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Lars Endel Roger Vilks (20 June 1946 – 3 October 2021)[1] was a Swedish visual artist and activist who was known forthe controversy surrounding his drawings ofMuhammad. Many years earlier he had created the sculpturesNimis andArx, made of driftwood and rock, respectively. The area where the sculptures are located was proclaimed by Vilks as an independent country, "Ladonia".
Although an academically trained art theorist, Vilks was a self-taught visual artist. In the 1970s, he started painting, and in 1984, he embarked on creating the idiosyncratic sculptures that are his hallmark, starting withNimis. At this time, in the early 1980s,postmodernism made its definite entry into the Swedish art scene, using inspiration from e.g. the French art philosopherJean-François Lyotard.Conceptual artists took the place of the earliermodernists on the contemporary art scene. These conceptual artists did not want their art to have any aesthetic or programmatic content, but often focused on the artist's self. Vilks was part of this movement in Sweden. He turned himself in as a piece of art to the spring saloon atVikingsberg, Helsingborg, and turned his own car into a piece of art at the fall exhibition atSkånes konstförening [sv].[5]
In 1980, Vilks created two sculptures,Nimis andArx, the former made entirely of drift wood and the latter of concrete and rock, in theKullaberg nature reserve inHöganäs, Skåne.[6] When the local authority found out, it tried to remove them, with fines being imposed, and vandals attacked them with fire and chainsaws.[7] However, in 1996, the small area where the sculptures are located was proclaimed by Vilks as an independent country, "Ladonia".Nimis was sold toJoseph Beuys as a means to circumvent the Swedish building code laws concerning unlawful building process. The sculpture of Nimis was later owned by the late conceptual artistChristo; the legal document documenting the sale is on display at theSwedish Museum of Sketches.[8][9]
Vilks characterized his own skill in the actual crafts involved in sculpture as quite limited, although his artistic ideas can be seen as characteristic of his generation of Swedish conceptual artists. One of the few works of Vilks to be incorporated into a collection is the concrete sculptureOmphalos, measuring 1.6 meters (5 ft 3 in) high and weighing one tonne, which is owned byModerna Museet after it was first bought by fellow artistErnst Billgren for 10 000 Swedish kronor.[5]
Vilks' long-standing controversies with different authorities due to his activities in the nature reserve Kullaberg, whereNimis,Arx, andLandonien are all located, received significant attention in Swedish media, which for the most part portrayed Vilks' work as specifically designed to be provocative. This attention has turned the area into something of a tourist attraction.[10] In Vilks' activity as an art theorist, he commented on his own artistic activities in the second or third person. His different works of art, his actions, actions by those authorities with whom Vilks has been in conflict, and the media attention, were brought together in aGesamtkunstwerk.[5] He described himself as an "equal opportunity offender" in his critical depictions of religion.[11] Indeed, he depicted Christ as a pedophile, as a reference to the scandal in the Catholic church, and also drew a grotesque caricature of "a modern Jew swollen by capitalism".[7]
In 2007, Vilks caused an international controversy when he depictedMuhammad as aroundabout dog in three drawings, designated to be shown at an art exhibition at Tällerud, in July of the same year. Shortly before its opening, the organizers canceled their invitation with reference to serious security concerns, and despite Vilks' effort no other Swedish art gallery offered to exhibit his drawings.[12]
Eventually, on 18 August, one of his drawings was published in theÖrebro-based regional newspaper,Nerikes Allehanda, as part of an editorial onself-censorship andfreedom of religion,[13] and even though other leading Swedish newspapers[which?] had published the drawings before, it was this publication that led to protests from Muslim organizations in Sweden as well as condemnations from several foreign governments includingIran,[14]Pakistan,[15]Afghanistan,[16]Egypt,[17] andJordan[18] as well as by the inter-governmentalOrganisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which also called for the Swedish government to take "punitive actions" against Vilks. Following this controversy, Vilks was forced to live under police protection after having received several death threats, including a statement by theal-Qaeda-affiliatedIslamic State of Iraq which offered up to $150,000 for his assassination.[19][20][21]
In 2009, a failed plot to kill Vilks was hatched. Three U.S. citizens,Colleen LaRose ("Jihad Jane"), Mohammad Hassas Khalid, andJamie Paulin Ramirez, participated in the plot. On 9 March 2010, LaRose's federal indictment was unsealed charging her with trying to recruitMuslims to murder Vilks.[22][23]
On the same day, seven people were arrested in theRepublic of Ireland over an alleged plot to assassinate Vilks. Police officers close to the investigation said those arrested were foreign-born Irish residents, mostly fromYemen andMorocco and had refugee status.[24][25] Of the seven, three men and two women were arrested inWaterford andTramore, and another man and woman atBallincollig, nearCork.[24]Garda Síochána (the Irish police force), which conducted the arrests with support from the National Support Services and thecounter-terroristSpecial Detective Unit, said the suspects ranged in age from mid 20s to late 40s.[26] The Irish police added that throughout the investigation they had been "working closely with law enforcement agencies in the United States and in a number of European countries".[26]
On 11 May 2010, Muslim protesters assaulted Vilks while he was giving a lecture aboutfree speech atUppsala University. The attacks started when a film about Islam and homosexuality (the video depicts images of topless men, including one brief image of two fully clothed men kissing, all interspersed with Islamic imagery) was shown and some Muslims began to demand that the film be stopped, saying it was gay porn. The film in question was Iranian artistSooreh Hera'sAllah ho Gaybar. Vilks' eyeglasses were broken but he did not suffer any serious injuries, and was escorted to safety by security, while a few of the protesters were detained by police. Despite previous death threats, this was the first act of violence against Vilks.[27]
A few days later, on 15 May 2010, Vilks' house in southern Sweden was attacked by arsonists.[28] They smashed the windows and threw in bottles of gasoline.[28] There was a small fire, but the house was not burned to the ground. Vilks was not at home at the time of the attack.[28] TwoKosovar-Swedish brothers were arrested, and on 15 July they were sentenced to two and three years, respectively, of imprisonment.[29]
On 24 November 2010, a video produced by theSomali Islamic terrorist organizationAl-Shaabab was sent out. In the video, a Swedish speaking voice appeals to "all the Somali brothers and sisters" in Sweden, to leave that country and come to Somalia to fight for Al-Shabaab. He announced a death threat against Vilks. On 11 December 2010, asuicide bomber in Stockholm said in a message to media and theSwedish Security Police that "Now will your children, daughters and sisters die the same way our brothers and sisters die. Our actions will speak for themselves. As long as you don't end your war against Islam and degradation against the prophet and your foolish support for the pig Vilks."[30][31][32]
In 2010[33]Anwar al-Awlaki published an Al-Qaeda hit list inInspire magazine which included Vilks.[34][35][36] In 2013, the list was expanded to includeStéphane "Charb" Charbonnier, who the Lars Vilks committee awarded their freedom prize to in 2014.[37] When Charb wasmurdered in a terror attack onCharlie Hebdo in Paris, along with 11 other people, Al-Qaeda called for more cartoonists to be killed,[38][39][40] The French cartoonist Stephane Charbonnier, killed in the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, was on the same hit list and Vilks stepped up his security.[39][41] Following the Charlie Hebdo attack, Vilks said that fewer organizations were inviting him to give lectures amid increased security concerns.[42]
At an event calledArt, blasphemy and the freedom of expression, which was organized by Vilks at theKrudttønden café[43][44] inCopenhagen, Denmark, on 14 February 2015, an attack by a Muslim extremist with semi automatic gunfire, as a result of Vilks' drawings, left film directorFinn Nørgaard dead and three police officers wounded.[45] At least 30 bullet holes were visible in the window of the café. Participants at the event included speaker Niels Ivar Larsen and organizerHelle Merete Brix, the latter described the attack as having been targeted at Vilks.[45] Ukrainian FEMEN organizerInna Shevchenko and the French ambassadorFrancois Zimeray also were present at the event.[46] The suspect, acting alone, fled the scene and attacked asynagogue, killing a man. He was then identified by surveillance cameras and killed in gunfire with police the following day. Police believe the attack in Copenhagen may have been inspired by theCharlie Hebdo shooting.[47][48][49]
In March 2015, Vilks received the Sappho Award from theDanish Free Press Society. The award ceremony took place under tight security in the Parliament wing ofChristiansborg Palace. It was Vilks's first public appearance since the 2015 February attack.[51][52]
Vilks died in a car crash on 3 October 2021, inMarkaryd, Sweden.[53] He had been toStocksund to have dinner with his friend, journalistStina Lundberg Dabrowski.[54] He was on his way home travelling in anunmarked police car[55] with two police officers, at the time their car crashed into a large truck and caught fire. The two police officers from theSouth Region bodyguard group also died.[56][57]
(1995)Konstteori : kameler går på vatten (in Swedish), Nora: Nya Doxa,ISBN91-88248-94-1.[62]
(1999)Det konstnärliga uppdraget? : en historia om konsthistoria, kontextkonst och det metafysiska överskottet (in Swedish), Nora: Nya Doxa,ISBN91-578-0331-5.[63]
(2002)T.O.A. : [teori om allting] (in Swedish), Malmö: Galleri 21,ISBN91-631-2330-4.[64]
(2003)Myndigheterna som konstnärligt material : den långa historien om Nimis, Arx, Omfalos och Ladonien (in Swedish), Nora: Nya Doxa,ISBN91-578-0429-X (hardback).[65]
(2004)Spartips : 34 tips för konstnärer, kommuner, vissa obemedlade samt underbetalda (in Swedish), Nora: Nya Doxa,ISBN91-578-0451-6.[66]
(2005)Hur man blir samtidskonstnär på tre dagar : handbok med teori (in Swedish; co-author: Martin Schibli), Nora: Nya Doxa,ISBN91-578-0459-1.[67]
(2011)ART: den institutionella konstteorin, konstnärlig kvalitet, den internationella samtidskonsten. Nora: Nya Doxa,ISBN978-91-578-0590-4[68]
^Rosendahl, Lisa "Lars Vilks and the Use of the Legal Process as Artistic Material" in The Trials of Art, ed. Daniel McClean (London: Ridinghouse, 2007), pp. 357 footnote 6.
^Scott Stewart (22 July 2010)."Fanning the Flames of Jihad".Security Weekly. Stratfor. Archived fromthe original on 6 July 2013.Inspire also features a "hit list" that includes the names of people like Westergaard who were involved in the cartoon controversy as well as other targets such as Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who produced the controversial film Fitna in 2008
^ab"Shooting in Denmark leaves 2 dead, 5 police injured".Sunshine Coast Daily. 15 February 2015. Archived fromthe original on 15 February 2015. Retrieved15 February 2015.Listed among al-Qaeda's "most wanted" in the West... his work has made him the subject of repeated death threats from Islamic extremists.
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