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

Most Americans have a pretty good idea of the number of US casualties in the Iraq war, but a recent study showed that many are oblivious or completely underestimate the number of Iraqi civilian killed over the past five years after US-Iraq invasion.

“Margot Norris explains the discrepancy between public perception and body count data as the result of de facto practices by the Pentagon. By restricting press access to the suffering, the government systematically obscures public knowledge, which in turn blocks affect, empathy, and protest. The moral and political defeat in Vietnam helped usher in the illusion that human loss is irrelevant to military success.”

Currently a graduate student at MIT’s Media Lab, Alyssa Wright’s mobile protest art piece aims at depicting the death toll of Iraqi civilians. The project consists of a backpack, two confetti cannons, and a GPS unit. Every night the location of the most recent bombings in Baghdad are downloaded onto the unit and superimposed onto a map of the city of Boston. When the next day a person wearing the backpack enters a site in Boston which corresponds to that of a bombed location in Baghdad, the cannons immediately fire thousands of paper scraps into the air, each inscribed with the name of a civilian who died in the war.

To read more about the Cherry Blossom Project click this link.

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!

Would you associate Palestine with beauty? According to mainstream media the area is only characterised by ongoing conflicts and continuous aggression. But here is a book by Dutch artist Annelies De Vet showing a moving, beautiful, poetic, at times even ordinary, side of Palestine. The Subjective Atlas of Palestine was initiated during a workshop in which four Dutch artists worked together with Palestinian designers, artists, photographers, architects and students. It shows a variety of drawings, photographs and maps that reveal individual and subjective life experiences giving a different angle on a nation in occupied territory. Here’s what Culiblog had to say:

Reading the Subjective Atlas of Palestine, one feels it is about home, and certainly it is an hour’s perusal in which you will not think about war or occupation. More likely you’ll be triggered to remember lingering for a whiff of fresh sesame bread sold on the street, or of the social obligations associated with a cultural agenda filled with entirely too much Mozart. Palestine, it’s just as much alike and different from everywhere else, right? Could be that an admittedly subjective view is in fact the most accurate.

Here for more info on ‘the atlas’.

The Constitution of Japan was written by US army officials in 1947. Parts of Article 9, known as the peace constitution, renounces war and possession of potentially belligerent forces as the sovereign rights of the nation:

ARTICLE 9. Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.

This unique provision in the peace clause of the Constitution reflects the former idealism of the American New Dealers. Faced with current political instability in Asia and uprising nationalism, its very existence is now being questioned. The exhibition Into The Atomic Sunshine, opening January 12 at the Puffin Room in New York, shows artistic responses to a Japanese climate where the Constitution is faced with the possibility of being revised. Organized by the young Japanese curator Shinya Watanabe, works by Allora & Calzadilla, Eric Van Hove, Yoko Ono, and Yuken Teruya (see image), among others, will attempt to raise awareness of the influence of the peace Constitution in shaping post-war Japan.

Here for the Puffin Room.

Kosovo’s capital: Pristina

Provisions recently embarked on an exciting trip to research social and artistic developments in the Balkans as the region enters what will hopefully be an extended period of peace, reconciliation and rebuilding. Journalist and long-time Provisions Fellow John Feffer joined us on the trip and has just published an article in The American Prospect highlighting some of the people we interviewed. In the coming months we will be creating a website with all 22 interviews, photographs and artworks, which will in turn be the basis for further research, an exchange project and eventually a traveling exhibition.

In 2002, internet art pioneers Entropy8Zuper! founded the company Tale of Tales. Their aim is to produce alternative video games for a niche market that does not enjoy the violence and blood-shedding of most mainstream games. They design and develop immersive web sites and multimedia environments with a strong emphasis on narration, play, emotion and sensuality. They engage poetic narratives and simple controls.

The Endless Forest is a multiplayer online game and social screensaver. When your computer goes to sleep you appear as a deer in a magical place. There are no goals to achieve or rules to follow, just run through the forest and see what happens. You are a deer and so are the other players; you meet each other in an endless forest on the internet, a virtual place where you can play with friends. The setting is idyllic, the atmosphere peaceful.

Furtherfield is currently hosting a retrospective of their work.

Here for Tale of Tales.