Fuck Double Standard by Jens Galschiøt
The sculpture "Fuck Double Standards" serves as a sculptural commentary on politicians who have consistently reduced development aid funding, while simultaneously boasting about raising millions for the same cause. The united Danish appeal for funds sold this sculpture at auction to support impoverished populations globally.
Fuck Double Standards" fetched a total of DKK 47,775 including fees, at the auction in 2018. The sculpture was acquired by Morten Huse Eikrem-Jeppesen, the founder and director of pressconnect.dk.
The purpose of the project was to use the fundraising to confront the politicians with the cuts that parts of the population believe are compensated for by the national fundraising and private initiatives and for the project to be mentioned and debated in the media and thereby (ironically enough) achieve an iconic status within the united Danish appeal for funds, by selling at a high price for the benefit of the world's poor.
FAQ:
Is the united Danish appeal for funds a bad idéa?
Galschiøt: No, it is excellent to collect money for the world's poorest, it is the same reason I have made and donated the sculpture for the united Danish appeal for funds. But when politicians say every penny counts, it is also important that we question why we then reduce development aid by more than 5 billion compared to the percentage level in the year 2000. That is 50 times more than we collect for the appeal for funds.
But the figures show that development aid has increased!
Galschiøt: Yes, because Denmark's prosperity has increased. But we give an ever smaller share of our profits to the world's poor. So while the Danes have got more money in their hands, we have chosen to reduce foreign aid from 1% to 0.75% of our GNI.
Who has prepared the development figures?
It is the journalist and development expert Knud Vilby, former chairman of the Intergovernmental Co-operation and the current chairman of the rights organization IWGIA that has compiled the figures.
Where do the development figures come from?
The figures are Danida and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' official figures.
Notes on the development figures:
Knud Vilby: Danida can never be completely exact, and both in 2000 and 2001 the final percentage was slightly higher (1.01 and 1.03 (according to OECD 1.06% in 2000)). But it is most fair to take the 1% as a starting point, because that was the political decision.
When the figures fall in individual periods - even by 1% - it has to do with the fact that the goal is to hit a certain percentage in relation to Denmark's gross national income (GNI). When we got a crisis in 2008, Denmark's GNI fell. As a result, the aid target also dropped, whether using 0.8 or 1.0%
Danida and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have in some areas changed the way in which assistance is calculated along the way, and in some years there may be a difference between the % of GNI the OECD indicates and the one Danida indicates.
Contack info:
Press and background:
*Note: We have chosen to use Danida's development figures which vary slightly from the OECD figures.
Sofus Markus, psykoterapeut i Odense C
Galleri Galschiøt - Banevænget 22, 5270 Odense, Danmark, Mail: aidoh@aidoh.dk , Tlf: +45 66184058
