The Outsourced / Outsourcing User (part I): My Name Is Janez Janša

What are the consequences of becoming a name’s “user” when the name belongs to the country’s prime minister? And what is the meaning of name-change as artistic gesture? In 2007, three artists joined the conservative Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) and officially changed their names to that of the party leader, the Prime Minister of Slovenia, Janez Janša. While they renamed themselves for personal reasons, the boundaries between their lives and their art began to merge in numerous and unforeseen ways.

My name is Janez Janša (2012, Slovenia, 68 min.) is a documentary film about names and name changes, drawing references from history, popular culture and individual experience, leading to the case of a name change that caused great impact in the small country of Slovenia and beyond. The My name is Janez Janša screening and presentation focus on the act of changing one's personal name and the effects of such a gesture, opening up a series of questions from what is real and what is mediated, to the questions of identity and politics in art. Furthermore, the event reflects on the practice of generating, outsourcing, and adopting multiple-use names, and its consequences in contemporary media society. The documentary features many international artists, activists, cultural producers and critics, including: UBERMORGEN.COM, Vuk Ćosić, Franco and Eva Mattes, Jan Fabre, Stephen Kovats, Tim Etchells, Vaginal Davis, Mladen Dolar, and, last but not least… Janez Janša, Janez Janša and Janez Janša.