The future of the NSK State is dependent on citizen involvement. Citizen involvement is dependent on communication. The NSK State News fulfills both these requirements. Using this framework the citizens of the state will now be able to communicate with each other, while maintaining a unified front to the rest of the world. This is just the beginning.

“Bob Dylan is by all means phenomenon who inspired us sincerely and deeply. This narcissist Christianised egoist of Jewish descent, who can’t really sing nor play, who recorded bunch of bad and non-listenable records, directed few third class films, most of his material he scraped from tradition, or has stolen from elsewhere, who climbed to stage over corpses of his inclined acquaintances and friends, used and wrung everybody who approached him, and if his songs wouldn’t perform Hendrix, Donovan, The Birds, Peter, Paul & Mary, Sonny & Cher, Joan Baez, Johnny Cash… most probably nobody wouldn’t hear about him nowadays.

But, in spite of all this, Dylan is already for 50 years the biggest and most prominent fixed star on the sky of the contemporary popular culture who didn’t only fatally influence the development of music and poetry in the second half of 20th century, but also art, culture and politics in general. Without him and legions of his fanatic worshipers, which proclaimed him for Messiah and Saviour, would be the last half of the century significantly more non-reflected and contents-wise empty in creative and poetic sense. That’s why, we LAIBACH, are honoured, that we can make a bow to him in this presented project by ourselves. And we don’t bow that often at all.” Laibach

The CD features many of Slovenia’s best-known musicians, and represents an amazing overview of both the deep talent and diverse styles here. Musicians include Vlado Kreslin, Laibach, Katalena, Zoran Predin, Hic et Nunc, Mia Žnidarič, Niet, 6 Pack Čukur, Severa, Chris Eckman & the Frictions, Brina, Peter Lovšin, Murat & Jose, and even world famous opera soprano Sabina Cvilak. Each artist chose their own Dylan song, and each have managed to put their unique stamp on songs that range from throughout Dylan’s 50 year career. Chris Eckman, an American musician living in Ljubljana, served as the project’s music director.

The non-profit project, which was conceived by U.S. Embassy Public Affairs Officer Christopher Wurst, includes the CD, a documentary film, a film festival and a major autumn concert at Križanke. “Our goal was to showcase an American icon who is almost equally iconic in Slovenia,” said Wurst, “and at the same time encourage young Slovenians to get involved with issues that affect them – just as Dylan has done with generations of Americans and people around the world.”

While the main theme of the project is volunteerism, it also aims to raise awareness about a large number of issues, including human trafficking, violence against women, child abuse, children’s health issues, mental and physical handicaps, youth drug prevention, active citizenship, asylum issues, the environment, fighting against corruption, development and global issues, and regional cooperation. NGO partners include Sloga, Slovenska filantropija – Slovene Philanthropy, PIC – Legal Information Center, Društvo Integriteta – Transparency International Slovenia, Društvo Ključ, Zavod Emma, Društvo SOS – SOS Helpline, Rdeči noski – Red Noses, aktivendrzavljan.si, Ekologi brez meja – Ecologists Without Borders, Focus, Zavod Voluntariat, Nacionalni svet invalidskih organizacij Slovenije – the National Council of Disabled People’s Organizations of Slovenia, and Zveza društev na področju drog Slovenije – Association of NGOs working in the drug prevention in Slovenia.

The documentary film captures both the artists learning how to adapt the different Dylan songs, and also highlights the above issues, and showcases work being done at the grassroots level by Slovenian volunteers. Award-winning filmmakers Maja Weiss and Peter Braatz are directing the film, entitled “Forever Young,” which will make its premiere on RTV Slovenia in September. The film will also be distributed by the U.S. Embassy to Slovenian schools.

Later in September, a Bob Dylan film festival will be featured at Kinoteka, followed by a large concert on September 21st, at Križanke. The concert, which will also be mounted by the U.S. Embassy, will include many of the artists featured on the CD, and will be used exclusively to promote volunteerism in Slovenia.

For obtaining the free CD, write e-mail to: ljuDylanProject@state.gov

It is no wonder that us delegates of the First NSK Citizen’s Congress do not haste in submitting our reports, for we are destined to serve as poets, and not clerks, of statist organisation. Our grasp of diplomatic duty is therefore fanatical, capricious and stormy, and it is in this context that I therefore applaud the words expressed on our beloved NSK Times in honour of the ‘rebel document’ – we are indeed all suspended between a lifetime of otherness, autonomy, upheaval and individuality and a yearning to belong – to find a place to call home (Heimat), to which we would be willingly giving our souls away.

We all still bask in the romantic green ray of the Congress’ aftershock – an event brief when experienced within linear time yet ever-beckoning to us since the day we were born, thus ever-present: a temple (in time), a homing device to our myths constructed with the knowledge of forgotten, enlightened empires, almost unsettlingly vivid – we saw it, we dreamt it – that beautiful, still condolence, a sun that shines in black and white and a gentle warm wind caressing our faces and subtly moving tree branches, their dancing shadow ornamenting the sacred structure to which we have returned triumphant. A memory not from the past but from within.

It is this inner temple that we erected a long time ago in a constellation of the heart and mind far, far away yet ever so intimate; it is our revisiting as collective that made it manifest, resonate and tremble in this material realm; that uttered an invitation for the Immanent Consistent Spirit to enter and dwell in the House of World Cultures, the soundless thunder of the mighty beaming emanating from within its mythical holy of holies converging with the moment of grace of the historical present. Now awoken by our hand, will and desire, it will constantly inform our state apparatus, filling its body with flowing, shimmering, everlasting light: Jehovaic Vril!

We gathered in Berlin in obedience to totalitarian dreamtime, gathered to witness it in awe, together, perplexed in rejuvenation, re-learning to believe and to rein-state the integral continuity of the myth as real complementing the historical as reality, our eyes lit up, at long last, as the apparatus comes to life, we serve as spark. Engage, ignite, blast-off!

It is in this sacred light and no other, in the reassuring, determined presence of the altar/monument that we collectively summoned, possessed by our vast archetypal selves, that the outcomes of the Congress should be measured. Yes, the Rebel Document is indeed the music of our fighting spirit and our strife, standing tall above a lifetime spent in contempt of banality, conformity, herd-mentality: that is precisely why our common body born it. The expression of our will to overthrow is fully manifest in its glory, therefore it must not extend to the further doubting of the Scroll of the Findings, for they are mutually inclusive and awesomely balanced, and intermediated by the Agenda of Innovations integrating obedience, adherence, trail-blazing and freedom. Yes, we are partisans! But we are also disciples, and in both paths we find nobility.

The Findings are an outmost necessity and the outcome of our collective encounter with destiny. If we accept that art is fanaticism that demands diplomacy, the Findings are our rite of passage, our statement of adulthood, our initial act of active participation in the (Laibach) Kunst Machine that inspired us. In order to express either fanaticism or diplomacy as sovereigns, surely we must first make art! Thus completing our shift from spectators to creators, exercising a skill honed throughout a lifetime of appreciation, worship and reflection. To call the Findings conservative or the work of a ‘fan club’ is not only missing the point, but also a cheapening (born in the self-doubt of strife-torn atomistic isolation) of our own impetus and passion: how can we be expected to innovate and forge ahead before we prove that we can sing the praises of The Internal Book of Laws and the Ten Items of the Covenant in our own words and through the meeting of our own hearts and minds? How can one go above and beyond the law before earning the sovereignty to do so by merit of mastering it?

By elaborating on the NSK canon, by further ornamenting it in ceremonial, despotic poetry, by creating a document of our own worthy of standing next to its predecessors and inspirations, we have evolved from being apprentices, disciples, novices – to a body that dances in the jubilant element of its own mastery. Indeed, we were chosen wisely and earnestly (the unpleasant voices that croak in dispute ridden with ego and greed), for we were ready to earn the sacred license to innovate and take the NSK State further towards fulfilment. The Findings are the music of our worthiness, the shape of our love that stands upright and defiant beyond good and evil.

This is doubly important for us all to accept, embrace and internalise as we are again scattered. If we are to realise the Innovations (both the manifest five and occult seven), we need the light of the Findings to guide our way and warm our bones when we venture to the cold in solitude. The constant remembrance, study and perhaps even uttering and chanting of the Findings will ensure that the golden shimmer will continue to forcefully flow within our individual organs to hold us together and perpetuate our collective Phalanx motion, its attack formation a disciplined dance closer to perfection in each and every new step. For this purpose I suggest that our finest craftsmen and women produce an official design of the Scroll of the Findings that we can all place in our homes or workplaces. It can take the shape of a decree embossed upon paper, a tiny rolled papyrus to be carried inside a jewel or other form of on-body decoration, or indeed set to music. We need the fire of the Findings to walk with us, to ensure that we fulfil our mission; and to ensure, sisters and brothers, that we shall all meet again.

Too kind? Too consensual? How much are we the slaves of our own politeness?

A smooth taste of bitterness and sweetness lingers after this event.

This congress was a unique experiment for my short living existence.

The main feeling that surrounded me and is still surrounds me is the impression of an invisible but tangible link between most of the delegates.

Delegate came from various countries in the word, had their own backgrounds and may have joined the NSK for different reasons. The English language was also one of the substances we used and abused but without any long self-presentation we quickly entered into a process of collective maieutics , in two different modes :

-three working groups of 10 delegates each

-collective sessions for all delegates in one room

Hardly anyone used their own experience and origin to impose anything. The climate was friendly but tense.

All the delegates were free to say anything they wished and the facilitators stayed neutral and ensured every delegate had the right to speak freely.

I was simultaneously an actor and a spectator. Starting from the point when we became totally autonomous, the machine ran out of control in a under-structured manner and some of the delegates took the opportunity to coordinate what could be coordinated.

At the end of the second day, the initial happiness and enthusiasm were replaced by tension and the fear that it might not be possible to produce anything by the end of the Congress. The Haus der Kulturen der Welt became a mental jail.

But I remembered the Tennis Court Oath of the 20th June 1789, a prelude to the French Revolution, which stated:

“The National Assembly, considering that it has been summoned to establish the constitution of the kingdom, to effect the regeneration of public order, and to maintain the true principles of monarchy; that nothing can prevent it from continuing its deliberations in whatever place it may be forced to establish itself; and, finally, that wheresoever its members are assembled, there is the National Assembly;

Decrees that all members of this Assembly shall immediately take a solemn oath not to separate, and to reassembly wherever circumstances require, until the constitution of the kingdom is established and consolidated upon firm foundations; and that, the said oath taken, all members and each one of them individually shall ratify this steadfast resolution by signature.“

If this group had succeeded 220 years ago, why not us ?

I saw from my eyes and my ears the funny and iconoclastic project become something new, something true, and, moreover, something as serious as the rebirth of a nation. Not a nation. A state.

Me, the lawyer, the musician, the micronationalist, the teacher, the republican (in the French rather than U.S. sense), the democrat, I saw all these parts of my personality, a full body of mind, desegregating bit-by-bit, and the full body of delegates cracking under the weight of the common will of producing the findings that are now known. I saw the emergence of dissidence but I didn’t want to believe in it and the “Atomic Declaration of Dependence”, which was the expected surprise and the friendly fire directed towards the findings which represented the unity of the delegates.

I was also sad not to have heard enough music during this congress and not enough obstinacy and ambition from the individuals. Later I understood that it was the price to pay in order not to land with a massive clash or a series of individual statements. Too much diplomacy, not enough fanaticism but the manifestation of a common view that we called the “Immanent Consistent Spirit”, which cannot help reminding us of the Great Architect of the Universe described by some Freemasons. There was and there is something above us, something impossible to materialise; which we can only honour through our work.

In an interview with Michael Moynihan and Charles Krafft, Peter Mlakar spoke of the issues addressed by NSK’s Department of Pure and Practical Philosophy, “These issues are the dialectic between eternity and death, enjoyment and evil, God and sex, the absolute and nothingness, the ethical and non-ethical, metaphysics through psychoanalysis, psychoanalysis and science through metaphysics, negative theology, and absurdity.” I believe we were insufficiently armed against all these issues and we were submerged by their quintessence.

The cultural earthquake is over, but instead of recovering from it, we have to provoke more of them and move with them. Collectively and individually.

NSK State Delegates at a working group session during the First NSK Citizens’ Congress.

NSK State in Time is transfigurating with and in time, which is State’s territory. Now we are able to see it clearly that citizens are taking responsibility for their State and truly want to affect on its development. The Congress is a proof of that.

In current times, when we witness returns to more nationalistic policies in different states one universal State in Time seems to be still, if not more, important as a force of unity. The are no territorial boundaries in Time, therefore at the Congress delegates, facilitators and guests from different territorial states were collaborating together with dedication to their State. I am happy to notice that it can serve as an example for every nation there is and every world there is.

Of course there are people responsible for the Congress who should be mentioned here: Alexei Monroe (guiding force at the Congress), all facilitators, Haris and Jernej, members of Neue Slowenische Kunst, special guests and all delegates.

However, we must not forget about our movement, about developing ourselves as citizens and developing our State as well. For if we forget about this we will stray from the path that leads us into becoming greater beings. That is to say, man is created for higher purposes and it mustn’t be forgotten.

Now on citizens lies the responsibility for materializing ideas of the State, for spreading them and planting them where they are absent. In our words and actions we shall overcome traumas of reality and we shall reach for unity in and with Immanent Consistent Spirit. We shall never surrender.

Eric Beckett Weaver reading “The Atomic Declaration of Dependence” at the closing ceremony of the First NSK Citizens’ Congress.

The Atomic Declaration of Dependence was an expected surprise for all of us. This pirate manifesto is the manifestation, the focus, the epicentre and the crystallization of the despair of each delegate. A despair that each delegate was unable or unwilling to verbalise. Moreover, it is the statement of the “self-detestation/self-de-state-tation” that we were all carrying within our minds. The signatories are simultaneously accusing the representatives of NSK, the body of the delegates, the congress… and themselves. During the demonstration of self-inflicted diplomacy and courtesy known as the congress, a huge beast was growing behind our faces, inside our minds. We didn’t need to sign the Atomic Declaration of Dependence. We had already mentally signed it exactly at the moment we entered the site of the congress, the Haus der Kulturen der Welt. During these three days the concept of Leviathan was mentioned repeatedly, (by Eda Čufer, especially), so we couldn’t avoid evoking his apparition with this incantation – a spirit that waited for the last and best moment to arise. The Findings cannot exist without the Atomic Declaration of Dependence, as the Atomic Declaration of Dependence cannot exist without the Findings. This text shouldn’t be seen as a flashmob protest, but as a concrete result of our Congress. It should be appreciated as the alterego of our behaviour now and the solidification of our projects for NSK and its citizens . “Fanatics are picturesque, mankind would rather see gestures than listen to reason”, said Friedrich Nietzsche. Once again, he was right.

The Atomic Declaration of Dependence

The state is the manifestation of Kitsch. We hereby disassociate ourselves from your coffee-scented dog-breathed manifestations and unilaterally declare the dissolution of ourselves and the elimination of time through the timelessness of Kitsch. We find your bourgeois adoration of time and form repulsive and degenerate. Suborn yourselves to your pathetic creation in time at your own risk. We dissolve ourselves, demolish eternally your structures and leave this hollowness to re-form under new circumstances at the very moment of our creation. Your time is dated. Ours will never come.

D.W.T./N.S.K State
Representing Atomic Eternal Light

M.P. Eric Beckett Weaver

Co-signed by many of the delegates to the First NSK Citizens Congress in Berlin
On the 23rd of October, 2010

Down With Time = D.W.T.

First of all, I would like to thank everyone involved in the congress for their good humor and very, very hard work, especially Alexei Monroe (who was a very good master of ceremonies) and the other folks put on the Congress. It was a high point of my year so far. Also, thanks to the Founding Members of Neue Slowenische Kunst for all their work and same goes for Haris and Jernej for all the website, a very impressive bit of hard work.

I thought the caliber of the delegates was excellent, and the range of opinions was quite broad, yet we did agree on many important issues. For example, what we (as NSK) should do around micro-nations? This issue was resolved almost unanimously and very quickly, which surprised me. So thanks to the “Hidden Secret NSK Cabal” that choose us so well. Equally, many of speakers were excellent, even though my own views on Neue Slowenische Kunst and NSK might have been very different than their own. Again, I found the diverging opinions stimulating.

I also thought the facilitators who started us off in working groups were also very good and guided us back on topic when needed, so thanks to all the facilitators. Personally, I would have liked a more focused and/or structured format for working groups and especially for the large group work I would like to suggest is to always have the facilitators not be a member of the group, or at least have them not be an active participant in discussion, while working in the large group format.

I felt that we could have accomplished much more in a shorter time if we had more guidance coupled with a set of general background reading material, so we knew more going into the Congress about what we needed to do. I would change this aspect of the process as I think many of us went to the Congress without knowing in full what we were doing there. I also realize that we delegates must take much of the responsibility. The Facebook page should have been used more effectively than it was. We needed to have set up something much more focused, and have more self-imposed structure throughout the Congress. In theory, the Wiki may solve this issue, but then again we will have to see what will happen.

The “Findings” were adequate, if bit obvious for my tastes, and without much “real” derivation from the original vision of Neue Slowenische Kunst and its later incarnation NSK. So how do we make our mark while keeping the internal book of the Laws and convent?

Do we? and can we really “takeover” the real running of the State Machine? If so when and how do we accomplish this goal? How we implement the five the proposed innovations in a realistic matter? Or is this going to degenerate to becoming back what it has been previously, a kind of NSK fan club?

So I ask my Fellow Delegates and others what have you done for your state today?

In the year 1945 the Nazis went to the Moon, and in 2018 they are coming back. This is the premise of the sci-fi film Iron Sky, the upcoming movie project from the creators of the hugely popular internet hit Star Wreck.

The soundtrack of the invasion will be provided by Laibach, in collaboration with Ben Watkins (Juno Reactor) as a co-writer and producer of the score. You can get the first taste of the soundtrack on the new teaser that was published today.

Iron Sky has a budget of 6.5 million euros, which makes it one of the most expensive Finnish movies to date.

“I was actually sitting in a sauna with our team when one of us, Jarmo Puskala, came up with the idea that we should do a film about Nazis on the Moon. I agreed, and my number one demand was that if so, I want Laibach to do the music“, commented the Iron Sky director Timo Vuorensola about their choice of artists. “It was a far-fetched idea at the moment, but stuck into my head as a general style guideline not just for music, but for the general approach for the film, and finally, when I heard they would be interested after we contacted them, I was in ecstasy. Their unique sense of humor and nice and twisted approach will really light a spark in the wretched genre of film music. We’re hoping to create something like Vangelis did for Blade Runner – not just a soundtrack, but a whole new world that echoes through the music.”

“A few years ago we were approached by some crazy Finns on one of our tours in Finland to cooperate on film with them, but we didn’t take them that seriously at first“, said the spokesman of Laibach. “A year later we received a call and shortly afterwards the Iron Sky people visited Ljubljana. We went to our mountain shelter in the Julian Alps and they told us the story about the film they wanted us to collaborate on. They also showed us the work they had done so far and we were convinced straight away.”

“We were always fascinated by the secret histories of politics and power, as well as by space and the universe itself. We firmly believe that there is actually a great possibility that many Nazis survived the defeat after the Second World War and they escaped not only to South America and the USA but very probably Across the Universe, and especially to the Moon and creating a settlement there. In their last phase the Nazis certainly developed highly sophisticated equipment which theoretically could have helped them to reach and colonise the Moon.”

“This is of course a hypothetical film, but in our sincere opinion it is not entirely impossible and in fact quite logical. If it ever came true this film would be a perfect illustrated prediction about the clash between the two greatly Nazified civilisations existing on the same expanded time scale, so close but so far away from each other. We can’t wait for the result and we definitely want to be there when it happens!”

The movie creators collaborate actively with their audience and fans on all fronts, from publicity through content to funding. People who are interested in Iron Sky may demand to see the film in their home city using a system called Crowd Controls, collaborate in creating the movie in the acclaimed film creation playform Wreckamovie and fans can invest in the movie.

The LAIBACH REVISITED double album will include a complete version of the first classic Laibach album (LAIBACH, 1985), re-mastered from the original tapes with additional tracks included on the disc one. The second disc will present newly arranged and recorded versions of selected songs from the period 1980 – 1986, including Brat moj (Brother of Mine), Država (The State), Mi kujemo bodočnost (We Are Forging the Future), Krvava gruda – plodna zemlja (Bloody Ground – Fertile Soil), and others. This album is due to be released in May 2010.

The VOLKSWAGNER double album will present a unique Laibachian interpretation of Richard Wagner’s music. Disc 1 will present a studio version of recorded and mixed material created in collaboration between Laibach, the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, and Izidor Leitinger. Disc 2 will present a selection of tracks recorded from live performances of the VOLKSWAGNER suite. This album is scheduled for release in the second half of 2010.

Both albums will be produced as valuable collector’s items, equipped with richly designed booklets featuring exclusive photos, pictures, texts, essays, and information. The vinyl version will also feature a special poster. Precise descriptions of the albums and the exact release dates will be announced closer to the release date.

You can reserve a copy of the albums!

IRWIN and NSKSTATE.COM are gathering material for a first exhibition of work produced by NSK citizens and followers. Works selected will be shown online and photographic and video material will be shown at the First NSK Citizens Congress in October 2010.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

Please send high resolution photos or scans of your work to VOLKART[at]NSKSTATE.COM
Works will be selected on merit. All works will be considered, but we cannot guarantee that your work will be chosen. Selection of your work for this project does not entitle you to take part in the congress – you must apply separately for this!