National contest held for international art show submission

ROSEWOOD – Überstadt’s participation in the 1st Venedigbiennalen for Micronations has been confirmed, and the Culture Ministry is holding a national competition to choose an artwork to send to the show in Sweden this September.

King Adam sent an announcement to all citizens Saturday night that they are all invited to submit works of art for consideration to send to the exhibition, which will be the first major international display of micronational art. The Überstadti government intends to feature all citizen submissions in a future publication aimed at highlighting artistic achievement in Überstadt.

The Vendigbiennalen will feature public displays of micronational art of various media in “micro-pavilions” roughly the size of birdhouses. According to the event website, the exhibit’s opening will feature “micro-speeches” and “micro-celebrations.” Other participating nations include Aerica and Ladonia.

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New Bandish diarchs take throne

ROSEWOOD – Thursday saw the annual coronation ceremony in the Band Room Realms and the formal establishment of a diarchy there, with King Ethan and Queen Harper ascending the Throne of Chairs.

Though their predecessors all gave speeches issuing their first decrees and court appointments from atop the throne, the new rulers chose to postpone any lawgiving, which will require their mutual consent.

In appointing two successors, departing Queen Kaylee broke the five-year tradition of Bandish monarchy in favor of co-rule by a king and queen. She described this as a way to promote gender equality in the Realms, and stipulated that sitting Kings and Queens of the Band Room must never be romantically involved.

Kaylee was the first female sovereign of the Realms, and is widely considered a reformer. Many remember her for decreeing at her coronation that her subjects must be kind. One foreign analyst described her as “smashing patriarchy in the Band Room,” given her breaking of a glass ceiling, proclamation of the gender-equal diarchy, and introduction of a tiara to the Bandish crown jewels for the use of successive queens.

The ceremony of mounting a pyramid of classroom chairs and auto-coronation occurs every June at Mountlake Terrace High School, traditionally making the new ruler the nominal governor of the school’s band room during their senior year. Ethan and Harper embody the sixth generation of this institution, which was established by King Franklin, a classmate of King Adam of Überstadt, in 2012.