Nuevas naciones: construyendo espacios ciudadanos libres

Entre las zonas temporalmente autónomas de Hakim Bey (seudónimo de Peter Lamborn Wilson, quién introdujo el concepto a partir de las utopías piratas) y el sionismo digital de David de Ugarte (su contextopedia podría ser una zona autónoma de la wikipedia), la artista visual y diseñadora gráfica Sophie Toulouse creó en 2001 la Nation of Angela. En res magazine publicaron un breve artículo (que, por el momento, no ha sido publicado en su web) sobre este proyecto:

Nation Builder: Sophie Toulouse

In the spring of 2001, visual artist Sophie Toulouse founded  a new country. It happened at a group show aon a permanently docked ship in Manhattan called the Frying Pan. Rifting in the Situationists’ notion of the spectacular society and Hakim Bey’s concept of the temporary autonomous zone, Toulouse created an inmersive installation in one of the cabins, where visitors could enlist to become citizens of the fictitious Nation of Angela. It was a lost island paradise, a purposefully ephemeral utopia -“if you can grab it, it’s lost,”– Toulouse explains – founded on the seemingly antithetical values of material luxury and communal living. A whismical fantasy perhaps, but one that had greater pull following the 9/11 attacks later that year, so she continued to explore it.

…

… She has further developed the Nation of Angela’s comology and graphic identity through a series of animations and decorative illustrator-based wallpapers, which she displays at gallery installations throughout Europe and the US.

Una “nación” virtual que ha dejado muy poco rastro en la red, con un dominio que parece desaparecido y pocas referencias en Google o Technorati. En julio de 2005 se publicó una entrevista con Sophie Toulouse en en el blog The beautiful destruction:

Q: Could you discuss the Nation of Angela: what it is, when it was founded, the concept behind it?

N.o.A (Nation of Angela) is a utopian island where communal ideals coexist with fashion, glamour, and luxury. N.o.A is a lost paradise, a utopia both on a personal and political level. It's inspired by Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, Guy Debord, it is the post-spectacle. It's about the question 'What are you doing after the orgy' (Baudrillard; what is there to do when you can have it all).The project started in 2001, on the Frying Pan [in] NYC—a boat at the Chelsea Pier [where] people would sign up to become citizens (super-model citizens of the superficial fabulousness).

Para conocer más sobre los espacios autónomos individuales o colectivos, en la red o en el mundo físico, es recomendable una visita a los Contextos de David de arte (empezando, por ejemplo, por su entrada sobre sionismo digital) y una lectura de los textos de Hakim Bey en inglés o traducidos al español.