CHECKED BAGGAGE (2003)
Four-hundred and ten pocket knives, 211 bottle openers, twelve dart heads and a lighter in the form of a bullet. These are only a selection of the total of 3264 objects that Christien Meindertsma bought at an auction in Amsterdam. These ordinary objects were seized by Customs from more than 600,000 passengers at Schiphol in one week. All were classified as ‘dangerous’ after the events of 9/11. Meindertsma sorted them on the basis of shape, sort and color, thus assembling a collection of everyday things that became terrorist weapons from one day to the next. This transformation also reflects on their owners: since 9/11 air passengers with a pocket knife or nail clippers are viewed as potential terrorists.
