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"Specimens of Quasi Creations" Agency (Int./*1992) As with other agencies “Agency” is a fictitious corporation. It was founded in 1992 by Kobe Matthy in Europe and is based in Brussels. The agency archives “quasi” creative files. Such a file exists if an action before the court can be pleaded as creative. Quasi-creative files can be an intended, risked or even fully unintentional crossing of the line of that which is legally permitted. Since 1992, “Agency” has been compiling lists of various types of such quasi-creative files. Specifically for the “Projekt Migration”, the list was extended by the use of signs of official authority. This concerns materials for judicial proceedings in which the inadmissibility/ admissibility of the use of national emblems was pleaded. Almost all the cases shown reached the Federal Constitutional Court, such as the material concerning the head scarf strike. With national emblems, it is the protection of the topmost interests of the state that is at stake. Last but not least, they also mark the borders of the nation state. They not only incorporate national state symbols such as flags, emblems, animals, flowers or hymns. They also include coronets, coats of arms, the initials and weapons of royal families, or the flags and logos of staterun groups or transnational non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The common factor for all these institutions is that they have full control over their symbols. Use is legally restricted. German criminal law forbids the denigration of national emblems and grants the state absolute control over the use of certain symbols. The reason: protecting public order and safety. Laws that protect trade marks exclude national emblems, since these are not allowed to be used as such for designs. Here the ban is based on the basic principle of preventing consumer confusion. It is an inherent power of signs of official authorities that they are attractive targets for appropriation and reformulation. This is why they are often the object of judicial hearings. The Hamburg punk band “Slime”, for instance, was charged with having denigrated the State with their line of verse “Germany must die, so that we can live”. “Agency” was founded in 1992 by the artist Kobe Matthys, and works internationally. |
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