Press Release: 7th July 2008
World Premiere of SPAM the Musical at the Edinburgh Arts Festival
Guerilla Screenings scheduled for 28th August 2008
Various venues across the city
This year spam email grows up and turns 30. In the cross-media project SPAM the Musical spam
email becomes video art, and with your mouse click it’s turned back into spam. New Media
Scotland is proud to announce the world premier of SPAM the Musical at the 2008 Edinburgh Arts
Festival to be viewed by chance encounter at unnamed locations within the city. In addition extra
footage will be distributed online, virus-like, onto over a hundred international video-platforms.
How Spam Became Art and Who Did It
This is an international no-budget art project created by 16 anonymous artists. Their intention is to
challenge the rules of the international art circus by gaining the attention of international curators
and museum directors through the tools of viral marketing, spamvertising, social networks and
bookmarking. This is David vs Goliath.
Based on the texts of spam email, collected over two years, SPAM the Musical is about make-
believe and truth, hope and betrayal. It stretches genre limits and plays with preconceptions of
the viewer’s mind.
The Videos
Currently three have been produced with many more to come. Each of the 6-minute videos is
divided into two parts. The first part is an ironic, luring interpretation of a specific email spam. It
serves as a ‘trojan horse’ for the second part, ‘deleted scene’. This ‘deleted scene’ turns the
entertainment around, creating an image of reality that looks behind the scenes and works like a
cold shower to the first part.
#1 The Lonely Girls (4:39)
Based on three emails by Russian, Polish and African girls who are looking for a boyfriend.
Imagine a teenage sleepover of three competing girls vying for our attention. The deleted scene
shows the mere leftovers of a woman, a puppet on a string, moved by anonymous male hands,
forcing her to sing a warped version of a rock song.
#2 The Lottery (5:01)
Based on one email that claims you are the winner of an online-lottery, promoting globalisation,
the internet and the 2010 soccer world-cup in South Africa. Imagine a game-show, a host on
speed and a sexy assistant cheerfully screaming out lucky numbers. The deleted scene will bring
us back to reality, where the voices in our heads tell us that we are nothing but a loser.
#3 The Dying Woman (6:19)
Based on an email by a 59 year old woman, supposedly dying of cancer. If you hand over your
bank account details you will receive all her money to support ‘the Lord’s good work’. The first
part is presented as an opera aria, overdramatised and camp, utilising plastic crabs, chandeliers,
glowing green eyes and a lot of gold and glitter. As a contrast, the deleted scene will put the
viewer into the harsh environment of a overlit hospital deathbed. The sound of monitors and
machines takes over.
Spam With Us and Spread the Word
Once created, the videos are transformed into web-compatible flash-videos and uploaded, virus-
like, onto over a hundred international video-platforms. Intending to create the biggest art-spam
in the world, the videos ask every viewer to forward the videos to international journalists,
curators, galleries and museums.
The videos also promote the webpage www.spamthemusical.com, offering all the tools of social
networking to spread the word. Bookmarking and “mail to” options will keep the virus going. All
major online art-platforms and newsletters will be used as an address-source. In addition, SPAM
the Musical will have offsprings on spambook, myspam, spahoo!
Become the Next Star of Our Clip
Anyone can send us his or her favourite email spam. The best will be chosen to become a ‘SPAM
the musical’ clip. If your email is selected, we want you to star as our model via webcam or voice-
over-IP. To enter email more@spamthemusical.com
Giveaways
Are given away at random, to losers, lovers, nerds and online addicts. From buttons to stickers,
SPAM the Musical offers tags such as DELETED SCENE, I LOVE SPAM MORE THAN YOU, and
SPAM WANTS YOU.
For more information, photography or interviews please contact Kristina Johansen,
Tel: +44 (0) 131 477 3774, Mob: +44 (0) 7515 595 782, Email: kristina@mediascot.org
Notes to Editors
1. Please note that the creators of SPAM the Musical have chosen to remain anonymous and would not like their names published in relation to this project. Please respect the artists wishes when publishing information relating to this work. However the spokesperson welcomes the possibility of appearing incognito for interviews, including photographs, in relation to the project. Please contact Kristina Johansen at New Media Scotland for more details.
2. New Media Scotland is the national development agency for art, science and technology.
Through working with artists and supporting the presentation of work their work in this field, we
foster greater public understanding of the role that technology is playing in contemporary culture.
3. New Media Scotland is a company limited by guarantee with charitable status and supported
by the Scottish Arts Council
New Media Scotland
45 Marchmont Crescent
Edinburgh EH9 1HF
Tel +44 (0) 131 477 3774
Fax +44 (0) 131 477 3775
hello@mediascot.org
www.mediascot.org
New Media Scotland is a company limited by guarantee with charitable status
Registered in Scotland SC197570 - Scottish Charity No SC029114
Supported by the Scottish Arts Council
