Imbéciles de tous les pays unissez-vous!

"Weapons usually have a long lifespan, and most weapons from back then are still in circulation today. They change owners, are sold on and used on both sides of the political and ideological spectrum. In and of themselves, weapons do not have an ideology." Sven Augustijnen in CaCtuS magazine

The installation Imbéciles de tous les pays unissez-vous ! [Imbeciles of all countries, unite!] shows a series of texts and images from different editions of Europe Magazine. This Belgian magazine first appeared in 1944 under the name Grande-Bretagne and was supported by the British secret service and military. The articles reveal how the magazine became an important Western propaganda tool that incessantly advertised the FAL battle rifle (Fusil Automatique Léger), which is produced by the Belgian firearms manufacturer FN in Herstal. They also recount how the weapon was used throughout history, from colonial times to the Cold War.

At a time when reactionary ideas and nationalist parties are gaining ground in Europe, the magazine's photographs, texts and right-wing fantasies become more than mere relics of a distant past. The artist sees it as a collective civic duty to probe the issues they raise.