Goldsmiths - University of London

Thomas Altheimer

Altheimer finds himself suspended in a network of fictions somewhere between Cervantes’ happy fantasy Don Quixote and the modern painful versions of the fable of “men and women seized and condemned by passion for the book and the will to live this passion” (Rancière). By enacting mortifying fictional plots Altheimer seeks to annihilate prosaic reality (mortification being a key non-refutable wager). —Thus Altheimer is determined to substitute the prevalent standards of utility and philistinism with the measure of greatness. Viewed from an emancipatory perspective, the research seeks to ascertain whether efficacy lies in the fictions/actions as they are enacted in the real, whether it’s all in the telling—the post event archival work—or whether it is all a massive failure (personal).

Academic qualifications

2006- MPhil/PhD candidate, Fine Arts, Goldsmiths
2006 Master of Research, London Consortium (Tate, ICA, AA, Birkbeck College, University of London)
2003 BA, Political Science, University of Copenhagen (3 years)
2000 Erasmus at Humboldt University, Berlin (two advanced courses in Political Science)
2000 MA, Comparative Literature, University of Southern Denmark (the Netherlands—4 years)

Presentations and exhibitions

2006 October-November: Staging & intervention: The XXXXXXXXX – Destination: Iran. . Character: ‘Thomas Altheimer’ (coalition with ‘Bob Nielsen’). Scene: The Iranian Exile Community in Los Angeles; the studios of Big Time Production, Hollywood; the streets of Hong Kong; the streets of Dubai; 6 Iranian cities: Bandar Abbas, Shiraz, Yazd, Isfahan, Qom, Tehran. Agents: Americans, Iranians, Exile-Iranians, proactive Europeans.

2006 June: Performance with P.4orn—United In Joy—Space Station Sixty-Five, Dulwich, London.

2006 June-August: Group show curated by Ellen Mara De Wachter — Arsenal: artists exploring the potential of sound as a weapon  — Alma Enterprises, London. Video triptych: Impossible. And yet there it is! No, impossible.

2006 Mai: Launch in Portbou, Spain, of Walter Benjamin – Los Angeles 2007. Character: ‘Walter Benjamin’. (A man named Walter Benjamin appears in Portbou on the border between Spain and France 66 years af the death of ’Walter Benjamin’.)

2006 March: Staging & intervention: Preparing for The XXXXXXXXX – Destination: Iran. . Character: ‘Thomas Altheimer’ (coalition with ‘Bob Nielsen’). Scene: K Street, Washington, DC. Museum of Contemporary Art, Washington, DC. The White House, Washington, DC. State Department, Washington, DC. Agents: The National Security Council, neoconservatives, State Department Officials.

2006 March: Launch of The XXXXXXXXX – Destination: Iran. Speech held at the Institute of Contemporary Art, London. Character: ‘Thomas Herzen’.

2005 November-December: Staging & intervention: Operation Just Cause II – Europe strikes back! Character: ‘Thomas Herzen’. Scene: streets, bars and ports on Jamaica & Cuba. Agents: Europeans, Jamaicans-turned-European, Cubans-turned-Europeans and US troops.

2005 November 18 – December 2: Solo-show, The House Gallery, London: The Parallel Action Control Room. (Uninvited agents—break-in: CIA? Common thieves?)

2004 October-November: Staging & intervention in the goings-on of international politics: The Democracy – Destination: USA. Character: ‘Rasmussen’ (coalition with’Nielsen’). Scene: streets, galleries, universities, think tanks & airports in Iraq, Jordan, NYC & Washington DC. Agents: Iraqi, Jordanian & American Citizens, Secret Service, neo-conservatives, the American President.

2003-2004 December-January: Staging & intervention in the goings-on of international politics: The Democracy – Destination: Iraq. Character: ‘Rasmussen’ (coalition with ‘Nielsen’). Scene: streets, galleries, universities & military bases in Basra, Amara & Baghdad. Agents: Iraqis, coalition forces.

2003 February-March: Installation & performance (as Dramaturg & Producer): The Exterior Parliament at Das Beckwerk/Gladsaxe Theatre: The Container Democracy on the Copenhagen square Kgs. Nytorv. Character: ‘Rasmussen’. Scene: Kgs. Nytorv, the General Public. Agents: Passers-by, visiting Iraqis, prominent Danish intellectuals.

2002 November: Production & performance: the opera Staten Rasmussen
Character: ‘Staten Rasmussen’. Stage: Das Beckwerk/Gladsaxe Theatre. Agents: Soprano Isabel Piganiol (France), Pianist Pål Lindtner Eide (Norway), Actor Claus Beck-Nielsen (Denmark).

2002 May: Situationist intervention (Artist Placement Group): Ticket to Denmark - Infiltration of the Ministry for Refugee, Immigration and Integration Affairs in Denmark.
Character: ‘Thomas Strobech’. Scene: Second Department of the Ministry of Immigration, the General Public. Agents: Permanent Secretary Niels Preisler, Minister Bertel Haarder, the Danish Parliament, the Danish Press.