Another blog post about the cool panel from Conflux

Metropolis POV » Radical Cartography
Most of us have a general sense of the geography of our planet through the maps and globes we’ve seen since we were little. But how often do we step back and think about where those images come from and what they mean? There’s an air of certitude to the contours of the Earth, but the outlines of its graphic representation have cultural and political biases any way you slice it. In today’s world of connectivity and data access the capacity to map has become an increasingly democratic enterprise with real power for change.

As part of the Conflux Festival, New York’s Center for Architecture hosted the panel discussion “Cartography of Protest and Social Change.” Panelists included Lize Mogel, co-editor with Alexis Bhagat of An Atlas of Radical Cartography; contributors John Emerson and Brooke Singer; and moderator Régine Debatty of we-make-money-not-art.com.

Add comment Datestamp: September 29th, 2008

updating and re-making shelf browsing in the library

Bennington Bookmarks … Welcome

Bennington Bookmarks is an artwork, located in the Crossett Library on the Bennington College campus, that encourages visitors to explore areas of the library they may have previously overlooked and to share their ideas about the books and films they love or loathe. These gently glowing beacons are found attached to books and DVD’s, and contain messages left by members of the community.

Add comment Datestamp: September 27th, 2008

People’s Design Award

Brought to you by Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

What is good design? You tell us!

Every year, Cooper-Hewitt gives out design awards chosen by a jury of distinguished design gurus—but do you agree with the experts?

Now you can make your design voice heard by voting for the 2008 People’s Design Award. Whether it’s handmade or mass produced, high end or low brow, if it’s an example of good design, we want to know about it! On this site, you can browse and search for designs that have already been submitted, or nominate something new.

Vote for this one:
http://peoplesdesignaward.cooperhewitt.org/2008/nominee/1649

Add comment Datestamp: September 25th, 2008

David Letterman Catches John McCain Getting a Manicure, or something like it

YouTube - David Letterman Reacts to John McCain Suspending Campaign

Add comment Datestamp: September 25th, 2008

notes from the panel Cartography of Protest and Social Changes - we make money not art

@ Conflux 2008 by Regine Debatty
On Sunday September 14, i had the great pleasure to host a panel on Cartography of Protest and Social Changes with 3 artists and activists i admire a lot: Brooke Singer, John Emerson and Lize Mogel. I usually avoid writing about the events i’m so closely involved in, either because i don’t have the opportunity to take notes or because there’s some video of it about to broadcast the ridiculousness of my accent on the world wide web.

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Here is a great write up from the panel convener, Regine of WMMNA!

Add comment Datestamp: September 24th, 2008

Hey Washington, can you buy my bad investments too?

BuyMyShitPile.com
WhathappensonMainStreetaffectsWallStreet.

With our economy in crisis, the US Government is scrambling to rescue our banks by purchasing their “distressed assets”, i.e., assets that no one else wants to buy from them. We figured that instead of protesting this plan, we’d give regular Americans the same opportunity to sell their bad assets to the government. We need your help and you need the Government’s help!

Use the form below to submit bad assets you’d like the government to take off your hands. And remember, when estimating the value of your 1997 limited edition Hanson single CD “MMMbop”, it’s not what you can sell these items for that matters, it’s what you think they are worth. The fact that you think they are worth more than anyone will buy them for is what makes them bad assets.

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ACTION

This week the White House is trying to push through the biggest financial theft in world history with nary a stitch of debate. They’re asking for a blank check for over 1 trillion dollars to bail out George Bush’s Wall Street cronies who created this economic crisis in the first place.

If this passes, we can forget about any money for environmental protection, to counter global warming, for education, for national health care, to rebuild our decaying infrastructure, for alternative energy.

This is a historic moment. We need to act now while we can influence the debate.

Let’s rally against this bailout in the heart of the financial district! Gather at 4pm, this Thursday, Sept. 25 in the plaza at the southern end of Bowling Green Park, which is the small triangular park that has the Wall Street bull at the northern tip.

    What: Say NO to the Wall Street bailout
    When: Thursday, September 25:  4pm
    Where: Southern end of Bowling Green Park, in the plaza area, by the bull statue
    What to bring: Banners, noisemakers, signs, leaflets, etc.

Do whatever you can for this historic event and contact all your groups and friends. This proposed financial bailout is without precedent and we have to stop it!

Add comment Datestamp: September 24th, 2008

Pinocchio Politics - Where Truthiness Grows

“Thanks, but no thanks”
Pinocchio Protests — How to Bird-dog McCain/Palin

As a bird-dogger, your job is to show up at McCain/Palin events, and be a constant reminder that they have been systematically lying, and cannot be trusted. Your job is to brand them with the label “Pinocchio Politics.” Get this message out to attendees, passersby, and above all, the media.

There are many tools on this site (or soon to be on this site) to help you do this : talking points, sample press release, chant sheet, scripts, downloadable flyers & signs, a how-to kit for making your own Pinocchio noses & McCain masks, or where to buy them on-line, and how it all comes together in the street theater & action ideas below. In addition, you can always contact us for advice and more information.

At a McCain/Palin event, you can take action inside and/or outside.

Add comment Datestamp: September 23rd, 2008

Free Market Ideology is Far from Finished

Naomi Klein
During boom times, it’s profitable to preach laissez faire, because an absentee government allows speculative bubbles to inflate. When those bubbles burst, the ideology becomes a hindrance, and it goes dormant while big government rides to the rescue. But rest assured: the ideology will come roaring back when the bailouts are done. The massive debts the public is accumulating to bail out the speculators will then become part of a global budget crisis that will be the rationalization for deep cuts to social programs, and for a renewed push to privatize what is left of the public sector. We will also be told that our hopes for a green future are, sadly, too costly.

Add comment Datestamp: September 23rd, 2008

Tax Plans (that’s one for you, nineteen for me).

draw it to scale!
There’s a graph that Obama supporters are sending around, showing the differences between the Republican and Democrat tax cut proposals. It shows that Obama is not in fact planning to raise taxes - he’s planning to cut them for all but the very, very rich. I couldn’t help but notice though - the graph is still massively weighted towards the interests of the super-rich. For example, the bottom two-thirds of the population are given only a third of the space on the graph, while the top 0.1% of the population - one in a thousand people - gets almost 10%. What’s more, an “average tax cut” is then given, which seems to have been derived from taking a total of the nine income brackets shown and dividing it by nine. Journalists should really volunteer to take remedial arithmetic, you know. Once again, this ignores that one of the brackets represents one thousandth of the population.

So let’s make this a bit more accurate - let’s keep all the brackets, but draw it to scale.

Add comment Datestamp: September 22nd, 2008

Signs of Change: Social Movement Cultures 1960s to Now

EXIT ART
In Signs of Change: Social Movement Cultures 1960s to Now, hundreds of posters, photographs, moving images, audio clips, and ephemera bring to life over forty years of activism, political protest, and campaigns for social justice. Curated by Dara Greenwald and Josh MacPhee as part of Exit Art’s Curatorial Incubator, this important and timely exhibition surveys the creative work of dozens of international social movements.

Add comment Datestamp: September 21st, 2008