My First Swastika
On march 11th 2009, during the final edition of the Great Dictators, a series of theme nights around the 20th century’s most notorious dictators organised by De Verdieping in Amsterdam, I presented My First Swastika: a visual analysis of the swastika pre- and post-WWII. From the politically correct iconoclasm in Europe to the commercial appropriation strategies of Asian popular culture, like the Hitler Theme Bars one can find in Seoul, South Korea.
Other speakers were Hans Aarsman, with a story about Hitler’s artistic ambitions, René Glas talking about totlitarian systems within games like World of Warcraft and Daniël van der Velden (Metahaven), with a talk about former palace of ex-dictator Nicola Ceausescu.
