May 2006

New date / extended deadline on McGowan benefit show

Posted May 31, 2006 by

Just a quick note that the benefit gallery show that Visual Resistance is organizing to support Daniel McGowan has been moved to July 27-28. The show is still at ABC No Rio. We have gotten an incredible response to our call for art, and the show is shaping up to be so large that we have extended it to two nights! The quality of work is amazing: already involved with the show are such greats as Armsrock, Arofish, Borf, the Endless Love Crew, GoreB, Peter Kuper, Josh MacPhee, Magmo the Destroyer, RB827, Nicole Schulman, Chris Stain, Swoon, Seth Tobocman, and a few dozen others!

We've also extended the deadline to submit artwork to June 20th. Please contact us at visual.resistance@gmail.com if you'd like to donate artwork or otherwise help out with the show. We will post "sneak previews" of the art we're getting, and select work should be available for purchase soon! Thanks to all the artists who have generously donated artwork for Daniel's cause -- without your support this show would not be possible.

Check out the (updated) call for artwork for all the details.

Stain / Scout / Mode / MacPhee

Posted May 31, 2006 by in Events

Fresh from their joint Winter in America show in Albany, Chris Stain, Scout, Billy Mode, and Josh MacPhee are coming to Brooklyn :

The show is at 49 Bogart St., the Bushwick art space previously known as Antimart. 49 Bogart is run by Garrison & Ray from Peripheral Media Projects. Details:

When: Friday, June 9th, 6-10pm

Where: 49 Bogart Street, Buzzer 22, Unit 1G Brooklyn, NY 11206

Directions: Take the "L" train to Morgan Avenue. If you exit the back of the train (coming from Manhattan), come out of the station and turn right. You will already be on Bogart St., so just walk a short 1/2 block to 49 Bogart, you can't miss the loading dock entrance!

War & Peace show this Saturday

Posted May 26, 2006 by in Events

Sorry for the last-minute event announcement, but I just found this via Graphonic:

WAR and PEACE

A group art show of photographs, drawings, paintings, posters and more from a celebrated collective of artists interpreting the themes of "war" and "peace". Each artist offers a unique perspective that reflects the diversities and complexities of converging cultures and backgrounds.

Featured Artists: Aiko (AKA Faile), Bast, Leola Bermanzohn, Boogie, Samantha Casolari, Robbie Conal, J. Mikal Davis, Graphonic, Dylan Maddux, Mear, Kyle Goen, Brent Rollins, Oscar Riquelme, Jackie Salloum, Junko Shimizu, Lenny Silverberg, and more.

Curated by: Sophie Landres and Santi Suthinithet

Opening reception: Saturday, May 27, 2006

8PM - Midnight

Supreme Trading

213 N 8th St.

(Between Roebling Street and Driggs Ave)

Brooklyn

For more info: 718-218-6538

Image courtesy Graphonic.com.

New York Banners Wave in Winds of Change, Demanding Justice for all Immigrants

Posted May 22, 2006 by in Calls for Art

New Yorkers throughout this City’s diverse communities this morning awoke to messages calling for justice and equality for immigrants throughout the United States.

The messages, including “No Deportations”, “Legalization for All Immigrants”, “Rights for All Workers” among others, were painted on banners unfurled over prominent public sites throughout four boroughs.

The banners – penned in languages from English, Spanish, Korean, Urdu, Chinese and others - were dropped throughout the city in the early morning hours. Manhattan locations include 155th & Riverside Drive, 120th Street & FDR Drive, and Chinatown. Queens locations include the Queensboro Bridge and Jackson Heights and Brooklyn locations include the Prospect Expressway and the BQE.

With Bush's national televised speech on immigration reform on Monday, this action is designed as the people’s response and follows recent national protests, including one in NYC on May 1 that drew out hundreds of thousands of people.

This also comes within New York City's “National Week of Action” called to coincide with the Senate resuming Immigration Debates the same day of Bush’s immigration speech. Here is the press release for the national day of action.

Immigrants Demand Real Legalization & Reject Inhumane Compromises

As the Senate reconvenes on Monday, May 15th for the last stretch of its immigration reform debate, immigrants in New York City will join thousands across the country in a National Week of Actions from May 14- May 20 to say "No Deal!" to a three tier legalization bill, guest worker programs, increased enforcement, and border walls. Immigrants warn the Senate against compromising our futures with the bill on the table which has drawn mass opposition for its attempt to split up immigrant families and increase criminalization through expedited deportation and indefinite detention. Instead grassroots coalitions of diverse immigrant organizations stand firm in saying that immigrants deserve no less than:

(1) Legalization for all immigrants; No guest-worker programs of work & leave

(2) Improved and faster family reunification opportunities for all;

(3) Enforce the protection of human and civil rights by reducing detention & deportation, ending collaboration between the DHS and public agencies, and ending deaths & abuses of migrants at the borders;

(4) Non-compliance with the REAL ID Act and the guarantee of equal access to driver's licenses for immigrants;

(5) Equal protection of labor rights of undocumented workers.

Also, check out our small, but hopefully growing, archive of immigrant's rights artwork. All pieces are available for download and free dissemination.

Knit Washington Square Park

Posted May 21, 2006 by in Events

Massive Knit is holding a "knitting mob" dedicated to the memory of pionerring activist-writer Jane Jacobs. Bring your knitting needles to Washington Square Park at 5:30 on Tuesday, May 23, toparticipate in this excellent collective project:

We would like to provide a collective, connected, community of individuals to honor the late Jane Jacobs who passed away on April 25, 2006. Jane Jacobs was an activist, a community leader, a writer, an urban planner, and a hero to many people. One of her great feats was as the chairman of the Joint Committee to Stop the Lower Manhattan Expressway. This expressway would have run through Washington Square Park. We plan to gather in this park on the 23rd of May to memorialize her and her ideas. We want to convene as a community in a loving and subtle way, honoring the park as well as her memory. We plan to do this by knitting the park together.

Knitting is a solitary art form, often resulting in gifts for others. A knitting circle allows one to be social with this solitary art. A city, likewise, is a solitary place to live. There is so much crowding and destination in daily life that one often gets lost in their own world. Parks allow people to come together and be alone peacefully in their solitary life and form temporary and permanent communities. Parks and knitting circles are both public and accessible: but private enough that one can have meaningful communication and a community within their confines.

Using individual sensibilities. We plan to create an open structure in the park. Connecting various elements of the park together such as trees, benches and other structures, we will connect a community and a memory. As people enter the park (the meeting spot is under the arch) they will be directed to a spot in the park to start knitting. People can arrive anytime starting at 5.30 p.m. and stay as long as they like. They should tie, knit, string together long thin pieces of material, and before leaving, tie the material off to a piece of the park, or another individuals yarn. By the end of the evening we should have a string of material connecting the park together. We will have connected to the park and to the other individuals as a community.

Check out their blog at massiveknit.blogspot.com for more information and good discussion of Jane Jacobs' ideas and the city's ugly proposed remodelling of Washington Square Park. I wouldn't miss this one for anything.

Refuse and Resist!

Posted May 19, 2006 by in Art & Politics

I found this in my inbox from the Clamor blog recap under the heading "New Counter-Recruitment Tool Featuring The Coup" first posted on May 11th. There is a link to a website about an upcoming film titled "Sir No Sir" that should be of interest to anyone doing anti-war and counter recruitment work. On the website you can view the trailer for the film and also see the short piece "Punk Ass Crusade" by the Ruckus Society featuring The Coup. Check it out!

Impeach

Posted May 17, 2006 by

So simple you wonder why it hasn't been done before. Oakland, CA. (Photos by Zack W.)

Ghost Bike for Andre Anderson

Posted May 16, 2006 by

Tod Seelie sent us a link to his photos of the May 14 memorial ride in the Rockaways for Andre Anderson, a fourteen year old who was killed by an SUV on September 25, 2005. The memorial was attended by members of Andre's family, friends, and the bike community.

Andre's family has unsuccessfully been trying to press charges against the driver (who has openly made remarks about his lack of remorse) and have recieved lack of support from the authorities.

What makes Andre's death more of a shame is that according to Right of Way Andre's death falls into recognizable patterns, in accordance with their year 2000 analysis of cyclist deaths in New York, that Queens District Attorney Richard Brown has shown no interest in investigating Andre's death, and that the DoT has not taken any action to make sure that nobody else dies there by installing speed bumps and traffic lights.

Check out bikeblog.blogspot.com for more info. Tod Seelie has a report and photos on Suckapants.

Roving Garden Party - Saturday, May 13

Posted May 10, 2006 by in Events

Roving Garden Party

Date: Saturday, May 13th, 2006

Time: 2:00 PM

Location: Center of Tompkins Square Park

Summary: A musical, dancing parade to celebrate our gardens -- followed by a barbeque-party.

Details: Come dance down the streets to celebrate community gardens and camaraderie. We'll visit some gardens, unleash some surprises, partake in a ritual, stand up against some slimy developers and end with an after-party and barbeque.

We all need places to play, to dream, to connect with each other and the world. For NYC, community gardens are some of those places. So are the streets. Unfortunately, all things wildincluding gardens, forests and people who defend the Earthare under attack. Lets revel in the places that are still untamed with people who are still untamed.

Bring drums and instruments! Dress as the garden creature of your dreams!

Special Guests:

Reverend Billy & the Stop Shopping Choir / Rude Mechanical Orchestra / 100 Flowered Kazoos Collective / Radical Cheerleaders & Faerie Drummers / Jugglers, Puppets & Tap Dancers / More Gardens! Coalition / Times Up /You & Your Crew

Image at top from the 2004 Street Art Workers campaign: Whose Media?