Wonderland of nothing

"Shvambraniya" resting

10 years ago, the state of Zakistan appeared on our planet. You probably think that this is a joke, a child's game like the one played by the characters from Conduit and Shvambrania. In this story, of course, there is some joke. And that's what happened.

The founder of the young country, an artist from Brooklyn, Zach Landsberg, out of nothing to do, bought it on an Ebay web auction for $610, what do you think...? A deserted plot of land of 2 acres in the state of Utah and decided to build a state there, named after himself, his beloved, namely, ZAKISTAN.

The idea of ​​building a country in the desert was supported by a “group of comrades,” who, along with Zach, enthusiastically began to work on this project.

They undertook several "expeditions" aimed at the improvement of the newly-made state. Getting to Zakistan is not so easy. It is located in 60 miles from the nearest town, in 15 miles from the asphalt road, and two miles from the nearest dirt road. So the first thing that was built was a bunker for living and storing food stocks.

26 July 2005 Zach entered into legal tenure rights. Since then, he and his friends, coming to Zakistan, have added something new on the territory and erected one sculpture per visit.

In August, Landsberg and his friend Jake Davidson went on the first expedition to find the exact location of the future Zakistan. From Los Angeles through Arizona, they arrived in central Utah and 31 in August 2005 r reached the site and solemnly hoisted a flag on the top of the mountain under the working title “Irresistible”.

On the second expedition, Zak set out with like-minded people with 4. Zakistan is, first of all, an artistic project, therefore Zack decided to put a checkpoint with a sign "Welcome to Zakistan" and a statue of a giant watch-robot and the Triumphal Arch (more precisely, the Triumphal Arch in honor of an undetermined victory) on its territory.

Photo: ourtx.com

In 2007, a funny sculpture was added to the art objects - a geodesic dome made of steel pipes, covered with camouflage mesh drapery, decorated with mannequin legs. A hammock was installed in the dome for rest from righteous labors. True, the following year the entire installation was blown away by hurricane winds, but was quickly found and installed in its original place.

Zak came up with the name of the capital - Zakopolis, the flag and coat of arms of the country and is happy to hand out passports. At first, there were 25 citizens in Zakistan - all from among close friends, today there are already more than 400. Tourists who decide to spontaneously come to Zakistan are given the opportunity to purchase official passports costing $40, which will even be stamped upon arrival and departure from these places . The anthem in the Republic of Zakistan is still difficult; there just hasn’t been a crazy composer in Zak’s circle.

In honor of the tenth anniversary of the country's independence in September 2015, the Zakistan people built a monument - in their words, “the tallest building in Zakistan.” At the same time, they managed to open the first embassy in Argentina - on the territory of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Buenos Aires. To support the artistic brotherhood of the Zaqistan people, The Zaqistan Arts Council was created.

Photo: ourtx.com

In addition to the Trans-Kazakh beauty, the artists covered a section of the desert with a carpet of plastic flowers to revive the harsh landscape. When Zack and his friends arrive overnight in his country, early in the morning he raises the flag, inspects the border checkpoint and dreams of new transformations (“Woke up in the morning - remove your planet”).

Fantasy - romance

Zach is trying to figure out how far he can go with the “sovereign state” game: “I have a conceptual plan,” he says, “I want Zakistan, as an art project, to become a real country. I understand that this is impossible, but I will still try to work in this direction. For example, the passport idea works great. What looks like an official document is perceived by people as an official document.

In the meantime, Zack Landsberg regularly pays land tenure taxes in Box Elder County and works on the demographic problem in Zakistan: “I receive hundreds of emails from people from all over the world asking how to get a visa or business license to work in my country, or journalists and filmmakers who want to shoot us. This means that the “project Zakistan” is working. It's funny, right?

Zach Landsberg, by the way - a talented sculptor with a good sense of humor. For example, at one time he proposed to improve the design of the New York police booths and attach giant spider legs to them, thanks to which the booths would look like space aliens. It can be assumed that he became crowded in a city overcrowded with artists, and he wanted to create in open spaces.

A brief "zakistani guide"

Photo: ourtx.com

Zakistan is a mountain desert located far from water sources. It is hot and sunny during the day, cool at night. The air is dry, humidity is minimal.

The main imports are water.

The main export: conceptual art.

Natural resources: sand.

Nationality: zaqistan (zaqistani).

The national animal is the giant squid (a surprising statement since the area is home to coyotes, lizards, small snakes, and hares). However, it is the squid that is depicted on the flag of Zakistan.

Independence Day: 19 November.

Zakistan’s motto says: “Make at least something out of nothing!” (Quispiam Ex Nusquam). This is exactly what Zack Landsberg did. Try it, maybe you can!

Reprinted with permission. "Our Texas".

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