Birth(+)Fact(x)Death(-)Calendar ||| 22 July 2006

Birth(+)Fact(x)Death(-) Calendar

On 7 September Markov was stabbed in the back of his right thigh with an umbrella while waiting at a bus stop on Waterloo Bridge. The pellet measured 1.70 mm in diameter and was composed of 90% platinum and 10% iridium. It had two holes with diameters of 0.35 mm drilled through it producing an X-shaped cavity. A sugary substance coated the tiny holes creating a bubble which trapped the ricin inside the cavities. The specially crafted coating was designed to melt at 37° C. After the pellet was shot into Markov the coating melted and the ricin was free to be absorbed into the bloodstream and kill him. Regardless of whether the doctors treating Markov had known that the poison was ricin the result would have been the same as there was no known antidote to ricin at the time.
(11 September 1978)

Birth(+)Fact(x)Death(-)Calendar 1990

There are 3359 births, 3911 deaths, 1122 murders, 494 disasters and 2072 other events about 5713 people in 6416 places until today.

Birth(+)Fact(x)Death(-) Calendar is an ongoing project since 1985 by DDV.

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BirthFactDeath (x) Saturday 22nd of July 2006 18 years ago
47-year-old performance artist Danny Devos aka DDV performs 'He Just Wanted to Play in his Bath Tube and Put a Finger in his Ass' in Vilma Gold Gallery, Schlesische Straße 26, Kreuzberg, Berlin, Berlin, Germany. During a live video-performance by artist Brock Enright the audience was encouraged to react to notes he wrote before a camera from his New York bathroom. He smeared ketchup all over himself and tried to provoke some violence from the audience. After a while I stepped in front of the camera and told him I wanted real blood. He kept provoking and wrote “I’m scared”. I took a shard of glass from the floor and cut my chest until blood streamed down, put my shirt back on and left.