Candy Raver Russian Revolutionaries

Not everyone has much faith in art-activism, but you can’t please ’em all. Do symbolic protests accomplish anything more than raising morale for the protesters? If not is it enough to simply raise morale? Or do actions like this War prank create temporary autonomous zones and manifest, albeit briefly, the type of reality the activists …

Oh Yes They Did! – artnet Magazine

My take is a little different. If anything, I think activists are already excessively focused on the media. People often judge the success of a demonstration primarily on how much media coverage it receives, rather than seeing demonstrations as a place to gain confidence, meet people and groups, and build the core of a long-term …

Mark Fiore's Subversive Cartoons

Mark Fiore is a political Flash cartoonist who cranks out a new short almost every week. He is clearly a liberal Democrat and his cartoons slant that way, but even when I find the ideas annoying or simplistic, or superficially critical, the cartoons are still funny. There are objectively funny moments (if such things can …

GRL's James Powderly detained in Beijing for planning pro-Tibet

“James is a unique voice in the world, who lives and breathes art and technology for the purpose of promoting and enabling freedom of expression for all,” said Nathan Dorjee, Director of Technology for Students for a Free Tibet. “His trip to Beijing, in support of the Tibetan people and all people around the world …

The State: Free Market Store

For those not fortunate enough to remember watching The State, it was a brilliant comedy show often surreal or scatalogicaly political. This skit rolls with a black comedy to match the best Monty Python, and gets the viewer with a brujtally funny depiction of Eastern Europe after the Iron Curtain fell. No doubt, the Soviet …

I met the Walrus

In 1970, a fourteen year old boy named Jerry Levitan snuck into John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Montreal room during their “peace in.” The following animated short, I Met the Walrus, is based on a recording of their conversations. It was nominated for an Oscar for “best animated short” at the 2008 Academy Awards, and …

Natalie Jeremijenko

YouTube – Interview: Feedback Artist, Natalie Jeremijenko Also in the NYT today: “People are frustrated by their inability to cope with environmental problems in their apartments and their neighborhoods,” said George Thurston, a professor of environmental medicine at New York University School of Medicine. Dr. Jeremijenko, he continued, “provides a service that’s needed, educating people …

Get Your War On: Terrorist Watch List

This is a new video from 23/6.com a political-ish comedy site. The video is about a serious issue, but treats it in a comical-ish way. Which is a fine strategy if done well, but I there’s just not quite enough substance here. All you really get from the video is that there’s a terrorist watch …

Kurt Vonnegut Interview Mashup

I read Timequake (one of Vonnegut’s last books) recently and was surprised to see how often it related to the How to Win project. The novel isn’t about any one theme, but ideas of art and affecting change are woven throughout. Vonnegut seems to be reflecting on how his literature has connected with his politics. …

Artists are Now Taking the Lead the Politicians Have Failed to Give (2007)

Madeleine Bunting “Artists are Now Taking the Lead the Politicians Have Failed to Give” The Live Art Almanac Live Art UK, 2008 pp. 51-53 Originally published in the Guardian, 21 May 2007 “Artists now get lumbered with expectations that in other cultures might fall to shamans, preachers or prophets – or once fell to politicians. …

Letter from Oaxaca (2006)

Guilermo Gómez-Peña “Letter from Oaxaca: Performing the Flames” The Live Art Almanac Live Art UK, 2008 pp. 47-50 Originally published as an e-mail, August 20, 2006 “Opening day arrived, and while we we were setting up in the Museum, 50,000 citizens had gatherd outside to support the teachers. The sound of their loudspeakers intertwined with …

"People Are Strange": a night of multimedia performance and projections

Marisa Olsen’s upcoming show is about “an active artist’s earliest creative efforts and they provide evidence of an obsession with music, genre, psychology, and personal narrative that shines through in her more recent artworks.” It is an exhibition to celebrate the release of her book, Poems I Wrote While Listening to the Doors, 1992-1994 (Before …

We Ask Your Attention (1938)

British Surrealist Group (1938) We Ask Your Attention From a pamphlet issued by the British Surrealist Group, designed by Henry Moore, London,1938 (reprinted in Art and Social Change, Will Bradley and Charles Esche, eds., London: Tate, 2007, pp. 110-114) “If only in self-defense we must END ALL FORMS OF NON-INTERVENTION, INTERVENE IN THE FIELD OF …

Art and Propaganda (1924)

William Pickens (1924) Art and Propaganda Extract from The Messenger, New York, April 1924 (reprinted in Art and Social Change, Will Bradley and Charles Esche, eds., London: Tate, 2007, pp. 74-75) It begins: “What we are going to say now will make us a Philistine to some ‘artists’, and to all of the near-artists. But …

Programme Declaration (1919)

Komfut (1919) Programme Declaration Iskusstvo Kommuny (Art of the Commune) No. 8, Petrograd, 26 January 1919 (reprinted in Art and Social Change, Will Bradley and Charles Esche, eds., London: Tate, 2007, pp. 68) “ A communist regime demands a communist consciousness. All forms of life. Morality, philosophy and art must be re-created according to communist …

Game Culture

Play is one of the earliest and most important activities of mammals; helping adolescents learn the skills they need to survive. Games take the free play of the animal kingdom and apply rules and constraints, which have the ability to teach and develop the values and beliefs of a culture. The chess queen developed as …

Quote from Georg Baselitz

This mythology of the lone genius, isolated from society, and relieved of social responsibility, is summed up for me in these comments by the painter Georg Baselitz: “The artist is not responsible to anyone. His social role is asocial; his only responsibility consists in an attitude to the work he does. There is no communication …

Gran Fury talks to Douglas Crimp

Gran Fury talks to Douglas Crimp – Interview ArtForum, April, 2003 DOUGLAS CRIMP: One of your members, Mark Simpson, is no longer with us. Perhaps we can officially dedicate our remarks here to his memory. When did Mark die? TOM KALIN: Mark died of AIDS on November 10, 1996. DC: Okay, let’s begin with a …