Texts

Tibor HAJAS: Freedom Industry Broadcast, Channel 4 (1973)

What kind of country doesn’t have a capital city? Undeveloped? Inferior? And what if it has more than one?

Or if it is in the process of changing locations?

What country only has a border to the north and not to the south? Or the other way around. Non-autonomous? Not fit to negotiate? A joke?

What kind of power block doesn’t have ruling power? Defenseless? Weak? Is it even a power block?

What kind of army doesn’t have a general staff? A disorganized mob? Impotent? Boring?

What kind of general order refers to the day before? Historical? Fair? Obscene?

What kind of a flag is one which is only partially used? Secret? Unhealthy? Diluted?

What kind of monument doesn’t refer to anything? Nonsense? A private matter? Illegal?

What kind of code of law can be censured by anyone? Illegal? Pornographic? Unclean?

What kind of a punishment doesn’t manifest in any form? Cowardly? Counterrevolutionary? Domestic industry-like?

What kind of solidarity has opinions and programs that change from one person to the next? Soft? Commercial? Kitsch?

What kind of family has generations that continuously switch roles? Undisciplined? Sexually immature? Truant?

What kind of job is one that is not performed by anyone? Non-productive? Unpayable? A nightmare?

What kind of qualification is valid for only fifteen seconds? Does it allow for abuse of power? Does it break the rules? Is it cruel?

What kind of identification card is that in which I replace the photo twice a day to reflect the changes in me? Unscientific? Lacking in art? Expressly urban?

A question makes a statement—about a possibility, a probability, a conceivability—without making me its prisoner. The question of which I can be a prisoner is unrealized freedom. Unrealized freedom is a trap. Realized freedom is a trap. It is a statement of which I can be made prisoner. A free prisoner of my free statement. I make myself compellable to my freedom and punishable if I act against it. Realized freedom is a standard. A standard is the basis of mass production. Realized freedom is suitable for mass production.

The possibility of becoming independent: freedom in the process of realization; self-contradiction, contradicting myself, an instant exit from my choices.

I make statements against my conviction so that I am held accountable for it by others.

I submit a lawful application to commit an illegal act.

I make intellectual efforts in order to prove that the human brain is not meant for thinking.

I make demands. When they are met, I demand withdrawal.

I play falsely so that I can cry cheater.

Every day, I file a written complaint about myself.

I must know my interests; I must remember the present immediately. I am to try and upset my plans. I am to pull the rug from under my feet. I am to compromise myself. I am not to leave any time for defending myself. I am not to expect any goodwill from myself. I am to be ungrateful to myself. I am to undermine myself-esteem. I am not to share my joy and pain with myself.

I am to slander myself. I am to refrain from considering my problems. I am to doubt my sincerity.

I am to be public. I am to doubt my sincerity publicly.

I am to upset my plans publicly. I am to contradict myself publicly. I am to be democratic with myself.

Everything that is public is a proclamation, if you will.

Every action is a proclamation, if you will.

Every existence is a proclamation, if you will.