NEUSTERN OFFERS WHITE TRASH ART TO MOURNING NORTH KOREANS

(Above) PORTRAIT OF KIM JONG IL(2011), National Museum of Art, Pyongyang, North Korea.

The government of Neustern has presented the people of North Korea with a portrait of their recently deceased leader Kim Jong Il(1941-2011). The Neustern department of foreign affairs commissioned artist White Trash Peg(aka Peggy Clydesdale) to render a 'sympathetic likeness of the dictator'. White Trash Peg herself travelled to Pyongyang as part of an official Neustern funeral delegation and personally presented her artwork to Kim Jong Il's son and successor Kim Jong Un. Clydesdale became a citizen of Neustern in 2010 after emigrating from her native USA. Since arriving in the autonomous coastal city state White Trash Peg has proved herself an impressive and passionate nationalist prompting the authorities to send her to North Korea in an official gift giving capacity. Kim Jong Un is said to be delighted and sincerely grateful for the portrait and has ordered it hung in the National Art Museum in Pyongyang.
Gary Farrelly, Neustern.

FACEBOOK BANS NEWS FROM FICTIONAL COUNTRY

(Above)Gary Farrelly, IMPORTANT STATEMENT REDACTED, (2008, private collection, Morocco.)

An 84 hour ban on news from the [fictional] autonomous coastal city state of Neustern has been lifted by the social networking website facebook. An additional separate ban on all New Obsessive postings via the site has also been withdrawn. The bizarre occurrence started on December 31st with the publication of a short piece entitled Neustern extends sympathy to North Korea in New Obsessive. The article described the dispatch of a diplomatic delegation from Neustern to Pyongyang to attend the funeral of the deceased dictator Kim Jung Il. After linking the post to facebook it was immediately reported to the censors as offensive! by an unknown party. Post haste the freedom to link via facebook was curtailed without explanation. Strange to ban a news report from Neustern which is a completely fictional country . The adventures of the autonomous coastal city state were invented by artist Gary Farrelly to occompany his maps of the imaginary micro state. The banning party mistook for fact the article's detailing that Neustern's diplomatic closeness to DPRK had been initiated when Kim Jung Il personally directed a tourism video for Neustern's state run television channel RTSN1*.

The bans appear to have been lifted early this morning after the artist lodged a complaint with with the social networking site. "I told them that the piece was about diplomatic gestures to North Korea by a country I made up. I argued that the fictional status of Neustern makes it impossible to censor under the constitutional right to freedom of expression [guaranteed in most countries]. I told them that if they didn't lift the ban I would kick up one hell of a fuss. The freedom of expression gives us the right to say controversial things, that's the reason it's there. This whole episode strongly evidences that the right to freedom of the press, expression and speech are shrill shrieking fraud".

Meanwhile, New Obsessive has reported an 8 fold increase in it's readership in 2011. The combined increase in the last two quarters of the year was 85% making the publication the fastest growing on the planet.

Vladimir Laggode, Tashkent.

NEUSTERN EXTENDS SYMPATHIES TO NORTH KOREA

The embassy of the autonomous coastal city state of Neustern has dispatched a high ranking delegation to attend the funeral of North Korea's supreme commander Kim Jung Il (1941-2011) who died on November 17th. The delegation, which will include senior officials from the foreign affairs and trade ministry's will join the staff of Neustern's DPRK embassy in attending the 3 day long funeral. Kim Jung Il personally directed a Pyongyang tourism video aimed at attracting Neusterners to North Korea's capital city. The video entitled Pyongyang Paradise was televised on RTSN 1 in November.

Gary Farrelly, Neustern.

TOURISM* NORTH KOREA PROMOTIONAL VIDEO

(Above) WORKERS MONUMENT, courtesy of DPRK Tourism(2011).

A television advertisement promoting tourism in North Korea's capital city has aired on RTN1* in the autonomous coastal city state of Neustern. A commercial air service** linking Neustern to Pyongyang was inaugurated on August 21st. The 79 second long video entitled Pyongyang Paradise was created specifically for the Neustern market and was personally directed by North Korea's leader Kim Jung Il. North Korea (DPRK) has a tourist office in Neustern located at the following address: DPRK Tourism, 118 Cannibal Wharf, Neustern South Bank. Gary Farrelly, Neustern.

(Above) PYONGYANG PARADISE, courtesy of DPRK Tourism(2011).

* Radio Television Neustern(RTN) is the public service broadcaster of the autonomous coastal city state of Neustern.

** Click this link to read an article announcing the launch of the Neustern-Pyongyang air service which is operated by Vozhd Airways.