Yesterday I drove to Madrid for two reasons. The first, was more improvised but resulted maybe to be the most important. I went to Reina Sofia Museum to see the new collection display of Pablo Picasso's Guernica. Picasso said that "art is not made to decorate rooms. It is an offensive weapon in the defense against the enemy."

The second reason was a meeting with four foreign curators. Manuela and Thibaut have organized a short residency for these curators to meet some Madrid-based artists. I barely have any contact with the Spanish art world and I was flattered to be invited. What I didn't like was the power structure. I was told only the first names of the curators and nothing about them: where they are from, where they work... Without a dialog I felt like an animal in a circus. I have nothing against curators but I want to work with them as a team, without stupid hierarchies. And if a curator can choose the artists, the artist should also choose his curators.

Last week, before my work was printed in all Korean newspapers, Il-kwon asked me to write a text explaining the contents of the work - this text would have been attached on the wall next to my work. I sent the text to Raúl but I don't know what happened to it.

My work We Love Samsung and Kim-Il Sung is not about Koreans but more about myself, a foreigner who knows only few things about Korea.

Undoubtedly, those two names are the best known things of the country divided by the last border of the cold war. The first is South Korea's largest company and the world's second largest conglomerate by revenue leading several industries in the world. The latter was North Korea’s “Great Leader” who established an extensive personality cult. Both are perfect examples of branding.

Anything from political parties via popcorn to plasma screens can be branded, marketed, imported and exported. Even the politicians don’t see any difference in working for people, political parties or companies. For example, Gerhard Schröder was the chanchellor of Germany and Paavo Lipponen was the prime minister of Finland - now both of them work for the Russian Gazprom, the largest extractor of natural gas in the world, Samsung’s counterpart.

In the Garden of Delights exhibition both Kim Il-sung and Samsung represent utopias: A communist dream that turned out to be a famine and a global neoliberalist dream come true that might turn out to a distopia, too.

If the installation were somewhere else than in Korea, Samsung could be changed to any super conglomerate and Kim Il-sung to any omnipotent leader but I really loved the sung sung rhyme.

Finally, I received news from Raúl. He writes that he let them cover Kim Il-sung’s name on the wall with one of my drawings. I’m not happy that my installation is changed but I trust in Raúl consideration, he understands the situation better than I do. He says that we take one step back and then twos steps forward and that everybody in the Seoul art world is supporting us comparing my work with Andy Warhol’s Mao, Komar and Melamid’s Stalin and Maurizio Cattelan’s Hitler. In the Gwangju Biennale opening the TV interviewed two people: Okwui Enwezor about the biennale he has curated and Raúl about my work.

This afternoon, I found a picture of my crippled installation in a Korean blog. It's censored ridiculously. They changed the place of my kimchi drawing to cover the word Il of Kim Il-sung.

The Spanish summer heat is already gone but I'm sitting in the patio - still wearing Hotel Bellagio's bathrobe - and sipping a gin and tonic. But I shouldn't be here. Now it's my 15 minutes of fame and it happens to be in Korea.

I've heard nothing from Raúl nor Il-Kwon in the last two days but finally Erika skyped me when she was back in Seoul from the Gwangju Biennale opening - where, as she told, everybody was newspapers with big pictures of my controversial We Love Samsung and Kim Il-Sung installation.

Erika told that there are a public protest against my work in Yeosu, and the gallery is receiving over 50 phone calls every day demanding the authorities to censor my work. It's all fine, or even fantastic, but she also said that Il-kwon might lose his job in the University. And that would be my responsibility to him, his wife and two daughters.

It seems that my work is a headline in all South Korean newspapers and internet portals. Most of them have used the information and pictures from the Associated Pres. I collected some headlines and fragments automatically translated by Google.

Kim Il-sung mural controversy, the conclusion can not be punished.
(...) breeds controversy but the National Security Law sang punishment was impossible determine.
(...)jeopardizing stability(...).
Yeosu official said that the mural contains the transfer of the pro-communist(...).
Controversy is rising.
But it is difficult to determine that the penalties apply to the National Security Law.
(...) stabilize the country's existence is recognized, because they are not unintentionally jeopardize the National Security Law can not be punished a starting point.
The  problem is that some people work for the visitors praise North was abandoned, while he strongly protested.
National Security Law requirements are meant to punish.
Not even a simple list of achievements of Kim Il-sung as a work of art should be evaluated.
National Intelligence Service and Inspector hold (...) the problem was framed (...) to take measures (...).
Words Yeosu police staition, National Security Law, jeopardizing the safety or free democratic basic order.
(...) representation is going into a fight.
(...) some social groups are strongly opposed and protested (...).

And somebody defends me, too:
Art is art, the art itself to be interpreted as a possesion to do it shall be respected.
This must be Il-kwon, our host, proffesor at the Chonnam National University. In another newspaper he says:
Is truly a work of art, notice that you want to express a level of cultural awareness missed it.