ePub) or purchase your own printed booklet HERE. The Print on Demand copy doesn’t really cost much. Anyway, should you want to pay even less please visit us at the Aksioma | Project Space in Ljubljana or go to the steirischer herbst’s online shop and you’ll get it for 5 Euro only!

In about an hour we’ll be presenting Dolar’s new work for the first time in public at Forum Stadtpark introduced by the screening of our movie.

Here goes a short preview for our online followers… enjoy it!

Janez, Janez, Janez

It took Jeffrey Wilschke a while to save $300 to legally change his name in Beezow Doo-doo Zopittybop-bop-bop, but he accomplished it Nov. 28 2011 in Dane County Circuit Court, Wisconsin. inflatable water slide Asked to give a reason for the name change on a court form, Beezow wrote, “I believe this is a much more fitting name for myself.”

In an interview, Beezow said his first name represents “the explosion of awareness of the interconnectedness of the infinite love in the universe.” Doo-doo “is the struggle of our daily lives with that awareness, that with love comes chaos.” Zopittybop-bop-bop “is the outcome of that struggle, which is often ironic, especially because all life ends in death.”

He is very particular about the way his name is capitalized and hyphenated because he says it came into his head just that way about two years ago. He isn’t very religious but believes in God and assumes a higher power was involved. “When I sing my name on the streets in a falsetto tone” — he stops to illustrate — “it has a spiritual resonance.”

After Beezow’s name went viral, people started writing songs about him and posting videos on YouTube. They say he looks like Jesus or a Johnny Depp character in a Tim Burton movie.

In 1947, during the McCarthy Era, the screenwriter and novelist James Dalton Trumbo, along with nine other writers and directors, refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee during the committee’s investigation of Communist influences in the motion picture industry.

Because of this he and the others (the so called Hollywood Ten) were blacklisted from working in Hollywood. Trumbo won two Academy Awards while blacklisted; one was originally given to a front writer, and one was awarded to Robert Rich, Trumbo’s pseudonym.

Blacklisting effectively ended in 1960 when it lost credibility. Trumbo was publicly given credit for two blockbuster films: Otto Preminger made public that Trumbo wrote the screenplay for the smash hit, Exodus, and Kirk Douglas publicly announced that Trumbo was the screenwriter of Spartacus.

I received an invitation; it had my name and my address on it. I didn’t really think too much about it
– Margareta Winberg, Stockholm.

When Margareta Winberg received an embossed invitation from the Swedish government to attend a formal dinner she was a little surprised as she never worked for the government. Nevertheless, since she had received the invitation through the post, with her name and address on it, she didn’t really worry too much about what it was about.

I just knew that I was invited and that it was ‘about the environment’,

she said to the The Local paper.

On the set date, Winberg got herself glammed up and duly presented herself at Sweden’s official government office complex at Rosenbad. It was only then that officials realised the mix up, for the invitation had been supposed to go to a former deputy prime minister, agricultural minister and ambassador to Brazil – who just happened to share the same name.
Despite the gaffe, the event’s host, current environment minister Lena Ek, kept her cool. Mrs Winberg was escorted to ‘her’ seat and introduced to the other guests.

When Lena realized the mistake she did everything she could so that the lady wouldn’t feel uncomfortable,

said Erik Bratthall, press spokesperson for Ek, to daily Aftonbladet. He told another Swedish paper how Ms Ek thought the whole thing was ‘a great laugh’ and that no harm had been done.

I was allowed to take part anyway. The food was nice and there were a lot of people talking and talking,

Winberg said.
The other Mrs Winberg has since received an apology and reportedly took the mix up in good humor:

I hope my namesake had a lovely dinner,

she told Swedish media.

Despite involuntarily crashing the party, Mrs Winberg said she didn’t feel awkward taking part in the event alongside Sweden’s environmental policy elite.

I just took it for what it was; a mistake, as did the others. I had a great time and listened carefully to all the speakers,

she told The Local.

I’ve also met interesting people like that guy Blix,

she said referring to the former chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix.

Main source: The Local

Since last post was signed by Marcel Štefančič jr., who is also the author of the book Janez Janša – Biography, I think it would be nice for you to hear few words about his work directly by his lips…

Somebody consider this book a great example of conceptual literature, somebody else just a prank. In fact it is the biography of the three artists Janez Janša but only a single name is written in the title. Yes, it is true, Janez Janša is a trinitarian name, but at the same time a “symbolic name” with its most known bearer, the Prime Minister of Slovenia. This is misleading for the buyer…

Don’t judge a book just by the cover
Unless you cover just another
And blind acceptance is a sign
Of stupid fools who stand in line
– Sex Pistols

Janez Janša – Biography, is also one of the rewards of our crowdfunding campaign.

Our first guest blogger is Marcel Štefančič jr, Slovenian film critic, television presenter, journalist and the author of Janez Janša – Biography

Is it good for a man to have a name? Absolutely. Why? Because it protects him. From what? From slaughter. Take for example pets: people, their owners, give them names. Why? So that they don’t kill them. They don’t give names to pigs. Why? So that it’s easier to kill them. You can’t slaughter and eat a pig that you have given a name to. You give it a name in order not to kill it. When you give it a name you protect it from yourself. Ergo: we give each other names so that we don’t kill each other. In Last Tango in Paris Paul (Marlon Brando), an American in Paris, a former actor, boxer and journalist, gets involved in anonymous sex with 19-year old Jeanne (Maria Schneider), a revolutionary, who collects old, dusty, antiquarian things, but he sets a clear rule:

You don’t have a name. Neither do I. No names.

So, no names. Why?

Because we don’t need names here.

Later, when Jeanne suggests that she should come up with a name for him, he sighs:

A name? Oh Jesus Christ! Oh God – I’ve been called by a million names all my life. I don’t want a name. I’m – I’m better off with a grunt or a groan for a name. Do you want to know my name?

And then he tells her his name, more precisely – instead, he lets out an animal cry. Logical. Even more logical: in the end Jeanne kills him. Why? Because he doesn’t have a name. Because she hadn’t given him a name.

NO, NO! I don’t want to know your name, you don’t have a name and I don’t have a name either, no names here, not one name.

Last Tango in Paris, an affair between a young French women and an American male. No personal information. No names involved. Their entire relationship is based solely on sex.

What happend to Paul (Marlon Brando) when he declares his love to Jeanne (Maria Schneider) and she finally tells her name?

Tickets for the 2012 edition of the Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference have been sold out in less than two hours. Since they’re nontransferable somebody had this brilliant idea!

Thumbs up!

In 1993, Prince was fed up with his label, Warner Bros, with whom he had signed a $100 million deal less than a year before. They wanted him to release fewer CDs so he wouldn’t flood the market. The artist responded by accusing Warner of stifling his creativity but he couldn’t get out of his contract so he decided to change his name to an unpronounceable combination of the symbols for male (♂) and female (♀). In order for the media to use the symbol, his record label had to mail out thousands of floppy disks with a custom font.

Officially, the singer explained his new designation in a press statement by saying:

It is an unpronounceable symbol whose meaning has not been identified. It’s all about thinking in new ways, tuning in 2 a new free-quency.

What about introductions?
As he told an interviewer in 1995,

I get by. I don’t need a name as such, really.

Journalists started to call him “the artist formerly known as Prince,” but in 2000 he went back to Prince when his Warner contract expired. Between 1993–2000 sales of his new music slowed down significantly, but he still managed to get his point across.

A brand is a brand!

P.S.: Our movie about names is on its final stage of postproduction. Help this movie to see the world. Contribute to the crowdfunding action! http://bit.ly/It5Zmv

Many people decide to change their name because they don’t like their original name or find it embarrassing if mispronounced or misspelled. People with names that are identifiably “ethnic” sometimes have problems with that and want to change their name. Some individuals instead would like to reclaim their ethnic heritage by returning to a surname that may have been lost over the years or by the adoption of a new one. Transgender people often request name changes to reflect gender and same-sex partners may choose to share a common surname to facilitate financial or legal transactions. A woman may change her name for marriage and can decide to reclaim her maiden name upon separation or divorce, or take on an entirely new name. Numerology can be another reason for a name change. Whether it is because of a recent religious conversion or simply to honor a person’s religious deity, name changes for religious reasons are quite common:

In 2008, Steve Kreuscher asked a judge in Illinois to legally change his name to In God We Trust: First name, In God. Last name, We Trust. The reason is that God has been good to him, and he wants the world to know.

http://news.exchristian.net/2008/06/man-officially-changes-name-to-in-god.html

Although some may consider it extreme to change your name to support a cause, name changes for political reasons are not unheard of. In the past 10 years, Christopher Garnett became KentuckyFriedCruelty.com, Brandi Valladolid became RinglingBeatsAnimals.com, and Marvin Richardson legally changed his full name to Pro-Life.

Other interesting name changes from recent memory are:

Santa Claus: Robert Rion of Mundelein, 1997
GoVeg.com: Karin Robertson of Virginia, 2003
Megatron: Michael Burrows of Washington, 2007
Optimus Prime: Scott Nall of Ohio, 2001
Low Tax: Byron Looper of Tennessee, 1998
Jesus Christ: Jose Espinal of New York, 2005