Nike Ground
Nike Ground was a fake Nike advertisement campaign claiming "Karlsplatz, one of Vienna's main squares, is soon to be renamed Nikeplatz, and a huge monument in the shape of Nike's famous Swoosh logo will be built in Nikeplatz." The project included a public installation, website, and performance, provoking negative reactions from Vienna's citizens, city officials, and the Nike group, which initiated legal action against the artists.
In September 2003 the news went out nationwide: Karlsplatz, one of Vienna's main squares, is soon to be renamed Nikeplatz. Apart from the new name, it appears that a huge monument in the shape of Nike's famous "Swoosh" logo will be built in Nikeplatz. Needless to say, it is all fake. The one-month campaign provoked the reactions of Vienna's citizens, city officials and, of course, the Nike group, which has denied any involvement and starts legal action to put an end to this bizarre performance. This almost unbelievable prank is the work of the artist duo known as 0100101110101101.ORG, who this time have tricked an entire city: Vienna.
For this work we wanted to use the entire city as a stage for a huge urban performance, a sort of theatre show for an unaware audience/cast. We wanted to produce a collective hallucination capable of altering people's perception of the city in this total, immersive way.