"Loving Life"

LOVING LIFE

When authorities refuse to take responsibility, ordinary people, the “common folk,” must take matters into their own hands.

The artwork sheds light on individuals’ potential for self-determination and (almost) independence.

For many, knowing that they have control over the process might bring peace of mind. The possibility of an assisted suicide liberates them from traditional, dramatic, and painful suicide methods such as self-mutilation with cutting tools, slow hanging from ceiling beams, jumping from heights or in front of trains or cars, drowning, self-shooting, staged traffic accidents (endangering others), pill overdoses, and ingestion of questionable poisons or corrosive chemicals. When these attempts fail, individuals must continue living, now burdened with guilt and perhaps physical consequences.

The artwork aims to prompt policymakers to realize that there is no way around the legalization of assisted suicide if it is to occur under controlled conditions.

It is estimated that globally, over 700.000 people commit suicide annually through one of these three methods.

Suicide by weapon: Includes firearms or cutting and stabbing instruments.
Suicide by medication: Includes taking sleeping, pain or sedative medications.
Suicide by suffocation: Death by suffocation or hanging.

In Denmark, assisting suicide is not legal and can be punishable under §250 with up to 8 years in
prison. In stark contrast, as a foreigner in Switzerland, one can pay to opt-out of this. However, it costs 10.500 CHF, approximately 80.000 Danish kroner. So again, the poor ones among us lose.

The artwork should be understood as a critique of the hypocrisy in Denmark regarding assisted
suicide, as well as the “ethical council” that pedantically dictates when the pain in your life is no longer bearable.