To the surprise of—well, someone, we suppose—the mind behind Mom Air has announced that the whole thing is, indeed, and has been an art project all along.
As reported, the Grapevine and others had suspicions that Mom Air—which bears a strikingly similar logo, colour scheme, and overall theme as defunct budget airline Wow Air—might not actually be a brand new budget airline that appeared to come to life within the span of just under a month, but a performance art project of some kind. This was, in part, on account of the ISNIC registry for momair.is showing the domain name belongs to artist Oddur Eysteinn Friðriksson, as the site is directly registered by a one OEF3-IS, which is the same individual who registered and owns the domain for Oddur’s home page, raising further questions about the validity of the airline.
While Oddur insisted “I want to make it clear that Mom Air is not a performance of any sort. We are talking about a new airline on the market that will change the history of Icelandic aviation,” doubts still remained.
Today, Oddur sent out a press release removing any doubts whatsoever regarding what Mom Air actually is. In a statement to the press, Oddur confirmed that this is his final project for the Iceland University of the Arts, and is being shown at the artist-run space OPEN at Grandagarður 27 in Reykjavík.
“People from around the globe have interacted with the piece in some way shape or form,” Oddur says. “With over 30 global news articles, radio interviews, and more the global phenomenon MOM air reached millions and literally turned their reality upside down.”
Oddur added that he had deliberately frustrated anyone’s efforts to make headway on the official site, contending that attention to the project grew rapidly.
“I created the brand, website, and marketing material during preparations for the final project, which took about 2-3 weeks. After launching the website and sending out press releases the artwork gained a life of its own. Every 6-8 hours I would change the errors people would encounter on the website to keep them busy and involved. At first, they would be stuck on a loading screen, then advance one step, they would be asked to clear their cache or cookies, open the website in different browsers and devices, etc.
“I received dozens of complaints, thousands of booking requests, thousands of followers on Instagram, multiple job applications, thousands of comments, global coverage reaching millions, influencer cooperation, company sponsorship, multiple service offers, and more!
“At one point I had been offered a fleet of airplanes, service and cabin crew… slots at airports and marketing assistance from a global enterprise.”
Oddur believes the purpose of the project should be “quite obvious” while at the same time “also very dependant on where and how the viewer enters and interacts with the artwork. The artwork is multi-layered and full of meaning. It will take me months to dissect the pure amount of data for future exhibition purposes.”
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