Art4change is initiated by Nynne Haugaard and Nikolaj Kilsmark About us: We worked with projects in Nepal from July 2006 to March 2009. Initially, we worked for MS-ActionAid as Visual Advisors taking part in project planning, campaigns and information work. Simultaneously we worked with the cooperative art project “Different Voices”. The  “Different Voices” project began in April 2007 and ended in May 2009 with the publication of the book Different Voices. We have worked in Nepal for a period of 23 month from 2006 to 2009. Contact: mail@art4change.info _______ Nynne Haugaard is a cross-medial visual artist based in Denmark. Her works and interest focus on representation - and transnational/global issues. She works with gender, race, class and how reality is produced and can be questioned, reflected and re-negotiated. Her practice is informed by feminism and feminist art. She works with interventions, video, installations, social sculptures, photography and documentary with a political, social, “journalistic” and aesthetic point of view. She normally works site-specific in collaborations with other artists and/or with other professions. She has worked with Nikolaj Kilsmark in various art projects since 1999. She is a member of the art group Women Down the Pub (WdtP) since 2002 and co-editor of the book VIEW-- feminist strategies in Danish visual Arts made by WdtP. She is Educated from The Academy of Fine Arts in Jutland, Denmark, “Hochschule der Künste” in Berlin and The Danish Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. She graduated as visual artist from The Danish Royal Academy of Fine Art in Copenhagen in 2006. She earned a master’s degree in theory and communication at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen in 2008. Contact: nynnehaugaard@hotmail.com _______ Nikolaj Kilsmark is a visual artist based in Denmark. In his work he focuses on issues of migration and globalization. He uses aesthetic conceptual language to communicate socio-political issues. He creates documentation- and conceptual images that invite to dialogue and discussions in different political contexts and media. Nikolaj works with video, photography and international development. Over the past five years, he has been focusing especially on art- and cross-disciplinary collaborations in the context of international development. Since 1999, he has worked together with Nynne Haugaard in various projects. Nikolaj Kilsmark graduated in 2000 from The Academy of Fine Arts in Jutland, Denmark. Nikolaj Kilsmark is chairperson of the association of Young Art Workers (UKK) Contact: nikolajkilsmark@hotmail.com ________ REMARKS FOR ”WISH YOU WERE HERE” BOOK LAUNCH ( * WARNING * ) By Steven Sampson Saturday 15th January Unfortunately, I cannot be with Nynne and Nikolaj today, as they celebrate the launch of their book.  I am an academic. Academics go to conferences. This weekend, I am   at a conference – in Germany – on… of all things… CONSPIRACY THEORY…. Wish you Were Here.... is also a conspiracy. Conspiracies, are about secret plots by evil forces. A conspiracist looks for the clues.  And then we connect the dots. The Truth is out there. Trust No one.  In the TV show the X files, there was the ultimate conspirator…He was called "the smoking man". He had the secret.  Nynne and Nikolaj are the smoking couple. They have the secret. They are out to get you. I know, because they got me. I met Nynne and Nikolaj after I wrote some blog entries on the Danish webportal for development issues, called ulandsnyt-dk.  They approached me about reworking my blogs on development-bistand for their book.  They pushed. I listened. Since I myself trust no one,  I quickly realized that Nynne and Nikolaj were part of some vast conspiracy. They were recruiting me for some secret mission. They had a secret plot.... But I decided to play along. ….. Let’s connect the dots, and see what Nynne and Nikolaj are REALLY UP TO in Wish You Were Here. We all know that Development is REALLY IMPORTANT. It’s so important that everybody wants to have it. Development is supposed to make people have better lives. In Denmark we have two ministers for development. The minister for developing Danes is called the socialminister. The social minister want to develop danes by making us work harder, work longer and work cheaper. Its a conspiracy because we are all supposed to feel good about this. To do this mission, we have to become “omstillingsparat”, --ready for change-- otherwise we are “resourcesvag” –weak in resources.  This is Development here at home. Denmark is a land full of "projekter". No comment. Development for EVERYONE ELSE in the world  is run by another ministry, the Development Ministry. The Danish development, agency, Danida, takes the Danish model and exports it. Danida wants people to have better lives where they live. Lives so good that they will never think about coming to Denmark. The problem here is the gap between what development means in theory and what Development aid does in practice. In theory development is important and empowering.  In practice, Danida holds meetings, makes strategies, and creates PROGRAMS where they use a lot of money.  The paradox of development is that while development as a goal is REALLY IMPORTANT,  development PRACTICE is so fucking useless. The development strategies and programs are predictable, routine, bureaucratic, and ineffective. They are not even evil. They are worse, they are irrelevant. …The development industry reminds you of that wonderful Danish expression … they are as effective as sticking your tongue out the window. So How do we make it meaningful for the people who are supposed to be developed? How do we make development VITAL? Nynne and Nikolaj had a secret plot. They found it while hanging out for a few years in Nepal.. In reality , they were working undercover for a mysterious Danish organisation called “MS” (MS is the Danish branch of M Eye 5 –the S in MS stands for “special”)….Nynne and Nikolaj found the MAGIC BULLET to make Development vital again. The magic bullet was Art. They developed their secret plot. Low profile, Stille og rolig….. They inserted development into art, they inserted art into development. One into the other, gradually converting the dead routine of aid into the living, vital inspiration that is art:  They went out there and said what development experts are afraid to say:  “LETS SEE WHAT HAPPENS”.  Let’s Take risks. Let’s Turn people into artists. Let’s help them do what Art is supposed to do: Move people. And this is what they have done in this project and in the book.  I know very little about art. But I know that good art –the kind that moves me --  is always conspiratorial. It is subversive, it moves along secret, subconscious lines, it hits you when you don’t expect it. It leaves you with something. As you go around this exposition today, as you look at the book, imagine the opposite of what I just said about Art: Imagine our dear Danida, the Danish Agency for Development, with our dear Development Minster, imagine Danida abandoning its 200 page Strategic Plan with its capacity building, its indicators and its medium-range objectives. Imagine instead, that Danida puts up a giant poster at the front of the building, a poster that says, LET’S SEE WHAT HAPPENS! Imagine Development as Art. This is what Wish you Were Here is about. Nynne and Nikolaj are subversive conspirators. They are part of this PLOT to make Development important again. They are dangerous. Watch your back. They're may be more like them... They might get to you.