To coincide with London’s Frieze Week, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac London will open its doors for 24 hours today (5 October 2018) issuing of Swiss passports for €20. American artist Tom Sachs’ Swiss Passport Office installation refuses British pounds, but those willing to purchase a passport in euros will be photographed and have their name hand-typed onto a serial-numbered Tom Sachs studio passport.
The passports will be stamped with a Studio endorsement and entered into the permanent database. After the 24-hour stint, the Swiss Passport Office installation will remain to exhibit at the gallery until 10 November but closed for the issuing of passports. “To effect change, we must first imagine the world, not the way it is, but the way we want it to be”, explains Tom.
Choosing the Swiss passport for its prestigious brand identity, the project attempts to break down the increasingly strict borders and eliminate the man-made concept of nationality. “This comes at a time where our liberal democracies are being threatened, and oppressed people all over the world live in danger and without refuge”, says Tom. “Swiss Passport Office represents enforcement of artificial borders, the antithesis of freedom, and the movement of people and goods”.
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Jyni joined It’s Nice That as an editorial assistant in August 2018 after graduating from The Glasgow School of Art’s Communication Design degree. In March 2019 she became a staff writer and in June 2021, she was made associate editor.