Milan Kohout, "I Can See Oil/Sand Under the Sand/Water".2003

Decommissioned Russian submarine Juliet 484, Providence, USA; performance as part of the Mobius Castle of the Imagination Festival, 2003.
Performance: Milan Kohout Photo: David Franklin
This performance addressed the incredible hypocrisy of the USA and its lies, by which it tried to justify the attack on Sadam Husein’s Iraq based on fabricated evidence of the presence of weapons of mass destruction. In fact, geopolitical and economic factors (mostly control by the USA’s empire, aided by Israel, over oil reserves in the area) were the real reasons for the unilateral attack, which was opposed by most people in the world. More than a million people were killed during that war.
Kohout stood on board the submarine and during the daytime version of the performance, he repeatedly tried to dunk his head into the sand filling the oil barrel (used as the unit of measurement for the price of oil). During this “ostrich-like” action he repeatedly screamed “I can see oil under the sand, let us go ahead!” During the nighttime version, he repeatedly dunked his head under water filling the same barrel while screaming: “I can see sand under the water, let us go ahead!” His voice was amplified by powerful speakers.