An indispensable series of conversations on the nature of art and community have been taking place around the country as part of a project at the Center for Community Change. Called Bridge Conversations, they are being posted on Community Arts Network.

One of the things we learned is that some of the most creative strategies live in the intersections of disciplines, sectors, cultures and generations. We also found that many of the most effective people we met were those who are building bridges and creating hybrid and integrated programs and strategies. This series of essays seeks to learn from a diverse group of these creative people who recognize and further deep connections between environment, education, community development, politics, social service, public health and anthropology, and art and culture. While we started out focusing primarily on people’s work, we soon found that the journey to a holistic perspective includes people’s personal lives– how they grow up, how they connect cultures and world views and how they balance their personal life and their work.

Link

The Trap is a kaleidoscopic BBC documentary by Adam Curtis that examines the perilously flawed evolution of social theory underpinning Western foreign policy since the 1950’s. Curtis’ amazing use of archival footage– reminiscent of Robert Rauschenberg’s combine paintings– blend with carefully organized narrative and interviews with key players to make highly instructive viewing. The 3-hour journey moves through game theory, nuclear deterrence, market incentivization, R.D. Laing’s theories of family repression and on to genetic determinism, meritocracy, Prozac and finally neo-conservative interpretations of positive and negative liberty.

The program makes a compelling case that these flawed theories have been consistently embraced by both liberal and conservative ideologies and stand in the way of moving beyond our current state of peril.

The Trap - Part 1 Fuck You Buddy Part 2 The Lonely Robot Part 3 We Will Force You To Be Free

If you think coal is an inexpensive energy source, consider the price paid by the people of Southern Appalachia. For two years, filmmaker Michael O’Connell documented the struggle between West Virginia activists and coal companies over the mining practice known as mountaintop removal, during which explosives are used to remove 1,000 vertical feet of soil and rock. The process chokes the air and creates pools of toxic sludge, as the people of the region use every means of non-violent protest at their disposal, including a sit-in at the governor’s office, to save both their land and their lives.

O’Connell and activist Ed Wiley are expected to host a discussion following the screening at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York, Tuesday April 22, 2008 at 6:15 pm.

Here for an article.

Here for more info about the screening.

Eyebeam’s expansive exhibition FEEDBACK brings together a wide variety of artists, designers, architects and engineers on the topic of “sustainability”. Projects range from public art projects and industrial design to DIY energy solutions and software tools, to inspire discussion and action around a topic that is becoming increasingly meaningless and overused.

The works on display are intended to enlighten and entertain, and ultimately compel viewers to move beyond passive spectatorship. Some of the projects explore civic engagement: Lean Gauthier’s Sow-In (see image above) activates the public, in partnership with local community gardening groups, to sow the seeds of those food plants most in danger of extinction.

Rebecca Bray and Britta Riley’s DrinkPeeDrinkDrinkPee questions the role that our bodies play in larger eco-systems. The project includes an installation and a DIY kit for turning your pee into fertilizer. Other ones, such as Andrea Polli’s Queensbridge Wind Power Project, offer conceptual proposals. Polli investigates how clean renewable wind power might be integrated into the landmark architecture of the Queensboro Bridge.

FEEDBACK is there to challenge and inspire, and while doing so offers pro-active but critical alternatives to the unsustainability of our way of life and culture in general.

Here for Eyebeam.

Brian Boyko did a short-subject documentary (27 minutes) exploring the DIY/Maker movement via last Fall’s Maker Fair Austin.

The third annual Bay Area Maker Faire will be held May 3-4 at the San Mateo Fairgrounds. If it’s anything like last year’s, it should be a spectacular event. I’ll be there. Here’s what I had to say about last year’s Faire: Makers vs. The Blob.

Here to watch the documentary.
Here to find out more about Maker Faire.

When I was a teen, I had this perverse fantasy of wanting to break out into musical numbers in stultifying and stupid situations. Did life really have to be this routine? This predictable? This gol-dang sonambulistic?

Not if Improv Everywhere has anything to do with it. Originating in New York City, and now with growing chapters across the world, the group stages elaborate musical numbers in public places, such as this one, done in a mall food court. The group is also involved in the No Pants events, where people agree to ride the subways (of New York, DC, and other cities), on a given day and time, sans pants. The whole thing is coordinated online so that participants get on at different stops, giving the appearance of a spontaneous desire on the part of citizens to drop trou.

There appears to be a growing “movement” of people interested in doing these sorts of playful dada-esque street actions. Zombie walks are another, where groups of seemingly unconnected people show up in an urban area in full Zombie costume and makeup, shuffling along, mewing for brains. All of these types of events use emailing lists, sites and services like Facebook and Twitter, and the supreme tool for so-called “flash mobbing,” the mobile phone/text messaging to organize.

I for one can’t wait to see more of this sort of thing and can’t wait to be on a street corner or in a dreary mall food court when somebody busts out into a showy number, ’cause I’m going to join in. Hell, maybe I won’t even wait. “Springtime for Hitler” in Lafayette Park, anyone?

Here for more about Improv Everywhere.
Here for Improv Everywhere Global.
Here for more on Zombie crawls
(more…)

One of my biggest pet peeves- and I know for many of you its the same- is to find out about a concert, a conference or any kind of cool event that sparks my interest, after it has already taken place. Therefore, please mark the dates of this years’ Split This Rock Poetry Festival into your calendars!
From March 20 through March 23, 2008, Split This Rock Poetry Festival: Poems of Provocation & Witness will feature America’s top activist poets reading, performing, sharing, and teaching their craft in Washington, DC. Split This Rock Poetry Festival aims to bring greater attention to national heroes – activist poets who are tackling these tough times through art. The location and lineup are great and the program sounds highly promising!

Bringing together poets and activists, training workshops on news media, writing strong op-ed pieces, using poetry to empower the disenfranchised, and integrating poetry into political activism will provide you with the tools you need to be an effective advocate at the local and national level. Poetry readings, film screenings and walking tours will let you discover the rich literary and activist history of Washington DC. During the afternoon panels you can network with like-minded people and share your words and ideas with others!
Come celebrate the power of the written and spoken word and sign up now!

African cartoon and comic strips have a long-standing history, which in some countries reaches back for more than 40 years. Drawing upon the rich traditions of storytelling, portraiture, mask-making, pictograms, and ideographic carvings, the cartoonists typically lace these cultural elements with a healthy serving of satirical French journalism. By using caricature as a form of resistance, names such as Messager Popoli and L’Oeil du Sahel have made a deep impact on the African journalistic landscape, blatantly attacking and ridiculing the hierarchies and contradictions of African societies and politics with their work. Considering the political dynamic of the African nations between 1960 -1990, many cartoonists have been threatened, harassed, exiled, kidnapped and some even killed.

Today however, the comic strip is no longer limited to political commentary, but is evolving into a powerful vehicle for education, development, information sharing, and empowerment. Thanks to the internet, artists are able to produce and distribute their comic strips more easily and evade censorship stipulations. Covering problematic and sensitive topics such as human rights violations, HIV, torture in prison, child soldiers, the role of women in society, politics, tribal conflict, and the empowerment of minority groups, the comic strips have become a vital tool in raising awareness, educating the people and promoting social change.

Even though the majority of the comic books tend to be grim and dark they are always vivid and highly expressive. The artistic and thematic diversity is infinite, as books and strips range from political cartoons to pop-cultural formats, may come in color or black and white, can be hand drawn, painted, collaged, or even created on the computer. As some artists are slowly beginning to win international recognition, domestically the comic strips are central in shaping modern African consciousness and culture, as they are able to galvanize, educate and give a voice to the underprivileged.

Although it is hard to come across these comic strips or books on this side of the world, once you do get your hands on one of them, you are guaranteed to be holding a beautiful piece of art in your hands and a unique insight into the mystical world of African modernity.

Janez Drnovsek recently completed his term as Slovenian President during which he managed to peacefully lead his country from Communism to democracy and on to membership in the European Union. But perhaps more remarkably he accomplished this while on a spiritual journey brought on by multiple cancer diagnoses. In 1999, in response to his fatal diagnosis, he rebalanced his life by adopting a vegan diet and moving to a remote village. He became a champion of the environment, animal rights and the oppressed, including the Roma people.

While his unorthodox behavior and writings are derided by members of the government, he is a source of pride among the Slovenian people and an example for future change in the Balkan region. His books are not yet available in English.
Article from Timesonline

See also Eurozine for an excellent series of articles on Slovenia: here.

What could possibly be wrong with pointing out overlooked or neglected public services and spaces by improving them? Isn’t that the summit of responsibility: to go out, act and change society actively? Does it influence our perception of such actions when people operate outside our legal system in carrying them out? Maybe it is too dissident to imagine a society which greatly benefits from highly illegal but well-executed actions.

Here are a few examples of projects carried out illegally in the public sphere but were nevertheless designed to make a difference:

- UnterGunther is a Swiss-French urban explorers team whose main activity is to restore invisible parts of public heritage in total clandestinity. They infiltrated the Pantheon in Paris and started, with the help of professional clockmaker Jean-Baptiste Viot, to restore the abandoned monumental 1850 Wagner clock. By secretly organizing workshops, the clock is now operational again after years of bureaucratic neglect.

In a recent interview the subversive potential of their acts is being discussed: “We are the counterpoint to an era where everything is slow and complicated. It’s very difficult to get anything done through official channels. If you want to do it, you have to be clandestine.”

- Dressed as city state employees, an artist collective in LA named Guerilla Public Service, decided to install a better series of signs to aid drivers to their destination and ease traffic blockage. Their actions effect positive change, they want “to prove the integrity of the arts, its place in culture and why civilization needs it.”

- Also: remember our post about guerilla gardening, the idea to garden in public urban spaces, armed with trowels, plants, and vision: here and here.

I find it fascinating to see how society fails in dealing with these sudden ruptures in its own bureaucratic, over-regulated and mal-functioning structure. The projects point towards the benefit of the subversive improvement of everyday life: the things we notice, don’t notice and what we take for granted.