Surprise! Biggest drawing now biggest GPS hoax in the world

We had a pretty good idea that not only was this whole "Biggest Drawing in the World" business fake, but also impossible. First, we were skeptical that DHL could make deliveries based on coordinate instructions. Then, we determined -- with little effort -- that the little campaign was a DHL ad. Now we have a straight-up admission from artist Erik Nordenenkar and DHL that entire thing was fictional. Appearing at the bottom of Erik's site -- after the fact and millions of hits -- are the following words: "This is fictional work. DHL did not transport the GPS at any time." Meanwhile, DHL offered that this was an innocent college project and they were happy to let Nordenenkar film in their warehouse, use their name, and make false claims regarding the whole shenanigan. So, there you have it. The videos, briefcase, DHL receipts -- all spam. Move along.

[Via Wired]

[Chino B @ May 28th 2008 3:16AM]

Yea, I didn't believe it either.

[ByronGman @ May 28th 2008 3:40AM]

I still believe.

[j_g_puff @ May 28th 2008 4:10AM]

What did you expect? He's ginger.

[BananaBoat @ May 28th 2008 6:09AM]

I didn't believe it either....but to find out that DHL was implicit in the hoax? Wow....just wow....

[Ayman @ May 28th 2008 7:55AM]

WHAT DHL ISN'T REAL!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just sent my Harvard application with them

[Hguh @ May 28th 2008 3:57PM]

Ayman, I think even Harvard requires you to know how to use punctuation

[Slingshotz06 @ May 28th 2008 3:16AM]

I called it. POS needs to fucking fly over one of those coordinates that dont exist and jump off the airplane without a shoot.

[Jeff @ May 28th 2008 10:49AM]

I called it too. What ever happened to good old fashioned skepticism? I can understand some of the commenters not seeing it - not everybody here's got the experience to see through stuff like this - but come on, Engadget. How about not posting every dumb little thing you find on the net as if it's god's honest truth before at least questioning it?

[BlowURmindBowel @ May 28th 2008 12:22PM]

chute? as in parachute? Or were you talking about not wetting his whistle before the decent?

Vocabu-troll AWAY! *runs off holding one arm straight out ahead...

[chezzo @ Jun 2nd 2008 10:39AM]

@ Blowurmindbowel

When mocking somebody's spelling, it's probably best not to spell "descent" wrong...

[chezzo @ Jun 2nd 2008 10:40AM]

(although I just started a sentence with a preposition so I'm not really one to talk either)

[Danamal @ May 28th 2008 3:17AM]

The U-turns in the middle of the ocean all make sense now!

[ChiWax @ May 28th 2008 3:19AM]

At least this site is admitting one falsehood....one...Q

[Ian @ May 28th 2008 3:19AM]

now some one is actually going to make on (thats possible)

[waiownsyou @ May 28th 2008 3:22AM]

Look at me, I'm surprised it was a hoax! WEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

[Reid @ May 28th 2008 3:44AM]

Seemed obvious just by fuel requirements alone. How could a plane fly for that long?

[Reader @ May 31st 2008 7:25PM]

Rofl.

[BigDaddyM @ May 28th 2008 3:46AM]

Free advertising for DHL by letting looking the other way during "an innocent college project"?
M

[why not the LS2LS7? @ May 28th 2008 3:53AM]

Don't you feel the least bit bad for printing this spam?

Twice now?

[Wwhat @ May 28th 2008 9:22AM]

Teaches people to not be so trusting you could argue, and that can't harm to be repeated.

[Wwhat @ May 28th 2008 9:25AM]

P.S. Remember that when calling DHL over a package.

[wasabi @ May 28th 2008 3:58AM]

dhl lost my friend's dreamcast way back when... i doubt they can get something of this proportion correctly had it been true.

[David @ May 28th 2008 6:32AM]

It probably got caught in the beard

[collide007 @ May 28th 2008 4:01AM]

I for one am crushed, my dreams shattered into a million tiny pieces.

[torqueo @ May 28th 2008 4:11AM]

Oooooh snap!

[superted @ May 28th 2008 4:15AM]

I'm amazed people thought this was possible in the first place!

Some of those loops out over oceans would be entirely pointless - imagine the carbon footprint of that!

(not that I really understand what a carbon footprint is)

[Wwhat @ May 28th 2008 1:43PM]

Pay the right people some money and they'll rub out the atmosphere and have it floating face-down in the hudson.
He should have claimed it was done in a US army transport though, think of the secret plot stories! and the outcry about the military and the government, plus once he admitted it was a hoax people could have blamed the jewish lobby.

[Richard Lai @ May 28th 2008 4:20AM]

What a loser...

[Darkroom @ May 28th 2008 4:28AM]

i know right... i would like my 2 minutes back from reading about this...

[Zuke @ May 28th 2008 4:28AM]

In my experience, DHL sucks worse at deliveries than the USPS or the pony express. This story doesn't surprise me at all. Morons.

[Pepsipoint @ May 28th 2008 4:46AM]

obviously though, it got everyone here talking about DHL. I'm sure from an advertisement standpoint they scored. Now we wait for the carrier pigeon UPS GPS drawing.

[brad @ May 28th 2008 11:19PM]

I don't agree. Being a part of a huge hoax isn't really good for a company. They expect me to trust them with my shipments, when they are outright dishonest in an attempt to grab attention.

Plus, now here everyone is talking about "oh man, here's all the ways DHL sucks"

[dervheid @ May 28th 2008 5:00AM]

wanker!

[NG @ May 28th 2008 5:06AM]

Maybe he's got no talent, thats why he had to fake it.

[ReggieXuk @ May 28th 2008 5:11AM]

when have we ever known humans that never took advantage.

filthy lol

[ecobore @ May 28th 2008 5:16AM]

This was obviously a fake from the word go! For a start there are not many GPS tracking devices (any?!?!) that will work from inside the belly of a cargo airplane or the back of a DHL van!

[jas0nuk @ May 28th 2008 6:25AM]

Uh... and he actually expected people to believe that it was real?

[Javaflash @ May 28th 2008 6:36AM]

Let's not give this dude too much credit. "Biggest?" Yeah right.

[Pradster @ May 28th 2008 7:16AM]

Oh sure! You knew it all along!


And you still put up the post, yeah right...

[Charles R Hamilton @ May 28th 2008 7:44AM]

Gee, never saw this coming.

[Hither N Yon @ May 28th 2008 8:00AM]

I hope someone kicks his ass.

[Tom @ May 28th 2008 8:29AM]

You gotta give the guy some credit for his concept - the idea of creating the biggest, best, bad-assest drawing ever that isn't even a drawing (it's just numbers representing a drawing, retranslated into a smaller drawing) - it's a neat idea. So what if he needed to fake it to accomplish his idea - actually that's just huge props to DHL for being a modern company that openly works with artists.

So, props all around - I thought it was real before too, but I don't feel hosed or insulted now that I know it's a fake. The idea of the huge drawing is bigger than the drawing itself, so it's all good.

[Richard Lai @ May 28th 2008 7:39PM]

I think to make this happen, he could have just published this as a concept, rather than misleading people into thinking that it had actually happened. This is what made him a douchebag.

[Tom @ May 28th 2008 7:48PM]

Part of the art is making it believable. I'm a photographer - is it misleading if I photograph a scene in the lighting studio that looks real but totally isn't? No - that's part of the craft. Nobody would take you seriously if all you did was publish books on your photographic ideas, people take you seriously if you go forward with them in whatever way you can.

This guy is a conceptual artist. This was his concept, and this was his way of telling the story of his concept the best way he could. So, no he's not a douchebag. If anything, you're the d-bag for calling him one and not even trying to understand what his art is. He wasn't even trying to mislead you - he put the disclaimer on his own website.

[LarryLarryLarry @ May 28th 2008 9:08PM]

Yes, outright lying and fraud is highly admirable. You're right.

[Tom @ May 28th 2008 9:14PM]

Yes, because putting a big red disclaimer on the front page of his website is lying and fraudulent. RTFA.
http://biggestdrawingintheworld.com/drawing.aspx

And for christ's sake, he wasn't trying to trick the world - it was his thesis project for Graphic Design. Do you know what art is? You're taking this WAY too seriously.

[Richard Lai @ May 28th 2008 11:53PM]

@Tom: it was misleading because he claimed that he actually did it. If it was meant to be conceptual then it should have been labelled that way, instead of saying it actually happened.

I'm a photographer too, and if I were to exhibit my photos I would have stated clearly (and honestly) which categories they belong to.

[Tom @ May 29th 2008 2:13AM]

Who says art should be clearly labeled, documented, archived and accepted by the general public? How freaking dumb would it be if you walked into a museum like the Dia: Beacon and every piece had a disclaimer: "This is a conceptual piece"? In fact, you walk into a place like that and you *assume* that the art is conceptually based. So, you must take into account the original context here - a Graphic Design Thesis Exhibit. I don't think this would be remotely in the realm of dishonest to begin with, but especially given its context as a student piece meant as a "final project" before graduating. Meant to exhibit skill in both execution and concept.

Would you call a work of fiction novel dishonest because it portrays itself as reality within itself? Absolutely not! Now, you might say this because the book is clearly labeled within the store and library as a fiction title - however the author usually makes no intention of where it will be categorized for him or her when creating the piece. In fact, I'm sure most writers would be quite content allowing their work to be in an un-categorized goo of books, allowing their work to be freely interpreted by the reader. The act of categorizing lies within the hands of the bookkeeper - not the novelist.

Now, if you want to go around strictly categorizing and labeling other artwork further and more obviously than it already is, so be it - but you will take with you the heart and soul of what the art of creation and thought is. I think it's fitting to assume the card catalog system found in libraries was invented by an accountant rather than a fellow artist.

[james @ May 28th 2008 9:19AM]

I didn't question its fakeness for a second. It's too bad it got this much attention. It wasn't even a well done hoax.

[Wwhat @ May 28th 2008 9:21AM]

Modelled after a modern BBC (etcetera) documentary then I guess, fake is as good as reality..