Land of Milk and Honey, Columbia, Land of the Free, Land of Opportunity, The States, America, The United States, The United States of America, USA, U.S.A., U.S., US, US of A., Land of Liberty, New World, Usonia, Usania, Yankee Land, Home of the Brave, Bushlandia, The Western World, The Melting Pot, Leader of the Free World, Uncle Sam, The Land Across the Pond, Apple Pie.

It took 25 hours to travel from Cervera de los Montes, Province of Toledo, to Bury, Greater Manchester, to write names of the most powerful people of the world on ten Starbucks coffee shop's paper cups that are in the exhibition The Language of Lists which was inaugurated yesterday. When the opening reception began there was a demonstration at the Bury Art Museum's doors. I thought it was a performance programmed by Text Festival but it was a real thing. There is a local controversy related to the new space of the museum that used to be a part of the library located in the same building. The library's size was reduced due to the budget cuts of the conservative UK government and now Bury's Tories blame the local Labor government.

The best experience has been the famous Bury Market. It started in 1444 and is said to be the best in the Great Britain. I liked the chaotic mix of stalls selling black pudding, soap, silicone and "postman's legs" for dogs which reminded me of the markets in China. Black pudding blood sausage is  good but I had a rather exotic meal in one of the cafés at the market. The worst was that they served fish, chips and peas without any salt. Later I was told that the British cook without salt for health reasons. The funniest was that the meal included a cup of tea with milk served with the fish. I remember that in Hong Kong they served complimentary tea - but no milk - with food. Maybe the British learned the habit from their colony. Surprisingly they called the place café though they served only tea. Maybe coffee doesn't refer to any drink - in Amsterdam coffee shops sell marijuana and internet cafés have just Coca-Cola vending machines. However, coffee shops without coffee and fish and chips without salt sound Zizekian items. Slavoj Zizek wrote that we find a whole series of products deprived of their malignant property: coffee without caffeine, cream without fat, beer without alcohol... And the list goes on: what about virtual sex as sex without sex, warfare with no casualties (on our side, of course) as warfare without warfare, the contemporary redefinition of politics as the art of expert administration as politics without politics.

For the exhibition I marked all the fat cats' coffees decaf.

I'm proofreading the text Pauli and Mikko wrote for the MuNA Book. I made an index of names mentioned in the article, just for fun.

Ferran Adriá, Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Fernando Alonso, Judas Arrieta, José María Aznar, Andrea Bandelli, Patrick Bateman, Samuel Beckett, Klaus Biesenbach, Miguel Angel Blanco, Hieronymus Bosch, Nisrine Boukhari, Louise Bourgeois, Michelangelo Caravaggio, Charles III of Spain, John Cotton Dana, Donald Duck, Albert Dürer, Ferdinand VII of Spain, Luis Figo, Frank Gehry, Raúl González, Francisco Goya, El Greco, Zaha Hadid, Erika Harrsch, Heikki Hellman, Huey, Dewey and Louie, Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Gordon Gekko, Görsky Grytvic, Herman Van Ingelgem, Eemil Karila, Zena El Khalil, Kim Il-sung, Martin Kippenberger, Antonio Lamela, Jani Leinonen, Lex Luthor, Edward Luttwak, Josean Martínez Alija, Scrooge McDuck, Charles Montgomery Burns, Shunsuke François Nanjo, Rivane Neuenschwander, Erkka Nissinen, Jean Nouvel, Roman Ondák, Frank Oppenheimer, Ainhoa Ortells, George Orwell, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Tal R, Kimi Räikkönen, Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, Richard Serra, Richard Rogers, Paco Roncero, Riiko Sakkinen, Harald Szeeman, Henri de Tolouse-Lautrec, Katja Tukiainen, Abdul Vas, Diego Velázquez, Cruella de Vil, Andy Warhol, Willy Wonka, Charlotte York Goldenblatt, Zinedine Zidane.

I like lists. On Thursday I´m off to Bury, Greater Manchester. I’ll have some of my list works in the Bury Art Museum’s exhibition The Language of Lists, curated by Tony. I´ll stay in England four days sleeping each night in a different hotel due to the late arrival and early departure of my flights. Maybe it’s not very comfortable but it’s like hitman tactics. A real professional would not list the hotels but this is where you can find me:

Thursday-Friday - Bewleys Hotel Manchester Airport
Friday-Saturday - Premier Inn Manchester Bury
Saturday-Sunday - Park Inn by Radisson Manchester City Centre

The first list that impacted was Patrick Bateman’s ruminative product descriptions of his morning routines in Bret Easton Ellis’s novel American Psycho. The brands are the blood in the circulatory system of capitalism and our life cannot be told in a realist manner without naming them.

I decided to have a look what brands we have in our house. I don’t know whether it’s my portrait or a picture of any average European lower middle class family. The list is far from complete - it excludes, for example, clothing, art works, books, tools and medicines - but maybe I’ll expand it to a real literary project.

100 Pipers, Adidas, Angel Schlesser, Aquarel, Arabia, Arcos, Ariel, Asturiana, Azucarera, Baileys, Balay, Barilla, Bellavista, Bialetti, Bic, Biotherm, Bluesky, Body Shop, Bosque Verde, Bovril, Braun, Brio, b’Twin, Buffalo, Cacique, Callaway, Camel, Campbell’s, Candy, Cardenal Mendoza, Carolina Herrera, Carrefour Home, Case Logic, Chevrolet, Cillit Bang, Clinique, Coca-Cola, Conguitos, Daewoo, Darphin, Deliplus, Deluxe, Denivit, Disney, Dodot, Don Simon, Durex, EasyAcc, Ecran, Fairy, Fagor, Fanta, Fazer, Fin de Mes, Finlandia, Fisher-Price, Fiskars, Freixenet, Fuente Liviana, Gallina Blanca, Gallo, Gilette, Global, Globe Hope, Godiva, Gordon’s, Guerlain, H&M, Habla del Silencio, Hacendado, Hackman, Hama, Haribo, Havana Club, Heinz, Hello Kitty, Hero, HP, I.C.O.N., Iittala, Ikea, Iomega, iPhone, Issey Miyake, Jamie Oliver, Jil Sander, Jordan, JR, Kaford, Kikkoman, Kinder, Krafft, La Morena, Lacasitos, Leffe, Lego, Lifestyle, Littlest Pet Shop, L’Oréal, Lotus, Louit, MacBook, Mahou, Maille, Maizena, Marimekko, Marques de Griñon, Martini, Mary Lee, Matchbox, McDonald’s, Michelin, Misako, Nakamura, Nescafé, Nesquick, Nestlé, Nivea, Nodor, Nutella, Panasonic, Palson, Peppa Pig, Pepsi, Philips, Plastiken, Playmobil, Post-it, President, Ray-Ban, Rebel, Revlon, Rimowa, Roca, Rochas, Royal, Saimaza, Samsonite, Samsung, Schweppes, Shiseido, Solimon, Sony, Steinburg, Stokke, Tabasco, TDK, The Glenrothes, The North Face, Telefonica, Temple of Heaven, Tetley, Twinings, Vigris, Villeroy & Boch, Wilkinson, Yves Rocher, Zanussi, Zara.