The Kingdom of Elgaland-Vargaland

The Kingdom of Elgaland-Vargaland was founded by Carl Michael von Hausswolff and Leif Elggren. A Kingdom which extends across the entire world, the only global nation. We have annexed and taken over all borders on Earth, all no-man’s-lands, the space that exists between all states, and declared this our physical territory. We did this in 1992, and since then we have established diplomatic relations with many different countries around the world by opening embassies and consulates. We have a constitution, we have a currency, we have stamps and we have passports for our citizens. We are a new and expansive country. We have applied for membership in the UN. We see two different routes to a new world order: one involves the gradual expansion of our physical territory through the breakdown of existing states into ever smaller units (possibly all the way down to the individual person). This would give us more and more land area as new borders are added. The other route involves states merging and abolishing their borders and thereby eventually eliminating us. Here again we would be moving down towards the level of the individual person. Both routes lead, in their own ways, to the same point…

The Kingdoms of Elgaland-Vargaland has its own life now, continuing by itself. People are taking their own initiatives, doing what they want and need to do. And that is good, of course. We only started the whole thing. It must develop and change and go further on its own.

I believe that the borders around nations, especially the wealthier ones, are getting tighter and more important these days. So much to lose, so much to protect. A lot of bullshit is spoken about the global village and togetherness and all that, but the past couple of months clearly indicate where we are going and have been going for a long time now. We do not need to cross a certain border, because we are the border. The Kingdoms of Elgaland-Vargaland is the border. I am the border. We have suggested to the UN that they can collaborate with Elgaland-Vargaland for to send personnel and intervene in conflicts between nations wherever they appear.

We sent out letters to all the existing countries of the world and asked them to either recognize us as a new nation, or, if they didn’t want to recognize us and have us border them, unify with their neighbour country and get rid of us. Our physical territory is not all that big – just the border areas around our planet, a bunch of very thin lines – but we do not have access to our land. We are all living in the diaspora. We applied for membership in the United Nations in 1994.

We do not have information about what is going on out there, in our physical territory. Mostly, I suppose, animals of different kinds use it as a free zone, moving calmly and free of human threat. I have seen hares and deer in the border area between Finland and Russia, and no one can shoot them in that area, of course. We are also aware of the fact that refugees are moving over and in these areas. Now, recently, there were refugees from Afghanistan living for a while on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

We started the Kingdoms of Elgaland-Vargaland from an artistic point of view with the intention of interfering with so-called reality, outside the art-scene; the real life, the ground where we all live, struggle, survive and try to understand something about this existence. We wanted to use art’s richness of freedom and the variety of tools to influence the future society. We started an open work of art and we are inviting everyone to be a part of it. Most art works are closed, related to a person, private, egocentric, and decorative. We make possibilities available for people to change their lives with, to feel that we all are born free and equal, and that nothing and no one can prevent us from living a life that’s as good as anybody else’s. Art is the only decent human discipline there is; you can work in a totally open field with all the imaginable and unimaginable parameters in life, in this existence.

The Kingdoms of Elgaland-Vargaland is a project that is extremely concrete and deals with the possibility to create a structure to live and work within for everyone all over this planet. In 1992 we proclaimed the Kingdoms, a youthful union and nation that extends over the whole of our planet, bordering all existing nations because the territory of the Kingdoms of Elgaland-Vargaland is the borders, the no-mans land. A wholly unique position in which, for the first time in the history of the World, we have a real opportunity of developing a worldwide, boundless society. We see every individual as King or Queen over their own lives. With this ambition we see that an important step in realizing our plan lies in injecting new life into the old royal dynasties. To bridge the crevices and let the old royal families unite in a neutralizing affinity. We did invite all nationally legitimate Queens throughout the world, young and old, to come to a certain address in London between October 9 and November 9, 1996. Empowered by the Kingdoms of Elgaland-Vargaland we wanted to fertilize the world’s Queens and, therewith, all the royal houses, bridge all potential conflicts and create a better future for us all.  
In fact, one of the first things Elgaland-Vargaland did was to abolish death (the country’s passport clearly states “The bearer of this passport is immortal!”). 

There was never any doubt on that point. King is, after all, the most emotionally charged term. It is almost like claiming to be someone’s father. But it is also silly. It is silly and pompous to be King. I think of the turn of the century Swedish artist Ernst Josephson, who used to dress in morning coat and fez and march in front of the Royal Guards. This silliness also reflects the pretentiousness of an artist, which doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be pretentious. You should. It is the same thing with the Sons of God. When we collaborate with women artists in our setting, we usually call ourselves The Sons and Daughters of God. The whole thing is an attempt to take control over these gigantic values. They are our values too, you know. And yours.

Kings, God and immortality. Elgaland-Vargaland has abolished death, something that used to be the monopoly of religion. Just think of what a success religion has been! I want to be a part of something that makes death a smaller problem than what it is, so that it will not constrain our lives as much. A promise. It’s very much the opposite position to that of the monk, who abolishes death by living on the other side from the very beginning. I find that so destructive. You should not give up your worldly existence, you should let it flower. Life is not payment against a debt.

From the constitution of The Kingdoms of Elgaland-Vargaland: With effect from the 14th of March 1992, we are annexing and occupying the following territories: 

I. All border frontier areas between all countries on Earth, and all areas (up to a width of 10 nautical miles) existing outside all countries’ territorial waters. We designate these territories our physical territory. 

II. Mental and perceptive territories such as: the Hypnagogue State (civil), the Escapistic Territory (civil) and the Virtual Room (digital). 

On the 27th of May 1992 at 12 noon GMT, we proclaimed the State of Elgaland-Vargaland. 

The KREV embassy in Stockholm, Sweden, was officially inaugurated as our first embassy in April 1993 at the Andréhn-Schiptjenko gallery. The gallery was refurnished into a semiprivate/official place with a bookshelf, a sofa, lamps, carpets etc., and the Constitution as well some paraphernalia was on display. The first Virtual Room, a virtual reality computer program designed by Ambassador-without-Portfolio (Nomad Ambassador) Stephen Travis Pope and Ulf Bilting, then working at SICS, was activated on a Silicon Graphics machine and invited guests had the opportunity to travel digitally around in this digital territorial cyberspace. The national anthem Paragraph 31: All Gates are Open by Stephen Travis Pope was performed. Founders LE and CM von Hausswolff performed a psychic suicide (as an act of representation), with the aid of sleeping pills and Scotch whisky, and left their bodies for an ascension to Heaven only to come back, resurrected and transformed into eternal life. This action was constructed and performed for all present and future citizens, giving them the right to eternal life. Death was abolished.
Since then we have been developing the project; now we have embassies and consulates in many countries around the world. 

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Leif Elggren is a Swedish conceptual artist based in Stockholm currently living in New York. www.elgaland-vargaland.org

This article is published in the PAPER magazine box which can be purchased in the RIBA, AA and Westminster bookshop.