In a "conceptual art" project, Kristian von Hornsleth offered to give Ugandan villagers free goats, sheep and pigs if they adopted his name. His exibition in Copenhagen, "We Want to Help You, but We Want to Own You," has pictures of 108 villagers holding ID cards with his name. Before the project was stopped in October 2006, 270 villagers had changed their names.
George Sabadu Hornsleth commented: "Africans adopting European names for gifts - that's nothing new. We've been doing that since colonial times. Why do you think I'm called George?"
From his press release, the artist comments: "“Basically I believe in free trade. You sell something to me, and I buy something from you. In this case the Africans are fond of the animals that I offer them – and I am happy to be able to give them a beautiful name and to make some art. The result is that both parts are happy. Nothing else matters."
For pictures of the villagers: http://www.hornsleth.com/template/t03.php?menuId=52.
For an article: http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=609&id=1715632006
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