A performance and lecture about experts, charlatans, chemtrails and smokescreens, and conspiracies accelerated by celebrities, at Down the Rabbit Hole 2022.
In The Last Expert, protagonist Alban Karsten explains how he joined UFO-hotline and conspiracy platform Niburu, and became a leading chemtrail expert there.
“Chemtrails are the white traces left in the air when a plane flies over. Those trails are actually clouds of chemicals — they contain microparticles of aluminium and barium — used by shadow governments for a range of nasty reasons, such as weather modification, psychological manipulation, human population control, biological or chemical warfare, and so on.”
The Last Expert is an exercise in case-building. Through charts, it shows how a conspiracy theory can cause collective outrage, which functions as a ritual that may eventually lead to enlightenment. It explains that the total number of Catholics in the world is smaller than the number of people who believe in chemtrails, and most of all, it clarifies what an expert is, and how the amateur and the charlatan compare. The expert also covers various witness accounts.
“Anton hired me as a chemtrail expert shortly after our conversation based on facts I presented to him, which I had taken from his own website. It worried me somewhat that the people who wrote and published so much about conspiracies were so easily persuaded. Had I made them believe in my story by blinding them with their own words? Or did they trust my words so firmly because they wanted them to be true?”
Made possible with the kind support of Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst and Koen’s Coaching Kantoor.
Outfit by: Jackie Forro
Drawings by the pupils of: De Havenrakkers (Broek in Waterland, year 2 and 3), OBS De Boog (Rotterdam, year 8) and Johannesschool (Amsterdam, year 8)
Performance advice by: Kitty Maria
Pictures by: Ellis Kat
