Diego Tonus and Anonymous: 'Fragments of a Conversation with a Counterfeiter'

Open: Mon-Tue, 11-17 hrs; Wed-Sun, 12-17 hrs
Closed: Easter Sunday and Monday (22-23 April)

The series of works derive from an assumed conversation between the artist Diego Tonus and a forger (Anonymous), about contemporary systems that deal with the definition of value. Each artwork is a material translation of this conversation, in which the artist appropriated the forger's ideas, questioning the ‘counter' of counterfeiting.

Private Conversations consists of seven briefcases that are equipped with technologies that can disrupt all analogue and digital audio signals, enabling discussions and exchange of varying expertise and legalities. It allows for conversations to be open and vulnerable in a leveled playing field - without being recorded, causing all dialogue to exist only in the now.

The video Timepiece symbolically unravels system(s) of time and value. The mechanics of the first watch to ever travel to the moon are disassembled and hand-mounted, partly replaced by fake parts and put together again. This Omega, a highlight of luxury status, is part of an illicit system of floating and invisible currencies as real parts travel borders in fake watches and vice versa. It's a reminder of how business models are created around memorable events, and how their relation to time and value are intertwined.

These works will act as a platform for various events organized at Stroom from March till May, inviting a variety of professionals and thinkers from different fields relating to justice, patenting and security in the context of The Hague to engage in discussion.

Together with the presented works at Stroom, works by Diego Thonus unfold at selected public and commercial venues within the cities of The Hague and Maastricht. In The Hague, you can find them at the façade of the Dutch Ministry of Finance building (Korte Voorhout 7), and at Schaap en Citroen Juweliers (Plaats 2).

Each piece is exhibited with the related documents of the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property stating their registration as trade secrets.

Fragments of a Conversation with a Counterfeiter forms part of Stroom's long-term program See You in The Hague, a multifaceted narrative about the ambitions and realities of The Hague as International City of Peace and Justice.

Fragments of a Conversation with a Counterfeiter is a collaboration between:
Jan van Eyck Academie, Stroom Den Haag, MAMbo Museum, Bologna (Italy).

And is realized thanks to the support of:
Italian Council, MiBAC (Direzione Generale Arte e Architettura contemporanee e Periferie urban).

With the collaboration of:
Ministry of Finance (The Hague); Leon Martens Juweliers (Maastricht); Schaap en Citroen Juweliers (The Hague); IUAV University Venice in collaboration with Stefano delle Monache and Maximiliano Romero; in association with Casa Verga (Catania). Special thanks to Dr. Cornelia Lauf, Giuseppe Cataiano di Melilli and Dr. Santa Sorbello; Fondazione ilCastastorie - Banco di Napoli Historical Archives (Naples) in collaboration with Flip Project.

The Stroom program for 2019 and 2020 is made possible through the generous support of the City of The Hague and the Mondriaan Fund.

Diego Tonus and Anonymous: 'Fragments of a Conversation with a Counterfeiter', newspaper
photo: Diego Tonus Studio | design: Roma Publications

Diego Tonus and Anonymous, view of 'Timepiece' at Stroom Den Haag, 2019
photo: Diego Tonus Studio

Diego Tonus and Anonymous, view of 'Private Conversations' at Stroom Den Haag, 2019
photo: Diego Tonus Studio

Diego Tonus and Anonymous, view of 'Private Conversations' at Stroom Den Haag, 2019
photo: Diego Tonus Studio

Diego Tonus and Anonymous, night view of 'A Moment of Darkness' at the Ministry of Finance building, The Hague, 2019
photo: Diego Tonus Studio

Diego Tonus and Anonymous, 'I Want Everyone’s Money', 2019 (neon sign)
photo: courtesy the artists

See You in The Hague
photo: design: Autobahn