After a few years of consideration I recently decided to apply for citizenship of the NSK State. I mailed the application form earlier this month (on 4 January 2013) and received my passport today on 29 January. The passport was issued on 18 January in ”Ljubljana, Slovenia, Europe, World, Universe, NSK”, as the letter from NSK Information Center puts it.
So, I am now a citizen of both Finland and the NSK State.
NSK is short for Neue Slowenische Kunst (New Slovenian Art). Originally this was the name of an artist collective that was founded in Yugoslavia in 1984. In the early 1990s NSK was also declared as an independent state in time. The NSK State is global in the sense that it isn’t limited by fixed national borders or any entities that exist in the three-dimensional space. The borders are in a state of flux, in accordance with the movements and changes in the collective state body. However, the State may have embassies and consulates in physical locations.
Today the NSK State has several thousand citizens. A holder of an NSK passport becomes a citizen of the State, but this does not mean membership in any NSK art group. It should be underlined that the NSK art collective and the NSK State are two different things.
Comparing the NSK State to a three-dimensional country is often problematic, but not always impossible. The main reason why Finland as an administrative entity exists is to take care of the Finns’ well-being – but I don’t expect any help whatsoever from the NSK State. The NSK State is no more and no less than a suprematist body installed in a real social and political space as a sculpture comprising the concrete body warmth, spirit and work of its members.
How patriotic do I feel towards the NSK State? The answer isn’t ”not at all”, ”a little bit”, ”a lot” or anything like that. The answer is NULL. I see my patriotism towards the NSK State as a variable whose value is not assigned at all.
The NSK State claims to be the first global state of the Universe. By reserving this role for itself, the NSK State has symbolically preempted and allocated the idea of a global state and is pointing to the concept’s dystopian potential.
To clarify the essence of the NSK State, I’ll attach here the findings of the First (and so far the only) NSK Citizens’ Congress. I agree with the following statements.
Findings of the First NSK Citizens’ Congress (Berlin, October 2010)
The NSK State is a universal state in time, not a state of territory.
Whether it remains in potential form or manifests itself in actual form depends on the actions and beliefs of those who are or wish to be its citizens.
The NSK State in Time is consistent with and evolves from the founding principles and strategies of Neue Slowenische Kunst.
The NSK State in Time becomes manifest when the following exist:
I. The Immanent Consistent Spirit is the all-embracing intangible essence of the NSK State in Time. In it there is everything and even nothing. Citizens of the NSK State in Time express the Immanent Consistent Spirit through artistic, political, philosophical and intellectual actions in both abstract and concrete form.
II. The NSK State in Time is ever-inspired by the infinite moment of grace of its own becoming. It is the master of all its probabilities.
III. The NSK State is manifested in time yet at the same time transcends time.
IV. Manifestations of the NSK State are temporal; they are based on initiatives and actions of its citizens and affiliates.
V. The NSK State in Time materializes through artistic, political, philosophical and intellectual actions in accordance with the basic principles and internal laws of the NSK State in Time.
VI. The individual is irrelevant. Therefore the NSK State in Time compels its citizens to work as a collective body.
VII. The role of the citizens of the NSK State in Time is to fulfill the State’s goals with fanatical and artistic devotion.
VIII. The citizens’ commitment to the State machine that organizes their activities is unwavering.
IX. Freedom of choice creates trauma; lack of freedom of choice creates trauma. The NSK State acknowledges the right not to choose.
Tuomas Tähti 