Jens Haaning
   
“Arabic Joke", 2002-04

Poster campaign  

On the posters are written an Arabic joke in Arabic (translated):

A Grain of Wheat.
When Guha lost his mind, he started to believe that he was a grain of wheat. His biggest fear was that a chicken would eat him. His wife became tired and persuaded him to see a doctor, which he did. The doctor sent him to a mental hospital. After a short while, it seemed as Guha had recovered and regained his sanity. His wife fetched him from the hospital and walked him back home. On the way home, Guha saw some chickens walking on the road. He became very frightened and tried to hide behind his wife. The wife could not understand what had gotten into him as they had just left the hospital and shouted at him: "What the hell do you think you are doing? Don't you understand that you're not a grain of wheat anymore?" Guha replied in anguish, "It doesn't matter what I think! The important thing is whether these bloody chickens understand that I am not a grain of wheat."

The project was realized for the first time for the exhibition Jens Haaning which where organized by Planet  22, and took place in Geneva, Switzerland in 2002.

Courtesy: Gallery Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen, Denmark.