Thursday Idea blog #7

In attempting to figure out where i'm going with the other less lethal weapons in my projects i've been considering how they relate to the objects used by protest groups against institutions, buildings and representatives of state power. Maybe a side by side comparison of relating objects in diptych form would be a good way to present them. paint bombs or glitter grenades compared to tear gas, gas masks to bandannas, whip cream pies compared to pepper spray, signs to batons. One image contrasting the vibrant colors and energy of actions such as funk the war against the dark and more uniform color palette of the police force.

Monday Artist BLOG // Bash Back

Human Rights Campaign HQ Glamdalized By Queers Against Assimilation

HRC headquarters was rocked by an act of glamdalism last night by a crew of radical queer and allied folks armed with pink and black paint and glitter grenades. Beside the front entrance and the inscribed mission statement now reads a tag, “Quit leaving queers behind.”

the most recent large Bash Back! action is a good example of using alternative tactics in the pursuit of militant action. In this case the "glamdalism" included glitter grenades (probably glitter and glue in lightbulb or water balloon) along with paint bombs. their actions often take on performative aspects as is a strong tradition in resistance movements. In a Memphis, Tenn action a hearse and coffin were sent to the home of an officer alleged to be a part of the beating death of a Memphis transgendered person. Past actions have taken the tone of a radicalized be in staging a queer kiss-in in the large Mount Hope megachurch outside Lansing, MI in '08.

Often in modern resistance movements large symbolic actions and events are staged to disrupt or draw attention to events an issues using a tactical presence that relates directly to the performance art traditions of happenings and be-in's. The tactic of occupying space and opening it up to free expression is a practice that has seen the participation of many groups such as Reclaim the Streets out of the UK and europe in the 90s leading today into the tactics of bashback! funk the war and other groups and actions.

thursday Idea blog #6

I'm currently exploring ways to expand my work beyond the use of handcuffs on to at least one other less lethal class weapon used by state and national law enforcement agencies. the ones that appeal most are pepper sprays (OC) and CS/CN gasses also known as tear gas. from my personal experience with both of these items the more visually appealing of the two is the tear gas that often is tinted in many shades of color some bright such as the blue tear gas i deployed against myself and 400 others at the RNC in 2008 in St Paul, Minnesota. In conversations with Paul we've discussed how the tactics employed by the students for a democratic society members that were there employing the funk the war model of street action creates a different visual presence than the more common black bloc set of tactics. While both often employ the same militant actions, the taking and holding of physical space, redecoration of the urban landscape, and occasionally the destruction of private property, the perception of the groups in the media and public view have very different characters. I've often joked at funk the war actions that "we bring the music, the police bring the light show." and in working with this project i'm interested in finding a middle ground where the weapons of state power meet the vibrant visual textures of the funk the war street tactic.


its these images versus

Monday Artist BLOG // Brian Ulrich

Brian Ulrich's work explores our relationship to consumerism in the post 9/11 economic and social environment. His work uses the camera as a way to create a space in which the viewer can become critical of capital driven environments. While searching for a way to capture the the new social interactions that formed after 9/11 Ulrich was inspired to move indoors to retail spaces upon the "fight terror go shopping" moment. In photographing he found that rather than the interactions between people, the interactions between people and the products and spaces they engaged with were the most interesting relationships to examine. sometimes his work is exclusively about the retail spaces whether they are in use such as the shots taken inside home depot and target but in the more recent work he turns his camera toward the collapsing and abandoned architecture of former retail spaces.

I found his analytical statements about consumer culture and consumer spaces to be of great value to my work. In talking about retail spaces and his photographs of them he mentions how the architecture is designed to wear down the consumer, to make them feel small and to never allow them the space to engage critically with the environment. In his photographs the objects often become stand ins for people not within the frame documenting their traces left behind.

RESET

reset and catch up time!

ARTIST BLOG PENELOPE UMBRICO

artist lecture was awesome!!!

I found some of the language she used to describe her work immediately interesting. In her process she talks about using fragments of other images to create a desired whole. I've been thinking about my project and the function of the photographs i'm taking as more relating to consumerism and the inherent violence of capitalism lately so the lecture she provided us really helped to move those thoughts forward.

Another phrase she used that i really latched onto was the"purgatory of consumerism" she used to refer to a series of works that are all slightly out of focus. she used the phrase in relation to the way consumerism places our consciousness in a frame of reference to objects and obscures our ability to see the whole picture clearly. Perhaps my photos can begin to function as a solution by placing the relationship we have with capital and consumerism in a clear image using the language of capitalism and fashion to deliver the content.

My favorite part of the lecture was when she went into detail about the series of mirrors. As part of her discussion of them she mentioned the idea that in the advertisements when looking at the mirrors the viewer becomes erased and replaced by objects for sale that appear in the viewers position within the environment.

Thursday Idea blog #5

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=108388646279717843565.00047511f1c3e76b114a4&t=h&z=16

Inspired by the radical cartography post i've been mapping the locations of the mass arrests i've been performing. i'm thinking about how my locations reflect ongoing police raids and arrests. last week a home in New York City was raided by the JTTF (joint terrorism task force) and the inhabitance detained. the warrant was issued based on the alleged use of the inhabitance of twitter during the protests in pittsburgh the week before. In response i performed several arrests in the home of a student here in richmond.
i'm not sure how i will use the mapped information but it may be useful in creating visuals for the project.

MONDAY ARTIST BLOG // the institute for applied autonomy

I recently picked up a book/map collection titled
An-Atlas of Radical Cartography

included in the book is a map by designers Site-R based on the work of The Institute for Applied Autonomy's isee project
a video on the project follows

iSee - The Institute for Applied Autonomy from Rich Pell on Vimeo.

from the radical cartography website a short bio of the Institute

"Institute for Applied Autonomy was founded in 1998 as an anonymous collective of engineers, designers, artists and activists who are united by the cause of individual and collective self-determination. The IAA has produced several projects under its flagship initiative, "Contestational Robotics." Their work has been seen at MassMoCA; Ars Electronica Festival (where it has won awards in 2000 and 2006); ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany; and the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati. TXTMob, a recent project, was a cellphone text message broadcast service widely used by demonstrators during the 2004 DNC and RNC protests and at election protests in the Ukraine and Washington D.C. www.appliedautonomy.com"

An essay on the project is presented in the companion book to the set of maps
from the essay

"As Cities like Boston, Chicago, and Washington DC implement city-wide video surveillance programs, grassroots efforts to map CCTV networks take on the crucial role if creating public proofs that both document and challenge emerging infrastructures of control. CCTV maps have rhetorical value in raising awareness and provoking public debate. They also have analytic value, enabling citizen-science of surveillance in which surveillance systems are monitored and evaluated by the communities they purport to serve."

for me lately the there have been two main questions related to the content and process of my work. I feel like this mapping project has found answers to both. the first being how to identify the subject matter and record its presence. in this case it was CCTV cameras and the participation of the public in researching their location. The second is how the information functions and what can be done with it. The information provides a open ended collection of data that can be used by anyone for whatever aims related to the location and number of CCTV cameras. the end product presented in this work is a poster that documents several paths of least surveillance available to the public for whatever aims they choose to use them for.