OWS ARTS & LABOR TEACH-IN: Alternative Economies: Occupy, Resist, Produce

OWS ARTS & LABOR TEACH-IN
Alternative Economies: Occupy, Resist, Produce
300 Nevins St., Brooklyn
February 19, 2012, 3-6pm
Contact: owsartsandlabor@gmail.com

So far remotely done power and glory–as via government, big business, formal education, church–has succeeded to the point where gross defects obscure actual gains. In response to this dilemma and to these gains, a real intimate, personal power is developing–the power of individuals to conduct their own education, find their own inspiration, shape their own environment, and share the adventure with whoever is interested. Preface to the Whole Earth Catalog (excerpt)

Like Stewart Brand’s infamous Whole Earth Catalog, this first installment of the Arts and Labor Alternative Economies Teach-Ins is chock-a-block with practical tools and impossible ideas. Today, people talk about alternative economies using all kinds of terms: The Commons, Solidarity Economies, Communization, Inclusive Democracy, Participatory Economy, Anarchist Consensual Democracy, Libertarian Municipalism, and even bolo’bolo. Whatever their partisan affiliation, these diverse thinkers and doers agree that the current economy is a mess, something must be done about it, right now, by any means necessary.

Despite a resurgent interest in collective and social practice, little emphasis has been placed on the internal relationships that allow creativity to prosper; the labor of nurturing and maintaining often goes under-recognized. As a start, reassessing invisible forms of labor and instituting models that emphasize care underscores the fact that even a solo art practice requires collaboration.

Bring your wired minds, your open hearts, talky mouths and listening ears. We can discuss what we like in the current art economy and what we don’t. We can familiarize ourselves with ideas like Participatory Budgeting, Living Wage, Cohousing, Economically Targeted Investment Programs (ETIs), Worker Cooperatives, Loft Law, Collective Bargaining, Community Land Trusts (CLT), and Worker Justice Centers. We can share our desires and visions for the future. We can just hang out and get to know each other.

Related Event:
OWS MAKING WORLDS: THE COMMONS FORUM
FEBRUARY 16 – 18, 2012, Location TBD

http://makingworlds.wikispaces.com/

Suggested Readings:
Ethan Miller, Solidarity Economy: Key Concepts and Issues: http://www.communityeconomies.org/site/assets/media/Ethan_Miller/Miller_Solidarity_Economy_Key_Issues_2010.pdf

Christian Siefke, The Commons of the Future: Building Blocks for a Commons-based Society: http://www.commoner.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/siefkes_future-commons.pdf

Endnotes, Communisation and Value Form-Theory: http://endnotes.org.uk/articles/4



"Positions" by Public Movement and teach-in on non violence disobedience - Friday 11/4 1PM

Positions - An Action by Public Movement

Positions (NYC, Washington Square, 11/4/11) Friday, November 4, 1 p.m., Washington Square Park

**Following this performance the #OWS Direct Action group will hold a rally and a teach-in on non- violence disobedience at 1:30PM**

Positions (NYC, Union Square, 11/6/11)
Sunday, November 6, 1 p.m., Union Square South

This week, the action and research group Public Movement presents Positions, a choreographed demonstration that invites people to take a stand on any number of urgent issues. Presented in Warsaw, Holon, Bat-Yam, Eindhoven, Heidelberg, Stockholm, and now New York, the Movement invites the public to embody their preferences, aspirations, and beliefs—manifesting political and philosophical ideas as physical positions in Washington Square Park and Union Square South. This will be Public Movement’s first presentation in the United States.

In February 2011, Public Movement leader Dana Yahalomi began her research toward a project for New York, meeting with artists, historians, urban planners, memorial designers, politicians, government officials, and NYPD officers. The residency continues from January–April 2012, during which time Yahalomi will present bi-weekly salons as part of the 2012 New Museum Triennial, “The Generational.” The salons will culminate in a newly commissioned action for New York City in April 2012.

Public Movement is a performative research body that investigates and stages political actions in public spaces. The Movement explores the political and aesthetic possibilities that reside in a group of people acting together. It studies and creates public choreographies, forms of social order, and overt and covert rituals. Public Movement was founded in November 2006 and was led by Omer Krieger and Dana Yahalomi until August 2011, when Yahalomi became the sole group leader. Visit their website for more information.

Design 111 and #OccupytheClassroom

http://occupytheclassroom.tumblr.com/

Julie Takacs teaches Design 111 at SUNY Cobleskill. The students of her class happened to be studying texture/collage as the #OccupyWallStreet movement began to go nationwide. After discussing the situation in class, she challenged them to create a collage that expressed their viewpoint on #OWS. Shedidn’t influence them on which side they would take, but allowed them to use their own personal situation as the basis for their work.

The students presented their collages to the class and in doing so they shared their ideas and opinions. Art is a strong form of communication and she wanted to show her class how to take their work to a wider audience beyond the classroom by posting and sharing on the internet. The tumblr platform seemed perfect for the art show, so the class elected the name for this blog and agreed to have their work published on the web.

After this work was done, she presented the projects to a group of senior graphic designers. They are supplying the tumblr blog with the graphics they did for the campus.

The names of the participants:

The Design Class: Serifat Adesina, Jim Buzon, Mike Constantino, Samantha Dequatro, Noelle Gushlaw, Kemar Hemmings, Sydney Hewitt, Kumasi Knight, Victoria Kodak, Kristie Laverdiere, Aaron Maas, Hailey Markel, Jason Marrano, Josh Meilak, Alexis Peters, Heather Price, Adolfina Rodriguez, Brittany Schell, Kayla Shea, Danielle Sweetser, Brian Walker, Beth Watson, Professor Julie Takacs

Graphic Design Club: Professor Margrethe Lauber, Bianca Ramos, Hannah Nye