GOBUGSGO – SET NATURE FREE!
In an interview with Thomas Redl, editor of the art magazine fair, the artist Edgar Honetschläger, founder of GOBUGSGO explains:
“Through performances in museums, Galleries etc. and presentations on the internet, we recruit members (Buggies). Individual ownership can be expropriated, for instance, to expand a road. When people own a patch of land collectively, politics will find it hard to override the will of the voters involved, therefore the more we become the better we can protect. GOBUGSGO raises an economic question: What happens when land is withdrawn from human productivity? And also: How do we measure the value of nature? Isn’t it time to abandon the hubris that humans are the crown of creation and artists the crown of civilisation? We need to understand that following the principles of deep ecology, all life forms are equally valuable—the smallest worm has the same right to be in this world as a human being.
Our plots range from 22.000sf to 12 acres. Our biologists, entomologists, ecologists, and foresters have developed criteria for ideal vegetation for insects, which guide our purchases. Funded solely by membership fees, no subsidised funding, all work done for GOBUGSGO is voluntary. we keep no funds for administration behind. Edgar creates incentives like the art n’ nature package, exhibited as an installation during GOBUGSGO performances in cultural venues in order to attract new buggies (members). people who become buggies receive a 4x4x4 inch cube—an artistic multiple containing a project booklet, a printed drawings in edition, a homemade preserved food item (e.G. sugo), and a membership certificate.
The utopian artistic aspect of GOBUGSGO is that our zones are no longer accessible to humans—they are withdrawn from human use. This is provocative and, under current laws, technically impossible, as every square inch of land is zoned for specific purposes and the legal term NON-HUMAN ZONE does not exist. Yet, with the help of our lawyers and notaries, we make it happen! GOBUGSGO engages in politics without being a political party. It intervenes in society. Modernity was a deep rupture in art—a caesura we are still grappling with. In the 21st century, we need a comparable leap forward. GOBUGSGO attempts to do so.
Non-Human Zone means non-intervention. Normally, an artist shapes or creates – GOBUGSGO does the opposite – the artist shapes nothing. The GOBUGSGO collective (by now we are around 1550 Buggies) draws from diverse life experiences—almost every profession is represented. At best, the artist who invented it is a kind of director, a vessel that collects ideas and draws conclusions. he is dependent on the GBG board and cannot make decisions individually. Together we decide on the next steps. Pure democracy as we collectively determine the course – this includes exposure and exhibitions in and outside of art venues.
GOBUGSGO demystifies the idea of the artist as a hero. GOBUGSGO seeks to dismantle the patriarchal concept of the genius artist. now It is the community that acts. Consequently, the resulting art goes beyond awareness or critique-it becomes tangible. It does not serve the market or personal interests, but manifests in something non-material, something unsellable. It manifests in a piece of nature that cannot be speculated on. Non-Human Zones belong to the insects and all other non-human beings – humans only safeguard its integrity and protect it.
In the spirit of Joseph Beuys, GOBUGSGO could be called a social sculpture. In marcel duchamps ready-made terms, the artist declares a piece of land a living sculpture. By this declaration alone, it should already be protected. Thus, the dichotomy between nature and culture dissolves. Nature, inherently anti-civilizational, becomes culture and, therefore, worthy of protection. All that humans create, they strive to preserve; yet they destroy the very nature that underpins their existence.
therefore Our Non-Human Zones enjoy dual protection—through their declaration as art and through the community. GOBUGSGO expands the concept of democracy. why should democracy only serve humans? it should apply to all existences in this world. GOBUGSGO attempts to defeat capitalism with its very own tools. We’ll buy the destroyers of nature out. yet Everything we do serves the community—the community of all living beings on Earth.
GOBUGSGO steps way beyond the temples of art. It is deliberately designed to be understood by those unrelated to art.
By 2025, GOBUGSGO has transformed eight plots in Austria and Italy into Non-Human Zones.
–
In 2018, art historian Fiona Liewehr wrote on the occasion of the first presentation of GOBUGSGO at Kunsthalle Wien: “In his new internationally oriented project, Edgar Honetschläger addresses the attempt to initiate collective re-naturalization measures, giving insects back their habitats… A transdisciplinary initiative involving lawyers, biologists, farmers, and real estate developers. GOBUGSGO is a collaborative practice calling on each of us to take action to save the Earth from imminent collapse… On his 800 m² vegetable plot north of Rome, Honetschläger encountered an eerie silence after years of drought. Over the past 20 years, 80% of insects globally and, as a result, 40% of bird populations have disappeared. Lack of rain, pesticide use, and light pollution are causing these small creatures to vanish, disrupting natural pollination and reducing crop yields. Butterflies, cicadas, and fireflies suddenly seem like creatures from a distant past.
This was reason enough for the artist to stop and, drawing from the experiences of a globally thinking traveler, to act locally as well as globally. In collaboration with Italian farmers, he began developing new cultivation methods. Alongside his rapidly growing garden, he founded a community initiative to protect insects, called GOBUGSGO. What if millions of people around the globe, concerned about the Earth’s future, came together, purchased plots of land, and returned them to nature? Places where plants, insects, birds, and other animals can thrive undisturbed, places where humans neither build, fertilize, intervene, nor destroy. Non-Human Zones…
Edgar Honetschläger is not a disconnected dreamer or societal dropout but a utopian realist developing a constructive vision for the future of our environment and social coexistence through his artistic practice. He founded a non-profit organization, launched a website, and networked through social media with the realms of business, politics, and art. He also harvested hundreds of kilos of tomatoes, zucchini, and eggplants, preserved them, and now distributes them at the Kunsthalle, packaged in cartons alongside a printed leaflet, to those ‘Buggies’ willing to join the *GOBUGSGO!* movement. By collectively purchasing land and transferring it into shared ownership, the goal is to prioritize the preservation of our shared ecological foundation over the short-sighted pursuit of individual profit. Go Bugs Go!”