December 2006
Street Art Workers posters hit the street
Posted December 29, 2006 by in Political Art
Street Art Workers Releases New Poster Project:
Land & Globalization Poster Series
Wheatpasters and Distributors Needed!
The newest project from the Street Art Workers (SAW) takes a look at how corporate globalization has affected our world, how it has impacted the land, and how people are fighting back. This collection of 25 posters represents artists from 20 cities in 10 different countries. These posters illustrate specific struggles in countries like Brazil and the United States, and they also tackle international issues around poverty and gentrification. Along with a strong critique of imperialism, the posters show how communities throughout the world are resisting corporate power for a more just and sustainable world.
The two-color, 17" x 23" posters come in packets of 25, and are printed on easy to paste-up newsprint. We are looking for people to paste these up in their cities, and are selling them in bulk as cheap as we can get them out and onto the streets...
For example:
10 packets (250 posters): $20
or,
40 packets (1000 posters): $40
For more specifics, or to order packets, please see http://streetartworkers.org/help.html
Posters can also be ordered from Microcosm Publishing and Last Gasp.
We especially need help funding overseas shipping! We printed thousands of these packets and much of it came out of our own pockets. Please help with a donation, or order packets to paste up in your city! All of the money we recieve goes into the continued distribution of this project; anything we may make in surplus will fund our next project. If you are affiliated with an independent distro or bookstore, please get in touch with us about consignment orders.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Who Are We?
Started in 2001 and based in the U.S., Street Art Workers (SAW) is a network of printmakers, stencil artists, graffiti writers and designers who use the streets for art and activism. As a volunteer-run group, we make street art for grassroots campaigns and post each other´s work across North America. Since 2001, our projects have talked about prisons (2002), the mass media (2003) and utopian ideas for the future (2004).
Our art is a creative tool for social change. We support community organizing by making and distributing high-profile publicity across North America. We want to inspire people who have been attacked, oppressed or ignored by the rich and powerful -- communities of color, queers, women, seniors, the disabled and the working class. We emphasize connections between communities and stand against all oppression including racism, sexism and homophobia. We oppose anti-Arab violence as well as anti-Jewish attacks in the U.S.
We want our art to be thought-provoking and politically radical but not simplistic or dogmatic. We want to push ourselves as individual artists and as group to make work that is creative, complex and emotional without being abstract or self-involved.
Our website: Street Art Workers
Contact us by email: streetartworkers (at) gmail (dot) com
JustSeeds needs your help!
Posted December 21, 2006 by in Political Art
For 10 years, JustSeeds has been a critical resource for radical artists working outside the "art world" system. In the process of becoming a decentralized artist-owned cooperative, the floor suddenly fell out from under them. The collapse of Clamor Magazine leaves JustSeeds without a distributor, and about $10,000 in the hole.
The community of art-activists around JustSeeds have launched national projects like the Celebrate People's History poster series, Street Art Workers, Drawing Resistance, Cut & Paint, and a hell of a lot more. Their also the main inspiration and example that led Visual Resistance to do what we do. Now they need your help to continue.
Below is a letter from Josh MacPhee:
1. Last week the company that was filling Justseeds' online orders (including hosting the webstore, processing payments, and shipping products), unexpectedly went bankrupt, immediately shutting down Justseeds' online store. This was a complete shock to me, as the fulfillment company was going through a transition of ownership, but no one had mentioned the possibility of collapse or bankruptcy. On top of shutting down distribution, the fulfillment house owed Justseeds upwards of $10,000 (most of that money in turn was owed directly to artists and zinesters who sold items on the site).
This has come at a terrible time - the holiday season is hardly the time to close up shop. Additionally, justseeds was in the process of transitioning to become an artist/worker owned and operated collective, with over a half dozen artists linking together to make a much more exciting and dynamic website and store. All the artists involved would make the site the primary venue for distributing their work, bringing dozens of new prints, posters, books and zines to the site. We also had plans of merging with the political street art website VisualResistance.org to add a political art blogging feature. Now this is all in jeopardy. The formation of our new collective entity will be near impossible if we are saddled with such a huge debt before we even get off the ground.
2. I'm asking people to help rebuild Justseeds.org. Your donation will keep political art available and support artists doing work that is not fundable through art world and granting channels. Any donations would be more than welcome, from $5 to $500. If 1,000 people gave $10 each, that would cover the debt. You can donate by going to www.justseeds.org/donate.html. Any money that comes in will go directly to servicing old debt and then getting the new collective up and running.
In addition to monetary support, I would be happy to receive suggestions of new fulfillment houses, pro-bono business and accounting advice, and help spreading the word about the situation. This is a critical moment and justseeds might go under, which would have an impact on a large community of artists and writers who depend on justseeds for distribution and supporters who depend on it to access to art they can't find anywhere else.
3. Although the online store is down, I will continue to sell items, particularly Celebrate People's History posters, wholesale to stores and other distributors. If you know of a store that might be interested in carrying the posters or other Justseeds items, please ask them to get in touch.
For those that have subscribed to the Celebrate People's History poster series, I WILL BE honoring and fulfilling the subscriptions. According to the fulfillment house, four new posters went out to subscribers late last week, and hopefully should arrive just before or after christmas - let's cross our fingers. I had plans to print another four in January and February, but this is now dependent on dealing with some of the debt.
Thanks to everyone that has supported Justseeds since I started it back in 1997. Hopefully we'll be able to continue for another ten years.
Solidarity,
Josh MacPhee/justseeds.org
josh [at] justseeds [dot] org
Ghost Bike for Eric Ng
Posted December 19, 2006 by in VR Projects
It's been 18 days since Eric Ng was killed. It doesn't seem possible. Time moves strangely; every day I get the news again. I'm finding it hard to write about this again, but here goes:
After an excruciating week, friends of Eric's organized a day of memorial events on Saturday, December 9th, starting with a memorial bike ride from Washington Square Park to the site of Eric's death on the West Side bike path. Around 200 cyclists joined together for a silent ride and extremely emotional gathering at the site. Dozens of people placed flowers on Eric's ghost bike. We spoke, screamed, cried, and sang. We rode from there to St. Mark's Church, where Reverend Billy officiated a moving tribute. Later in the night we threw a party at Time's Up, with a dance floor like a group hug.
When we installed the ghost bike the morning of the ride, Andy asked me if Eric's would be the last ghost bike I would work on. There was a distinct surreality to the whole process; I had to stop cutting the plaque's stencils each time the horror hit me. Too close. Too real. But in an odd way, Eric's is the first ghost bike I've ever done. I'm more committed to the project than ever; everything else seems remote, abstract.
This city can kill you. This society can blunt you with indifference. When we create ghost bikes, or go on memorial rides, we tap into the hurt of this world and choose to honor that stranger we know could be our friend, our sister, ourself. We choose to remember, even if we never knew. That empathy is a holy rebellion. That choice makes us whole.
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A few days after Eric was killed, Onto wrote a beautiful article that expressed a lot of the things I have been thinking but still find difficult to articulate:
How do we connect the stories and struggles, murders and violence of Brad Will and Eric Ng? One filming, one bicycling. One north, one south. Both members of similar communities in NYC. How do we connect them both to the murder of Sean Bell? And tie them to the repression against Daniel McGowan? Think about them in relation to the daily car murders and daily border deaths? [...]The ghost bikes and memorial rides, the street demos and art making - these collective responses are both internally therapeutic and socially effective, creating a space both inside and outside ourselves to heal with tears and rage, amor y rabia. By consecrating the street - the only true home of an activist, especially bike activists - with collective acts of love and beauty, we remember the past by laying it in front of us, guiding our movements toward a place we don't yet know we're going....
Let us all struggle in the days ahead to build human-centered communities, to cherish those honest connections we've been blessed to make, to respect each other, and to remember to value collaboration and exchange over division and mistrust.
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Thanks to everyone who came to the December 9th memorial ride. It has been immensely comforting to be a part of a community of activists and friends who knew how to come together and support each other. Thanks especially to Time's Up, and to Reverend Billy, who served as a true pastor, helping a community through their grief. Respect. If anyone has photographs from the day's events, please send them to us at visual.resistance@gmail.com. Folks who weren't there, check out Clarence's video on StreetsBlog, as well as photos by Nick and Brian.
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There's this feeling I get when I hear a perfect song and just go: yes yes yes. That's the feeling I always got when I thought of Eric. In that way I lived more, through him. That will stay with me.
Eric Ng: Love & Rage
Posted December 4, 2006 by in Events
I wish to God I didn't have to write this: On Friday, December 1, Eric Ng was riding his bike up the West Side bike path. He was on his way from a show to a party -- that was Eric, always busy, always seeing people -- when a fucking drunk driver ran him down. The driver had traveled at speed for over a mile on the bike path, ignoring dozens of exits, literally dozens of chances to return to the road. Dozens of choices. The car hit Eric with such force that his bike was crushed, he was thrown into the air, his tire and shoe landing fifty feet away. The horrific details are in the news, if you want them.
Eric. What can I even say? If you knew him, you know. I met Eric at NYU, four years ago. He was three years younger than me. Straight outta Jersey, a beautiful punk rock kid with a constant smile on a direct line from a big heart. A staccato laugh like a snare drum in a string section. A teddy bear with muscles. I remember his guitar, taped together & with a few screws missing, the one time we played music together: "Dude. I think we should play it faster."
And now a phone call and a shock. Not Eric. I feel old too soon; Eric was 22 perfectly. A body full of honest energy and a face like contagious hope.
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I've been making ghost bikes for strangers for a year and a half. Eric's is not the first that made me cry, but it's the first that made me hurt. A big group of Eric's friends spent the weekend mourning, talking, and, finally, making. We made a ghost bike for him on Saturday and sunflowers on Sunday. Eric's memorial plaque reads "Love & Rage" -- no resting in peace for this rock star.
We are planning for a memorial ride this Saturday, December 9th, meeting at 1pm in Washington Square Park and then proceeding to the site of Eric's death. Non-bikers can head straight to the site, on the West Side bike path near Clarkson St. Please bring flowers (especially sunflowers), sidewalk chalk, paint, whatever you want. There will also be a memorial service after the ride at 2:30pm at St. Mark's Church with music and a slideshow, and a party at 8pm at Time's Up, at 49 E. Houston St.
Thank you to everyone who has been e-mailing and to those strangers who have already placed signs and flowers at the site. Thank you for your kindness and your anger both. A lot of people have been talking about pressing for physical barriers against cars on the bike path and other infrastructure improvements to help prevent future deaths. This is a great idea, and people should not hesitate to contact local elected officials, and get in touch with Time's Up and Transportation Alternatives, who I know already are working along those lines.
Eric's loss is a collective one; the sheer number of people who cared deeply for him is amazing. The depth of their pain is a mirror of the joy he brought to this world. That joy remains, pushed under but still there. If you ever had it, hold it.
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I know my words are ever inadequate to express all this. Please feel free to use the comments section for memories and messages.
Update: Information on funeral services and ideas for contacting elected officials are in the comments.
Update 2:We've finally confirmed a full set of events for Saturday:
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9
1PM: Memorial bike ride. Meet up in Washington Square Park at 1pm. We will ride together to the site of Eric's death at 1:30 SHARP. Non-bikers can go directly to the West Side Greenway, near Clarkson St. By train: take the 1 to Houston St.
2:30PM: Memorial service at St. Mark's Church. Friends & family will share stories, show photos, and play music. St. Mark's Church is at the corner of 2nd Ave and 11th St. By train: 6 to Astor Place, R/W to 8th St, or F train to Houston St.
8PM: Memorial dance party. Do not go gently into that good night. DJs & live punk rock. At Time's Up, 49 E. Houston St. By train: 6 or B/D/F/V to Bleecker-Lafayette.
Street Signs and Solar Ovens
Posted December 3, 2006 by in Political Art
Street Signs and Solar Ovens: Socialcraft in Los Angeles at the Craft and Folk Art Museum
Curated by the Journal of Aesthetics & Protest
October 22 - December 31, 2006
An inspiring exhibition featuring artwork created with social activism as its inspiration is currently on view at the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles. The exhibit explores inventive objects and strategies created by artists in response to the environmental, social, and political issues of our time. Featured works include protest art meant for public display as well as tools for socially conscious living.
Artists included in the exhibition:
Edith Abeyta, Steven Anderson, Lisa Anne Auerbach, Mike Blockstein, CARACEN, Chris Burnett, C.I.C.L.E., Code Pink, National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, Center for the Study of Political Graphics, Sandra de la Loza, Sam Durant, Eric Einem, Karl Erickson, Fallen Fruit, Finishing School, Gaian Mind, Fritz Haeg, Evan Holloway, L.A. Commons, Laura Howe, Karen Lofgren, Kelly Marie Martin, Matrushka, Jennifer Murphy, Nico of Teocintli, Christopher Nyerges, Path to Freedom, Sheila Pinkel, Oliver Ressler and David Thorne, Oscar Sanchez, The Arroyo Arts Collective, The Phantom Street Artist, The South Central Farm Support Committee, Christina Ulke, Votan, Allison Wiese.
Who’s Walls? Who’s Art?
Posted December 3, 2006 by in Political Art
I saw an interesting story posted by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the other day. It concerns a building in Downtown Milwaukee known as the Sydney Hih Building. The Sydney Hih has housed untold numbers of artists and musicians since the 1970’s within its dilapidated labyrinth of studios and practice spaces. Everyone left their mark in the form of graffiti, stickers, stencils, murals, etc… It was a legendary space, and everyone who passed through had stories to tell. The building has since been sold to developers and the colorful exterior has been painted beige. The following story concerns the marks that were left on the interior of the Sydney Hih. The story was written by Steven Potter and posted on JSOnline.
The following text and photos were taken from JSOnline. The first photo is a picture of the west side of the Sydney Hih in 2002 before they ripped down the freeway overpass and painted the building beige. The last photo is the Sydney Hih as it stands now. For more information on the development plans visit JSOnline here.
Developer Salvages Art That Was Created On The Spot:
Since being built in 1876 to house offices, a laboratory and a pharmacy, the enormous Cream City brick building known as Sydney Hih has been home to an eclectic mix of people and passions.Previous tenants have operated a Mexican restaurant, record label, craft shops and even an underground nightclub. Most recently, the space at Old World 3rd St. and W. Juneau Ave. has been a haven for musicians and artists. And those artists left their mark on the building - literally.
"We found art on doors, windows, walls and everywhere else," said Rob Ruvin, who bought the building last year and plans to develop it and adjacent land into retail and office space as well as a hotel and condos next year.
"Some of it's graffiti art, some of it's portraits, other paintings or poetry," he continued. "It seems just about everyone who came through the doors left something behind, whether it's just a note or a piece of art."
Ruvin salvaged about 100 pieces and recently showcased a few at Elsa's on the Park. "We saved it so people can have a glimpse behind the doors of Sydney Hih," he said.
The exhibit came down last week.
"Initially, (the art) seemed kind of random," Ruvin recalled. "But we've found there's a lot of thought and heart that went into the work."
One of the building's more prolific artists/tenants, a tattoo artist who identifies himself as Pooh Bear, says the art holds special meaning.
"A lot of it was political or very personal; it was like my diary," said the 28-year-old Milwaukeean. He was surprised to learn that his and others' works were being shown in the downtown restaurant.
"We were wondering and worried about what happened to it," he said, adding that he would either like the art returned or to be compensated for it. "Some of it isn't finished."
Ruvin originally planned to show the artwork in a Manhattan restaurant but has decided to contact as many artists as possible before making any decisions.
"We'll continue to gather more artifacts, compile more history, conduct interviews and then determine the next step," he said, adding that he doesn't want to "do anything against the artists' wishes."
"We've thought about a number of options, possibly even incorporating some of it back into the building," he said. "A coffee table book might be the best answer."
Here are a few other interesting before and after pictures of the Sydney Hih I found.
Week of solidarity with targets of the Green Scare
Posted December 1, 2006 by in Events
Next Thursday, December 7th, is the first anniversary of the beginning of the Green Scare came . It's the first anniversary of the day federal marshals came for our friend Daniel McGowan. Of the launching of Operation Backfire, in which 15 people would be indicted, facing multiple life sentences for acts of eco-sabotage which hurt no one.
Last December 7th the New York activist community was in thrown into shock and confusion. This year, folks here and around the world have been busy planning events to show solidarity with the targets of the Green Scare. In New York, GreenScare.org and Family & Friends of Daniel McGowan are hosting a series of events from December 2-8, including a rally across from the Federal Courthouse on Friday, December 7th from 12-2pm. A full list of New York City events is below, and an expanding list of almost 40 events from Eugene to Athens and everywhere in between is available on GreenScare.org.
December 2, 2006: Release party for World War 3 Illustrated #37 "Unnatural Disasters" Featuring art by Seth Tobocman, Art Spiegelman, James Romberger, Jennifer Camper & Nicole Schulman. At MOCCA - the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, 594 Broadway (between Houston & Prince), Suite 401. 7PM. We are very excited there is a five page comic on Daniel in this issue.
December 2, 2006: Benefit show for Daniel. CANCELLED.
December 7th, 2006: We will be participating in the December 7th International Day of Solidarity with Green Scare Indictees and Political Prisoners. There will be a 12 - 2 PM rally in downtown Manhattan and a 6:30 PM dinner and movies at Times Up, 49 East Houston Street. We will be screening The Lorax and Pom Poko [Raccoon War]. For full event information as well as raffle info, click here. Download flyer 1 and flyer 2.
December 7, 2006: Join us for a tea party (seriously!) complete with homemade vegan desserts, finger sandwiches provided by Foodswings and of course, tea. Wear your daintiest tea party attire, or don't. 7PM. $5-10 sliding scale - all proceeds go to Daniel McGowan's legal fund. The Barracks Jukehouse, 107 Magnolia Ave, Jersey City. Download flyer
December 8, 2006: Benefit show for targets of the Green Scare. Featuring Indaculture!- Rockaway's reggae, rock and jamband sensation, Brownbird Rudy Relic (acoustic holla' blues), Casa De Chihauhua (old-timey punk), Hungry March Band and Darren Deicide! - (bluesy punk roots music). At DUMBA Arts Collective, 57 Jay Street, Brooklyn, F to York, walk down the hill towards the water 2 blocks. Doors at 8:30pm, bands at 9pm, DJ after. $5 at the door (suggested donation, no one turned away for lack of funds). Cheap beer, wine, hot cider and vegan treats! Learn about the Green Scare and the individuals targeted by this new effort to criminalize dissent. There will be information tables and you can write to prisoners at a letter writing station! Proceeds from the show go to benefit Daniel McGowan and Andy Stepanian. For more directions, email dec8benefit@yahoo.com or call (718) 858-4886. Download flyer.
LOWAVE : RESISTANCE(S)
Posted December 1, 2006 by in Political Art
Festival des Cinemas Differents de Paris 12/10/06
The Resistance(s) program to be held during the Festival des Cinema Differents in Paris was inspired by a DVD of the same name presenting films and videos by artists from North Africa and the Middle East. The Resistance(s) DVD was published by Lowave in April 2006.
The Resistance(s) program at the Festival des Cinema Differents also includes films by American artists who are also resisting through their art.
Work Included in the Program:
Transit- Taysir Batniji (Palestine) 2004
Dieu Me Pardonne- Mounir Fatmi (Morocco/France) 2001-2004
Untitled part 3b: (as if) beauty never ends- Jayce Salloum (Lebanon/Canada) 2003
Allah Akbar- Usama Alshaibi (Iraq/USA) 2003
1991 Next Hundred Years- Abu Ali (Spain) 1991-2004
W- Michael Betancourt (USA) 2005
Short/Cuts- Brandon Bauer (USA) 2006
