Days of Liberation. Laibach and North Korea

The Norwegian artist, director, and writer Morten Traavik stands out against the backdrop of extremely cautious figures in contemporary art, who are afraid of offending anyone or getting into an unpleasant situation — Traavik has made risk his profession. He organized the first-ever rock concert of a foreign band in North Korea, traveling there with the Slovenians Laibach, whose obsessive exploitation of totalitarian aesthetics greatly unsettled North Korean censors. The incredible, funny, at times frightening, adventurous story of these tours forms the basis of the book. Created by Traavik and the artist Valnuar, a legendary designer of black metal albums, it includes theoretical articles by Slavoj Žižek and correspondence with North Korean officials (from which one can learn how to conduct complex negotiations), rare photographs of Laibach, spectacular propaganda posters, a guide on behavior in Pyongyang, and a sociocultural analysis of the performance. «Days of Liberation» is a witty, profound, and very informative document that bridges the world of contemporary art with the world of big politics.