An art student at a university in Iceland used the branding of Akureyri, Iceland-based fishing and processing company Samherji to issue a fake apology for the firm’s role in an infamous corruption scandal in Namibia.
Now, Samherji now wants the High Court of London to force the artist to take his artwork down.
The international fishing conglomerate has filed a complaint against Oddur Eysteinn Friðriksson, an artist who created the online campaign "We're Sorry!" on a website titled Samherji.co.uk.
Based on the design of Samherji’s corporate identity, the art student made it look as though the company was officially apologizing for its wrongdoings in Namibia during the Fishrot scandal, originally publicized in 2019, in which the company is accused of having bribed public officials to attain large fishing quotas and evade taxes in the process.
“I created this fictional apology from Samherji, which I believe is the only thing that could actually settle this black spot in the history of Namibia and Iceland,” Friðriksson said.
The website, which is currently inactive after the court agreed to give Samherji an interim injunction to temporarily remove it, was part of a college project Friðriksson worked on at Iceland University of Arts. The university showcased a version of the art in its annual graduation exhibit, but on the exhibit’s opening day, 18 May 2023, Friðriksson received the first complaint from Samherji.
“On the same day that the exhibition opened, I got a huge stack of papers from the lawyers of Samherji, and I had 48 hours to appear before a judge in London and defend myself,” Friðriksson said.
From 25 to 26 September 2024, the London court will decide whether the case will proceed or if Samherji can get the injunction against the artist decided on a summary judgment, meaning that the judge will make a decision without a trial. If the artist loses the case, he could be ordered to pay Samherji’s legal fees.
The artist’s defense lawyer, Andra Matei, asked that the court let the case go to trial with an amended defense of “freedom of expression,” an argument she hopes can be heard by the court to create a precedent.
“It's very important for every one of us and for the society as a whole because it discusses what happens when you have a big corporation, be it fishing or anything else that is suing an artist, when the artist is speaking about their wrongdoings,” Matei said.
The Samherji site was not the first project Friðriksson, whose artist name is ODEE, has received attention for, as some of his "culture jamming" campaigns – a line of artwork that aims at manipulating media to get a particular message out – have received publicity around the world.
In August 2024, he spun the Starbucks announcement that the coffee chain was opening its first location in Iceland by announcing it wasn't true and that he had been behind the fake messaging from the beginning. In November 2020, he made a spoof airline called "Mom Airline," which charged for toilet paper and offered flights during the Covid-19 pandemic for people who had tested positive for the virus – a campaign picked up by international media such as CNN.
However, Friðriksson had never been sued for his artwork before the Samherji campaign.
"Before my artwork was published, there had been no official support or apology of unity from Iceland with the Namibians," he said. "My main objective was a sincere apology to the Namibians."
The artist said that if he loses in court, he will be ordered to take down the art piece.
“This would mean I would have to destroy my project, and basically, after that, I'm not allowed to talk about [Samherji] in my art in the future,” Friðriksson said.
The project went from being about corporate responsibility to now centering on freedom of speech, Friðriksson said.
“This would be very limiting to my freedom of speech and expression and just erase five years of my life if this would come to fruition. Also, it could have a very deterring effect on artists or anyone else speaking up," he said.
Friðriksson has received support from, among others, the Federation of Icelandic Artists, which released a statement proclaiming “emphatic support to the performance artist ODEE’s fight for his freedom of expression” and calling on Samherji to drop the lawsuit.
To Samherji, the artwork is an attack on its brand. In a letter published on the company’s website, Samherji CEO and Founder Thorsteinn Már Baldvinsson explained why the company is pursuing action.
“At Samherji, we can't accept this kind of abuse. Our position is that this has nothing to do with art or freedom of expression but that we have a right and duty to protect that company's brand,” he said in May 2024.
