By IC-98 and Akseli Virtanen
Turku, Finland: Iconoclast Publications. 2007
Pages: 52
Dimensions: 7 in x 5 in
Cover: soft
Binding: perfect bound
Process: offset
Color: 2 color cover, black inside
Edition Size: 1100
ISBN-13: 978-952-5648-05-08, ISSN-10: 0359-4327

This publication includes English and Finnish translations of the title essay by Akseli Virtanen. Published on the occasion of IC-98's exhibit "Theses on the Body Politic (Vicious Circles 1-3)" at the Pori Art Museum in Finland, 2007.

IC-98 (”Iconoclast 1998”) was founded in 1998 as a reaction to the restrictions of academic writing. From the beginning, the group has tried to act as freely as possible, always putting the context and the idea before the medium, and the group-subject before the individual, never minding the barriers between different disciplines (academic, artistic or activist). In practice, the world of contemporary art has proved to be the most flexible environment for diverse projects, being a free zone of experimentation within the society at large. Though the label ART has an enormous power to neutralise any message, and regardless of the fact that art world increasingly resembles the high fashion industry, it nonetheless offers possibilities to put forward ideas without the preconditions of academic work (rules, objectivity), the market (surplus value, capitalist modes of distribution), or activism (the threat of dogmatism). In fact, in IC-98’s idealist-pragmatic programme the projects are labeled art only for strategic reasons – the strategy works as long as the concepts of art do not come to dominate the discourse. The same applies to the individuals working in the group: you call yourself artist, just because it is institutionally convenient, because the very concept of ARTIST is obscure.

IC-98 does not confine itself to one medium. The medium of choice always follows strategically the context, its history and the present situation, and the objectives in question. Typically, the working methods have contained inter- ventions and installations in public and gallery spaces as well as in publications. In recent years, IC-98 has concentrated primarily on the production of free distribution books. The books, distributed in editions of 500-2000, are collage-like, heterogenic assemblages, or toolboxes, of text, models, instructions, images, diagrams and drawings. Typically, an individual project combines multiple media to present a multifaceted whole – and to connect it to other projects.

Visit IC-98's website for PDF previews of this and other publications: http://www.socialtoolbox.com/