Inflight

This striking film, based on an investigation into the history of media presentation of aircraft hijacks all over the world, from the first transatlantic hijacks to the suitcase bombs of the nineties, has been shown worldwide and honoured with several prizes (including the Spin Award in San Francisco). Grimonprez will now be presenting his ‘Inflight Magazine’ in SMAK. ‘Inflight’ continues on the same lines. In appearance it is like a magazine in the purest sense of the word. Its form uses (and parodies) the format of the typical airline magazines one finds in one’s aircraft seat. Grimonprez does not try to seduce with a flashy layout or glossy pictures, but with exploding aircraft, shining revolvers and primed hand-grenades, as well as what one might call ‘hijacked’ advertisements. He covers the whole range of aircraft hijacks, even cyberjacking and other digital variants. In addition to text and photos based on stories told by people who have a degree of ‘experience’ as the victims of hijacks, the artist has also designed his own ‘safety instruction card’ and ‘sick-bag’ for future air travellers. The magazine is presented as an unlimited artistic edition which will be distributed both via museums and ordinary newsstands.The magazine will nestle surreptitiously like a louse in the fur of the mediatised world. The magazine will be presented in SMAK in a suitable setting inspired by the airport lounges of the seventies. You can browse in (and buy) it while drinking a cup of hot coffee.