Page "Luther Blissett (nom de plume)" Paragraph 39

1998 – 2000.

In 1998, Italian art magazines such as Tema Celeste and Flesh Art begin reporting about the activities of Darko Maver, a hitherto unknown radical Serbian performance artist who has been disseminating hyper-realistic replicas of dismembered bodies in public spaces and hotel rooms across the former Yugoslavia.

The magazines and a web site called " Free Art Campaign " report that the artist has been arrested by the Serbian authorities for his performances, which are meant to offer a scathing meditation on the hyperreality and media representation of the Yugoslav Wars.

On April 30, 1999 the Free Art Campaign announces that Maver has been found dead in a prison cell in Podgorica, Kosovo.

In March 2000, after alternative art spaces such as Kapelica Gallery in Ljubljana, Forte Prenestino in Rome, and major art venues such as the Venice Biennale have dedicated retrospectives and paid tribute to the artist, the Luther Blissett Project, along with the newborn net art collective 0100101110101101. org, announce that Darko Maver is himself a work of art.