Tag: practices
B.A.N.G Lab and EDT under attack
A friend and colleague of ours at UCSD, Ricardo Dominguez, is facing a series of charges, freezing of research funds and the possibility of losing his job over the B.A.N.G. Lab’s Transborder Immigrant Tool and a Virtual Sit-in held in conjunction with the UC Strikes.
Here are a few of things happening:
“Since the November of 2009 the Transborder Immigrant Tool has become a media event with many groups and individuals, such as Congressman Duncan Hunter in his Op-ed in the San Diego Union Tribune, calling for the defunding of the Transborder Immigrant Tool, the University of California system began a financial audit of the project on January 11, 2010, in which they requested that every member involved be interviewed by Audit & Management Advisory Services (UCSD). The exact investigations (they claim that they are multiple) under way have yet to be clarified by UCOP or other UC entities, but in the interviews thus far, TBT members have been questioned about the usage of the funds and the originality of the project. The investigation has ‘arrested’ TBT’s developmental process and core research matrix.”
“On March 4th, bang.calit2.net hosted a virtual sit-in against the UCOP website, providing a space for many people concerned with public education to embody their dissent online. As a result, UCSD IT Security shut down our server’s access to the Internet for eight days. After that, we were informed that an investigation by the Senior Vice Chancellor (SVC) was begun by the UCOP of Ricardo Dominguez seeking criminal charges for the virtual sit-in, despite the legal precedent that a virtual sit-in is political speech, not a DDOS attack. This investigation has been framed by SVC as potential reason to end Professor Dominguez’s tenure.”
Here is the full list of developments.
Please support Ricardo in anyway you can.
Support 16 Beaver Group
Please read below for information on how you can help 16 Beaver Group:
An Open Letter to Friends / Comrades / Readers / Thinkers / Do-ers /
Silent partners
CONTENTS:
1. About this Letter
2. The Letter
3. How you can help
___________________________________________________
1. About this Letter
What: Letter Asking for Support
When: Deadline April 13, 2010
Where: 16 Beaver Street, 4th Floor
Who: 16 Beaver Group
This is a letter asking friends and supporters of the space for
assistance. We have never asked for money for sustaining the space.
Unfortunately, in these last months, we have encountered some challenges
which require this unprecedented step.
We thank you all in advance.
___________________________________________________
2. The Letter
Dear Friends/Comrades/Readers/Thinkers/Do-ers/Silent partners, …
In the past 6 months, we have been struggling over our lease renewal with
the building owner of 16 Beaver Street. We are doing our best to resolve
this situation directly and through legal channels. However, the inability
to clarify our status in the space has prevented us from bringing in a new
partner to share the 4th floor with us, thus denying us a significant
portion of our monthly rent for the space. And thus, since September have
been accruing debt.
Unable to pay the full rent, without clarifying our status, we have sought
the help of pro-bono attorneys. After a recent hearing, the situation is
both more clear and more urgent: our current understanding is that we will
not be forced out of the space if we pay the full rent up to April. In
order to do so, we have to make up the accrued debt. We would like to
raise enough to cover our outstanding rent obligation and also have some
funds in reserve to help support us over the next several months as we
reorganize ourselves and attempt to expand the horizon for how a political
space in Lower Manhattan can function today.
Our target is $30,000, and we have until our next court date on April 13
to meet it. This may seem like a lot, but if everyone on this list donated
what they can, we could quickly surpass it. From $10 to $1000, whatever
you can give, we will be very appreciative.
We did not want to ask for money, as other contributions of energy and
participation from many on this list have sustained 16Beaver as a project
for so long. It has been important for us to make all events free and open
to the public, and this can not change. But the sum seems attainable and
the space and our program is important to too many people for us not to
try something distributed and collective.
We are approaching our mailing list first, because it seems the most
direct, interesting and ethical way to raise this money. That is, ask for
smaller contributions from a broad network of friends and supporters.
Although we are not a registered 501(c)3 non-profit and do not plan to
become one, we felt given this outreach for money, we needed to have clear
accounting and a basic infrastructure for accepting support.
We are now fiscally sponsored through Fractured Atlas. You can contribute
directly by going online:
http://www.fracturedatlas.org/site/fiscal/profile?id=3217
Of course, all contributions are tax-deductible (if this helps anyone).
Fractured Atlas receives 6% from the donations, which is fair, for the
help they are providing us.
We’re asking for two things: please support us financially if you can
(international donations are possible, if you are wondering) and please
send to people who might be invested in the continued and ongoing
existence of 16Beaver. If you can help us identify and approach
individuals or foundations who might also be interested in additional
assistance please write to us at: <donations AT 16beavergroup DOT org>
We know that while this may be a familiar narrative, the news of our
situation may be upsetting to you (it is to us). We hope 16Beaver Group as
a public and ongoing framework for collective conversations and inquiry
will go on regardless, but we need your support in this period.
We have two tasks in front of us: remaining in our space and implementing
our plan for sustaining it. We still would like to base our sustenance on
sharing space with others, but we would like to house a more open and
shared daytime working space that could support groups who have more
affinity with us. Ideally, we would like to set up a day-time working
space, with a base composed of small groups who need office space, and
individual artists and activists who would like to share a communal work
environment. We welcome queries from anyone who might want to join such an
undertaking.
We plan to continue doing the important work we’ve been doing and we need
your support and involvement over the next few weeks to make this
possible.
Please contact us if you have any further questions at the email address
provided in this letter.
___________________________________________________
3. How you can you help
3.1 by monetary contribution online through Fractured Atlas who is now
fiscally sponsoring us.
http://www.fracturedatlas.org/site/fiscal/profile?id=3217
3.2 If you know a group / individuals who would like to share a space and
has an affinity to what we are doing please direct them to us and this
email <space AT 16beavergroup DOT org>
3.3 If you are a part of or know an organization who may want to offer us
financial assistance, or other forms of help contact us to <donations AT
16beavergroup DOT org>
Occupy Everything
Occupy Everything/Beyond the UC Strikes is a series of events leading up to the March 4th UC wide walkout. Several members of Third Rail were involved with the planning and will be at the events. Please see here for more information and join us if you can.
Full Chicago Program
Via Alan Moore:
The College Arts Association (CAA) is the country’s most important gathering of professionals in the visual arts. It takes place in Chicago this year from February 10 to February 13, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. Hundreds of presentations, lectures and associated programs are featured in a conference hall setting. It is also the place academics troll to find jobs within the art schools.
This year a few local organizations, spaces and groups bring the CAA outside the conference corridors of the Hyatt Regency Hotel.
These selected off-site programs will be a treat for socially engaged artists in Chicago. We highly encourage your attendance.
RECOMMENDED SHADOW CAA EVENTS
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10
“Pedagogy of the Periphery” CAA Shadow Session
Wed., Feb. 10, 4-8pm, at Three Walls (119 n. peoria #2d, http://www.three-walls.org/ )
A workshop-style event on the history, practice, and theory of experimental pedagogy inside and outside institutions, in conjunction with AREA Chicago’s issue #9 (Peripheral Vision), the Open Practice Committee, the Emma Goldman Center for the Study and Practice of Creative Anarchosyndicalism, and the Radical Caucus for Art’s Autonomizing Practices panel at the College Art Association meeting. Educators and students discuss pedagogical practices, broadly defined—with their optimism, obstacles, methods, pleasures, and frustrations—with short informal presentations and time for large- and small-group discussion, including questions submitted for discussion in advance by students and flexibility to address current events as needed (such as events in the campus uprisings happening in California, Europe, and elsewhere). This free event allows people not attending the conference to benefit from a sampling of visiting speakers and Chicago teachers. It is not conceived as anti-CAA, but happens alongside the conference to illustrate the fact that some conversations are easier to hold outside the professional machine.
List of speakers in formation includes: Greg Sholette, Dara Greenwald, Counter Cartographies Collective, Bert Stabler. Open discussion.
Tentative Program:
4:00 meet and greet
4:30 Panel I: Greg Sholette / Dara Greenwald / Liz Mason-Deese and Tim Stallmann
5:45 Panel II: Eve Ewing / Nicole Marroquin / Bert Stabler
7:00 Small group discussions / report back from small groups
wrap up
< some snacks will be available but you are welcome to bring your own>
Recommended readings:
From Occupied Berkeley
http://anticapitalprojects.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/necrosocial5.pdf
From AREA Chicago
http://www.areachicago.org/p/issues/peripheral-vision/please-bring-your-cell-phone-art-class/
http://www.areachicago.org/p/issues/6808/educating-68/
http://www.areachicago.org/p/issues/peripheral-vision/relative-freedom/
Questions and discussion:
Students and others are invited to send questions in advance that will be compiled and distributed for discussion in small groups of no more than 8 to be facilitated by the speakers. These might be responses to the readings, burning questions about your education, things you want to discuss. There will be time for discussion of the speakers’ presentations, but this allows everyone in the room an opportunity to help set the agenda for discussion.
Send proposed questions (and any requests for information about the event) to youngjkwak@gmail.com. pLease also indicate if you would like to register to participate in a small group discussion. The event is free and open to all but there are limited spaces in discussion groups. Anyone can also start their own small group discussion at the event.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10 THROUGH SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13
Art Work: A National Conversation About Art, Labor and Economics by Temporary Services
January 26th – March 6th 2010
UIC Gallery 400
400 S Peoria
Art Work is a newspaper and website (artandwork.us) that consists of writings and images from artists, activists, writers, critics, and others on the topic of working within depressed economies and how that impacts artistic process, compensation and artistic property. The independently published, 40-page newspaper is distributed throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. The exhibition features a display of the newspaper, a distribution site for the Chicago area, and multiple events related to economic sustainability.
The Free Store
Melinda Fries, Salem Collo-Julin, and Biggest Fags Ever
January 26th – March 6th 2010
The Free Store is a nomadic, temporary free store that irregularly visits a variety of Chicagoland neighborhoods. The Free Store, open during all gallery hours, invites you to be involved: come to the store, bring stuff you want to give away, and take stuff that you want. There is no restriction on what you can take – you don’t have to trade or barter. Just take it. Services, such as massage, food, music, etc., may also be available. The Free Store organizers are always happy to accept donations. Contact The Free Store directly: free@freestorechicago.org or 773-562-1428.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12
Chicago Activist Art Spaces, Collectives, and Projects
Friday, February 12th 7:00pm-on and Saturday, February, 13th 7:00pm-on.
Mess Hall
6932 North Glenwood Avenue
(Rogers Park neighborhood.)
Open invitation to CAA conference attendees and the public to come to Mess Hall to informally gather, meet, and learn about Chicago art and activism, including a visual display highlighting many of the current Chicago-based collective art spaces, periodicals, campaigns, and activist art projects.
Mess Hall is an experimental cultural center. It is a place where visual art, radical politics, creative urban planning, applied ecological design and other things intersect and inform each other.
Directions: Morse CTA Red Line train stop; Mess Hall is a half block away.
RECOMMENDED CAA CONFERENCE PROGRAMS
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11
1. Radical Art Caucus Business Meeting, 7:30-9:00AM: Regency A, Gold Level, West Tower, Hyatt Regency. All members and anyone interested in joining the Radical Art Caucus are most welcome! (Agenda forthcoming in January)
2. Radical Art Caucus Session “Autonomizing Practices in Art, Art History, and Education,” Thursday, February 11, 9:30 AM–12:00 PM Grand CD South, Gold Level, East Tower, Hyatt Regency Chicago
Chairs: Alan W. Moore, independent scholar, Staten Island, New York; Susan King Obarski, University of California, Irvine
Speakers:
a. Autonomy, Pseudo-Autonomy, and Prefigurative Politics, Rebecca Zorach, University of Chicago
b. San Francisco 1978-83: Socialist School and Rats for Profit, Michael R. Mosher, Saginaw Valley State University
c. The Guerrilla Clock-Fixers of UX, Jonathan Lackman, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University
d. Autonomous Practices: Media Collectives of the Women’s Liberation Movement, Dara Greenwald, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
3. Radical Art Caucus, Drinks, 9:00PM-? BAR 151, Hyatt Regency Atrium. Join members of the Radical Art Caucus at BAR 151 and learn more about the organization. (BYOD)
4. Collectivism after Collapse: Chicago Activist Art Spaces, Collectives, and Projects
Thursday, February 11, 8:00 PM–10:30 PM
Regency A, Gold Level, West Tower, Hyatt Regency Chicago
Chairs: Gregory Sholette, REPOhistory; Salem Collo-Julin, Temporary Services and Mess Hall, and Nicholas Lampert, Justseeds Artist’s Cooperative and Mess Hall
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12
1. Radical Art Caucus, “Occupations: Labor, Activism, Art, and the Academy in Crisis”
Friday, February 12, 12:30 PM–2:00 PM, Regency C, Gold Level, West Tower, Hyatt Regency Chicago
Chair: Sarah Kanouse, University of Iowa
Speakers:
a. Taking a Radical Stance against Occupation without Perpetuating Myths of a Militant Resistance, Aaron Hughes, Iraq Veterans Against the War
b. 3Cs: Counter-Cartographies Collective, Tim Stallman, 3Cs: Counter-Cartographies Collective, Liz Mason-Deese, 3Cs: Counter-Cartographies Collective
c. Preoccupied: Organizing, the Work of Art School Academics, Therese Quinn, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13
CHICAGO CAA PANEL: ON PTG
CAA Studio Art Session: PAINTING PANEL
Saturday, February 13, 9:30 AM-12:00 PM
Grand A, Gold Level, East Tower, Hyatt Regency
Susanna Coffey, Ann Craven, Anoka Faruqee, Michelle Grabner, Peter Halley,
Thomas Lawson, Judy Ledgerwood, Rebecca Morris, Carrie Moyer, Sabina Ott,
Jon Pestoni, Scott Reeder, and Molly Zuckerman Hartung
CHICAGO EXHIBITIONS: ON PTG
JULIUS CÆSAR
3311 West Carroll Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60624
312-725-6084 (gallery voicemail) / email: julius@juliuscaesarchicago.com
reception: Saturday, February 13, 4-7 pm
exhibition: February 13 – 28, 2010
Thomas Lawson, Scott Reeder, Carrie Moyer and Michelle Grabner
Shane Campbell Gallery
1431 W. Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60622
312-226-2223 / email: info@shanecampbellgallery.com
reception: Saturday, February 13, 6-8 pm
exhibition: February 13 – March 13, 2010
Ann Craven, Peter Halley and Jon Pestoni
Western Exhibitions
119 N Peoria St, 2A, Chicago IL 60607
312.480.8390 / scott@westernexhibitions.com
reception: Saturday, February 13, 7-10 pm
exhibition: February 13 – March 20, 2010
Anoka Faruqee, Judy Ledgerwood, Sabina Ott, Susanna Coffey and Richard Hull
Rowley Kennerk Gallery
119 N. Peoria St., #3C Chicago, IL 60607
773-983-0077 /
email: info@rowleykennerk.com
reception: Saturday, February 13, 7-10 pm
exhibition: February 13 – 27, 2010
Rebecca Morris, Molly Zuckerman-Hartung and Jutta Koether
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13CHICAGO
CAA PANEL: ON PTGCAA Studio Art Session: PAINTING PANEL
Saturday, February 13, 9:30 AM-12:00 PM
Grand A, Gold Level, East Tower, Hyatt Regency
Susanna Coffey, Ann Craven, Anoka Faruqee, Michelle Grabner, Peter Halley,Thomas Lawson, Judy Ledgerwood, Rebecca Morris, Carrie Moyer, Sabina Ott,Jon Pestoni, Scott Reeder, and Molly Zuckerman Hartung
“Pedagogy of the Periphery”
I will be in Chicago next week for CAA and will be attending “Pedagogy of the Periphery”, a CAA shadow session happening at Three Walls on Wednesday. Will you be in Chicago? Get in touch!
Event Description:
“Pedagogy of the Periphery” Wed., Feb. 10, 4-8pm, at Three Walls (119 n. peoria #2d, http://www.three-walls.org/ )
A workshop-style event on the history, practice, and theory of radical pedagogy inside and outside institutions, in conjunction with AREA Chicago’s issue #9, Peripheral Vision, and the Radical Caucus for Art’s Autonomizing Practices panel at the College Art Association meeting. Educators and students discuss pedagogical practices, broadly defined—with their optimism, obstacles, methods, pleasures, and frustrations—with short informal presentations and time for large- and small-group discussion, including questions submitted for discussion in advance by students and flexibility to address current events as needed (such as events in the campus uprisings happening in California, Europe, and elsewhere). This free event allows people not attending the conference to benefit from a sampling of visiting speakers. It is not conceived as anti-CAA, but happens alongside the conference to illustrate the fact that some conversations are easier to hold outside the professional machine.