Imperium qujOchÖum: Rise and fall of a dummy association network

In gen­er­al com­pa­ny net­works are estab­lished to deceive and dis­guise and even to cam­ou­flage (oth­er real pur­pos­es). Enter­pris­es set up sub­con­trac­tors and sub-sub­con­trac­tors for a bet­ter tax­a­tion in coun­tries like Liecht­en­stein, Mau­ri­tius or Pana­ma, the Bahamas, the Sey­chelles or the Vir­gin Islands. Such pro for­ma or so called let­ter-box com­pa­nies are busi­ness­es which only main­tain a mail-box at their legal seat, mean­while the head­quar­ter, the admin­is­tra­tive cen­tre is placed some­where else.

These con­structs are pri­mar­i­ly pop­u­lar to car­ry out ille­gal trans­ac­tions dis­crete­ly, to cheat the tax­man and to laun­der mon­ey. Crim­i­nals often use the whole net­work of such com­pa­nies based abroad, because a crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion is near­ly impossible.

qujOchÖ makes use of this absurd econ­o­my and trans­forms its mech­a­nisms into the artis­tic field. For this, more than 100 asso­ci­a­tions and incor­po­rat­ed clubs will be found­ed in Aus­tria, Ger­many, Liecht­en­stein, Switzer­land and Spain. This Empire formed out of dum­my asso­ci­a­tions will be linked and nest­ed in man­i­fold ways to sim­u­late the rise and fall of an imperi­um in numer­ous steps. 

“The great man down, you mark his favourite flies; The poor advanc‘d make friends of ene­mies.” (William Shakespeare)