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As anyone who went to art school could tell you, faking a suicide attempt to get out of doing your final project is as tired a trick as the old tampon in a teacup.Police in Sweden rushed to the aid of Anna Odell (left), a student at Stockholm's Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, when she seemed poised to jump off of the Liljeholmen Bridge.
After she was released from a day of psychiatric lockdown, Anna then "announced" that it had all been a part of her questionable final year art project, a performance piece meant to highlight the flaws in Sweden's psychiatric-care system.
She is now being charged with false alarm, violent resistance and "fraudulent practice," which means she caused financial damage without profit. She is also facing a claim against her from North Stockholm Psychiatry for $1,700 and possible imprisonment. If only there were legal repercussions against everybody who makes crappy conceptual art.
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Anna's school admits that the project was probably an "error" in judgment. Konstfack head Ivar Björkman told the paper," That students today are interested in an ethical gray zone can be a good thing for the development of society." Interesting, we guess, but tell that to whatever victims of crime got ignored by the cops because they were too busy helping some art student explore her ethical gray zone.
The video below is from Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter's interview with Anna. There was no English tranlsation available, but the video of the police intervening with her "suicide attempt" on the bridge is pretty intense.
More Art on the Web:
Limbless dancer performs at Juilliard.
The "Twilight" Shower Curtain
The Craziest Moments in Modern Art
Comments:
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Tuesday 25 August
By Dan
Funny, Sweden glorifies suicide bombers and even funds Hamas and antiSemitic NGO's that have blood libels against Jews. I guess if she had glorified terrorists they would have thrown her a parade. F-k Sweden
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Tuesday 25 August
By younanimous
What an idiotic thing to do. There are people out there
who are truly suffering, whom I'm sure have thought about
killing themselves to escape the pain. She makes a mockery
of them. She didn't help those who are suffering; she hurt them.
I fear her action(s) will have the reverse effect of what it was
originally intended for. Will the next person who tries this for
real be taken seriously? Will there be copycats? Lock her up
and throw away the key. Make her work in a psyche ward
the rest of her life so she can act out her fantasies there.
Shame Shame Shame.
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Tuesday 25 August
By heidi
She really is a stupid girl its too bad she did not kill herself she would have been better off. The world does not need these losers there are too many of them. While in jail i hope she finds a way to end her life.
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Tuesday 25 August
By heidi
This girl is really stupid and i hope while she is in jail she finds a way to end her life, we do not need anymore psychos in this world we need to get rid of them.
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Tuesday 25 August
By boredwell
Well, it seems that the student's "stunt" disproved her thesis, namely, to highlight "flaws" in Stockholm's psychiatric care system. The system responded, she was "rescued," put into protective custody (psychiatric lockdown) and released. Perhaps,arguably, her "release" could be considered a flaw since psychiatric suicide "watches" usually average 5 days not one. Also, to state that the student's rescue may have resulted in the police ignoring other victims of crime is absurd. All big, sophisticated cities are equipped to handle multiple emergencies and crimes simultaneously. That's why they have commensurately larger police forces. To learn her lesson, she should reimburse the North Stockholm Psyciatric Force the $1,700 cost for the bridge rescue and overnight observation.
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Tuesday 25 August
By salome
Tuesday 25 August
By LisaHighest RankReportPositiveNegative
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You know though she may not have thought through the end result. I must agree with her even here in the U.S. of A. our system for the mentally ill is HORRID unless you have VERY good insurance. We have so many homeless people with mental problems and NO BODY CARES!!! It is a beyond sad situation
>>>>>>>>
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Tuesday 25 August
By JD
Isn't she one of our new czars? There's so many of them. Make her Czar of Looking Nuts in Every Pic.
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Tuesday 25 August
By sergeant
Look at her eyes. This chick wasn't faking insanity, shes there. Maybe no suicidal but definitely not wrapped very tight.
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Tuesday 25 August
By princessthomas3
Tammy,
First of i deal with homeless people yeah you have some homeless people that are down to earth and you have some homeless people that are crazy but we should talk about them or disrespect them because you dont know what made them give up like that. Some of them were abuse, raped,
molested, and just mistreated dont get me wrong i will protect my family too.Watch what you say to people and watch what you do. Because that could be you and you wouldn't want anyone to talk about you.
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Tuesday 25 August
By Sally
I agree with you TAMMY. Just saw a piece on Primetime tonight about mentally ill who are refusing to take meds. One patient who understands the need for meds stated, "If you're ill you need to take medicine to make you well." Once released from hospital many of them go off their meds and nobody wants to fight with them to change their minds. So they get crazier and crazier and might end up doing something horrendous and when law enforcement is convinced they really are a danger to themselves or others they will be returned to an institution , put back on meds and then when the meds take effect be released again and the cicyle starts all over. I was a psychiatric nurse for a total of about 14 yrs. so I know what I'm talking about.
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Tuesday 25 August
By joann
Sally,
you were a psychiatric nurse for 14 years and you spell cycle, cicyle?
Tuesday 25 August
By Social Melon
boredwell - you are mistaken. A person admitted for psychiatric observation can only be held for 72 hours. It's the law. They can be let out sooner, but no one can be held for a longer period of time, unless they pose a great danger to self or others. Period.
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Saturday 29 August
By Tabitha Luther
Mom2Cool
She caused real harm did she? Oh no, they could have been helping others. What the crack kind of excuse is that? No doubt the girl is obviously in deep need of help and screwed herself in the long run by trying to prove a point that she thought would have been justified in the end, but to punish her through jail time for faking a suicide? You know what, lets arrest everyone who ever played a practical joke in high school. Shit, while we are at it lets also imprison every woman who ever faked an orgasm. Hey why don't we put all the girls in jail who tell guys they are pregnant for the fuck of it. These kinds of things happen everyday, just because there was law enforcement involved they think their hard working protectors of the community deserve an apology? "Sorry I tried to fake my suicide." "Throw me in jail where I belong with the rest of the liars, fakers, and stupid people." And by no means was this art. Just a cry for attention. The thought of putting her in jail for being stupid is ridiculous, there are people out there committing real crimes, and we are wasting time on this shit?????
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Wednesday 26 August
By ann
I lost my husband of 12 years in April to suicide over a job suspention. I saw no signs and did not know he was having any issuses at work. he seemed happy all the time. We were happy. suicied should never be taken lightly. what Anna Odell did was so wrong in so many ways. Mentally ill people do not chose that for a way of life. I work with Mentally ill children every day and they did not chose that path. Anna Is not mentally ill and should Know better. Anna should pay the bill,and tell all whom she hurt that she is sorry. including myself. Art? I think Not!!
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Wednesday 26 August
By Ron
Yes the school admits that was just probably an error in judgement. WHAT!!!!! Who the F*ck runs this school? She and the idiot from her school who said this should both do time. F*cken liberals!
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Wednesday 26 August
By Me
Crying wolf to make a point, and justify your cause, is manipulative, and does not warrant any credit. Most systems are flawed.. I agree with how the country is handling this...
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Wednesday 26 August
By Mike
tammy said:
I am poor not rich, I have struggled and earned everything I ever had. I grew up under the misery of a mentally ill parent. They are not human and they feel for no one but themselves. I will not pay for some psychotic mentally ill homeless person. I will make sure my guns are loaded if they try to screw with my family or home though! You feel so sorry for these people and I would bet you never actually had to deal with any of them. I will not walk a mile in their shoes, I refuse to behave in such a manner that jeopardizes my children and the world around me. They "mentally ill" all need to be irradicated to save the future of this world, our children. I am tired of people like yourself wanting to turn the predators into the victim. You probably buy into that pedophiles and women who butcher or drown their children can and should be rehabilitated and released back into the normal human population!
That art student is a nut that needs to be locked up, to fake a suicide is disgusting, people who attempt suicide are not always mentally ill, like the homeless, depression can be fixed. The homeless are not homeless because they got depressed, nor do they rape, murder, intimidate, attack, steal, piss and crap everywhere because they are depressed. They cannot be fixed, they choose to be that way!
Tammy, I have to totally disagree with you. In the early years of my life my Schizo-effective step brother lived with us. He is, in short, a mathematical genius; he got a fully payed scholarship to College Park because of scoring perfect in the math section of the S.A.T.'s. But at this time his disease kicked in horribly. He now has a stable job, but he has never been able to finish college because of his lack of commitment.
And what of those people with Social/Mental disabilities? Are you saying I, and others, have chosen to have Ausperger's Syndrome? Have chosen to have Autism or other disabilities?
If you grew up with a mentally unstable parent, I feel for you. Really, I do. But you cannot blame every mentally ill person for their problems. While some may not choose to accept help, there are plenty of others that do.
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Wednesday 26 August
By Danielle
I hate these articles -- the writers are incredibly biased, and they're full of typos and errors. Don't they know that journalism is presenting the facts -- not commenting on them?
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Wednesday 26 August
By abbyvlle
She ain't from around here, must be one of them ferigners.
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Wednesday 26 August
By pacific707
If this was written by an AOL staffer, it's no surprise. Stupidity runs rampant in this kind of "review." AOL truly has some of the worst "staff writers" on this earth. And they couldn't find their ass from a hole in the ground. I've been with AOL since it started, simply because it was convenient, and accessible and was one of the "better offerings" when the WWW was in it's infancy. Today, AOL is even worse than FOX news as far as publishing "fair and unbiased" opinions. Keep in mind that a recent "study", which I do NOT have the particulars of, gave demographic information that mentioned the average age of AOL subscribers is somewhere between 60 and 70 years old, AS WELL AS 12 to 14 year olds! Just the kind of place I want to be getting all of my most accurate news coverage from!!! NOT!!! I'll reiterate that again - I DON'T have the accurate numbers on that study - but it was from a general poll of AOL subscribers. The majority of subscribers I've ever scrapped with, have been too full of hatred to even carry on an intelligent conversation with. More and more, my email and personal conversations are moving to Yahoo, which seems to have a much more open-minded policy, as far as the morons who post on AOL - i.e., there are LESS of them! Less morons mean better satisfaction for me when posting and reading other's posts online. AOL has become archaic!! I've simply been too lazy to take my account elsewhere, and that's MY problem. For the majority of insane people who post here, please, stay deep inside the "hell-holes" of your own making. Stay stuck in life - then LEAVE! The world has simply become more and more dumb as time goes on. As for the AOL "correspondents"...going back to high school simply won't cut it, nor will it save you. You've failed!!!
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