From his self-chosen exile in Berlin, a Swiss-born artist has been battling Switzerland’s decision to introduce a biometric passport.
Adam Tellmeister places the scalpel on his brand new Swiss passport and cuts right through its blood-red outer fabric. It’s the first cut of an operation — broadcast live on the Internet — that is aimed at removing the chip from his new biometric passport.
Performed in late February, as a finissage of his exhibition on biometrics (in one installation, Tellmeister recreated the chip with hair, skin, bodily fluids and other personal items), the operation meant to protest what Tellmeister says is the newest form of “performance-based racism”: classifying people according to criteria he fears will make it onto the chip once the biometric passport becomes a part of daily life. That it will is likely: The Swiss Parliament gave its green light to the biometric passport in March. On May 17, a referendum was the final hurdle for its introduction.
Read more on UPI.
From YouTube, the video of his “operation” on his passport: