January 23, 2005
For film schedule, click here
Posted by whatfelt at 10:00 PM
OpenDocs 11: Barbara Hammer's Resisting Paradise
6:00-9:00, 322 Union
UnionDocs celebrates the weekend's events with a special incarnation of the OpenDocs series. A screening of the groundbreaking documentary
Members of the collaborative will present four short documentary pieces before the film.
After all the action, stick around for relaxed assembly-ending drinks in the gallery.
6PM- UnionDocs presentations
7PM- Screening
At 322 Union Ave (L to Lorimer--directions below)
$5 suggested donation.
More about Resisting Paradise:
Resisting Paradise, the most recent film by prolific avant-garde filmmaker and documentarian Barbara Hammer, emerged from her experiences while an artist-in-residence at the Camargo Foundation in the small fishing village of Cassis in southern France. Following in the footsteps of Henri Matisse and Pierre Bonnard, Hammer, herself a former painter, was seeking to capture the splendor of the Mediterranean landscape. During her residency, however, the war in Kosovo erupted, and Hammer found it "impossible to continue [her] modernist pursuit of beauty without ideology or critical observation."
Recasting her original idea for the project, the filmmaker immersed her poetic investigations within a political context, posing the question: "Can art exist during a time of political crisis and war?" The result is a 90-minute experimental documentary that juxtaposes the lives of painters Henri Matisse and Pierre Bonnard during World War II with those of several French Resistance fighters who were still alive. Hammer's film uses multiple formats, including digital video, 8mm, 9mm, and 16mm, glass negatives, found photographs, reverse painting, and archival footage. Much of the film was created using an optical printer. By manipulating the speed, color, and nap of the imagery frame by frame, Hammer presents history as an endless process of discovery and revision. Her insistence on avoiding a "hegemonic approach to film aesthetics" encourages spectators to act as their own archeologists, identifying and creating meaning out of the slivers of images and stories offered.
Directions to 322 Union
L train to Lorimer stop
Exit subway and walk south on Union Ave (away from the BQE)
322 Union will be on the east side of Union Ave after you cross Maujer St.
Posted by whatfelt at 06:00 PM
Closing Plenary
3:30-4:30, Event Space, OfficeOps
Posted by whatfelt at 03:30 PM
Serious Ridicule: Satire and Social Change
2:00-3:15, Event Space, OfficeOps
Ivy League-Legacy,Billionaires for Bush
David Rees
Peter Morris, The Civilians
Chad Nackers, The Onion
What exactly is satire? An attitude? An impulse? Why is it so often the tool of political or social critique, and what about it incites such passionate response? Panelists from many different media will discuss the techniques they use to bring the world down to size, and their reasons for choosing this particular form of attack.
Each of these panelists works in some way to hold a mirror up to power, but the range of satirical forms presented here is striking. The Halliburton heiresses and corporate lobbyists of Billionaires for Bush will talk about how they brought the RNC into perspective; Peter Morris, a playwright whose musical about a fictional prime minister, A Million Hearts for Mosley, created an uproar in London, will moderate the panel; and David Rees will talk about graphic novels and the striking success of Get Your War On. Then again, who knows what (or whom) they’ll talk about…
Posted by whatfelt at 02:00 PM
Creative Alliances for Effective Activism
2:00-3:15, Meeting Room, OfficeOps Mariam GhaniChitra Ganesh
Creative material engaging with challenging issues often requires complex strategies of approach and engagement. Artistic projects with political goals often form as collaborations among artists of the same or different disciplines. Projects with complex data or documentary needs may require outreach to one or more communities, often in conjunction with service organizations. How can you work with service organizations to create a project that supports, rather than undermines, your cause?
Join a discussion with Mariam Ghani and Chitra Ganesh, multimedia artists engaged in a multi-year, collaborative inquiry into immigration detention and deportation enabled by affiliation with key service organizations (such as the New Jersey Immigration Policy Network, Northern Manhattan Immigration Coalition, Espoir, and the Council of Peoples Organization).
Posted by whatfelt at 02:00 PM
The Take
Sunday, 2:00, Screening Room
The Take, by Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis, documents an extraordinary instance of local workers constructing real alternatives to corporate capitalism in Argentina.
In the wake of Argentina’s spectacular economic collapse in 2001, Latin America’s most prosperous middle class finds itself in a ghost town of abandoned factories and mass unemployment. In suburban Buenos Aires, thirty unemployed auto-parts workers walk into their idle factory, roll out sleeping mats and refuse to leave. All they want is to re-start the silent machines. But this simple act —the take —has the power to turn the globalization debate on its head.
Director/producer Avi Lewis (CounterSpin) and writer/producer and renowned author Naomi Klein (No Logo) take viewers inside the lives of ordinary visionaries, as they reclaim their work, their dignity and their democracy.
The Take
Directors: Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein
Country: Canada
Genre: Documentary
2004, 87 min
Posted by whatfelt at 02:00 PM
Resident Expert - Michael Heflin
3:00-4:30, Front Counter
Have a question about LGBT human rights? Michael Heflin's here to help. Stop by to chat and learn more about actions you can take to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people around the world.
For the past five years Michael Heflin has been the Director of OUTfront, Amnesty International USA’s Program on LGBT human rights. Prior to taking on this role, for four years Michael was the Deputy Director of the Midwest Region Office of Amnesty International in Chicago. Michael has a law degree with a focus on international human rights law from the University of Cincinnati where he had a fellowship with the Urban Morgan Human Rights Institute and was an editor for the Human Rights Quarterly. Michael has been an activist in the field of human rights for more than fifteen years.
Posted by whatfelt at 01:30 PM
"Neutral Mask," Story-Telling, and Theater as a Lab or an Observatory
12:40-3:15, Rehearsal Space, OfficeOps
Dario Tangelson, International WOW, Museo del Barrio
When focused on political, economic, and socio-cultural situations, theater becomes a very malleable and rich research context; it can serve as a laboratory or an observatory. The theatrical form can humanize and dramatize the effects of certain economic and political conditions, allowing both audience and the artist to inhabit situations of the “everyday reality” where these policies are felt. Concrete facts can be experienced and magnified through the use of their personal, sensitive and poetic aspects, which might be “off limits” in a more academic or political context.
Dario Tangelson of International WOW and the Museo del Barrio will teach “neutral mask” and story-telling techniques. Participants in this workshop will be presented with opportunity to deconstruct their socially-conditioned responses and to re-structure their ideas, concerns and opinions into a conscious theatrical form.
In the first part of the workshop, participants will learn how to use their own faces as masks by focusing on the way our expressions are reflected through our faces. Through exercises that are aimed at achieving “neutrality” of expression, participants will be challenged to discover the automatic expressive responses that are part of our social response mechanism. Using the neutral mask as the only form of expression, participants will be able to experience a truly alternative way of approaching their own learnt forms of expression and behavior.
The second part of the workshop will work on the “expressive” mask that will encourage participants to use their own range of facial expressions as their theatrical material. After neutrality has been established, this second phase emphasizes on the value of facial expression as a tool to communicate to others the core of a character. The characters created through the use of the expressive mask will then be given a voice, so they can tell their stories.
Posted by whatfelt at 12:40 PM
Thinking Inside the White Box: Gallery Perspectives
12:40-1:55, Event Space, OfficeOps
Lea Rekow, Gigantic ArtSpace
Marc Lepson
Dread Scott
This year, engagé is all the rage. There was Artforum magazine—which devoted an entire issue to examining new trends in political art. There was the Whitney Museum’s film screening series, “War! Protest in America.” And then there were galleries galore that collected group shows of activist art during the Republican National Convention.
But many artists worry about whether lily-white galleries and museums can ever connect to the real world in the street and on the ground. Are there compelling reasons to make work for galleries where it will only be experienced by a small, self-selected, probably already sympathetic audience? How can artists navigate the gallery system while still creating meaningful work for diverse audiences? What about gallery-based curatorial projects—how can you create curatorial projects that defy expectations? If you can’t make people protest, can you at least make them think?
In this panel, curator and filmmaker Lea Rekow will discuss her experiences as director of Gigantic ArtSpace, a progressive Tribeca gallery. Curator and visual artist Marc Lepson will talk about his work with such loose collectives as Artists Network of Refuse and Resist! on public projects as well as his own experiences navigating the gallery scene. Dread Scott will his diverse practices as a multidisciplinary artist whose work for museums and galleries draws media attention and incites public discussion.
Posted by whatfelt at 12:40 PM
Next Steps: An Open Forum
12:40-1:55, Meeting Room, OfficeOps
Amnesty International Firefly Project
The Amnesty International Firefly Project team invites you to a town hall discussion to share ideas and consider post-conference next steps.
This forum is open to all conference participants. We want to hear what you want to talk about! Please e-mail discussion points to firefly@aifirefly.org.
Posted by whatfelt at 12:40 PM
La Memoria Es Vaga (Memory is Lazy)
Sunday, 12:30, Screening Room
This feature documentary tells the story of Spain's largest monument, El Valle de los Caidos, built by political prisoners under Franco. Presented by the filmmaker, Katie Halper.
Constructed after the Spanish Civil War under the pretext of reconciliation, Spain's largest monument was built by political prisoners in concentration camp conditions and came to house the tombs of Spain's two most prominent fascist leaders, Jose Primo de Rivera and Francisco Franco. Through interviews with the remaining ex-political prisoners who built the Valley of the Fallen and current members of Spain's fascist party, this film reveals the untold story of this pharaoh-like monument, shedding light on the Franco dictatorship and its legacy in Spain today.
La Memoria es Vaga
Director: Katie Halper
Country: USA
Genre: Documentary
(2004) 58min
Posted by whatfelt at 12:30 PM
Brunch + Endurance screening
11:00-12:30, Event Space, OfficeOps
Featuring a special screening of Endurance, a film by Bradley McCallum and Jacquelyn Tarry. Challenging Seattle's vagrancy laws, which target homeless youth by making it illegal to sit or stand still on the street, artists Bradley McCallum and Jacqueline Tarry filmed 26 homeless young people standing for an hour each on the same square of sidewalk in performances dedicated to individual victims of gun violence�a statement of civil defiance as well as an act of endurance for those who suffer from drug addiction, health problems, or attention deficit disorder.
Posted by whatfelt at 11:00 AM
Endurance
Sunday, 11:00-12:30, Event Space
Challenging Seattle's vagrancy laws, which target homeless youth by making it illegal to sit or stand still on the street, artists Bradley McCallum and Jacqueline Tarry filmed 26 homeless young people standing for an hour each on the same square of sidewalk in performances dedicated to individual victims of gun violence.
The footage of the performances, accompanied by audio testimonies from each of the participants, is condensed: each person spends five minutes on screen as pedestrians stream by in the background. Raw and unsettling, the film highlights the negligence of the passerby even as it implicates the viewer who faces, and is faced by, the people on screen.
"Endurance" was commissioned by the ArtsUp program of the Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs and was created in conjunction with Peace on the Streets by Kids on the Streets (PSKS), a Seattle-based homeless youth advocacy organization. It was funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
The "Endurance" project also includes life-size photographs of the youth featured in the video. For more information, please visit: www.conjunctionarts.org/endurance.
Posted by whatfelt at 11:00 AM
January 22, 2005
For film schedule, click here
Posted by whatfelt at 10:00 PM
Freedom Follies: Artists Imagine an Ideal World
7:30-10:00, Union Pool, 484 Union Avenue
And So Forth presents a special edition of THAW's monthly freedom follies!
Grappling with the presidential election outcome of 2004, January's Follies turns to the Platonic adage that necessity is the mother of invention. How must the current state of affairs encourage creative efforts towards peace?
THAW's monthly pro-peace performance forum features material from Nevada Shakespeare Company, artivist Laura Schliefer, performer Laurie Schoeman, text from playwright Caridad Svich, songs from Ned Massey, Jamie Smith and Alec Duffy, readings by Hannah Weinstock, Paul Pierog, Nadege Revange, Brian Pickett and others!
Beginning in July of 2003, THAW's crew of volunteer artists has curated monthly extravaganzas of pro-peace texts illuminating a timely theme-of-the-month. Since then, hundreds of diverse artists and concerned citizens the world over (including Reverend Billy, veteran actress Dale Soules, Bread and Puppet Theater, DadaNYC and others) have joined their voices in powerful dissent.
Directions to Union Pool
Take the L train to the Lorimer stop. When you exit the subway, walk one block towards the BQE (raised highway). Union Pool will be on your right, on the corner just before you go under the BQE.
Posted by whatfelt at 08:00 PM
Ford Transit
Saturday, 5:15, Screening Room
This narrative feature produced in Palestine won the 2003 HRWIFF Nestor Almendros Prize for courage in filmmaking at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival.
Director Hany Abu-Assad (Rana’s Wedding, The Fourteenth Chick) follows cab driver Rajai and his Ford van throughout Ramallah and Jerusalem. As they detour around roadblocks and navigate seldom-used short cuts, Rajai and his passengers, an eclectic mix of ordinary people and local celebrities (including politician Hanan Ashrawi and filmmaker B.Z. Goldberg), discuss amongst other things the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Eventually, Rajai’s own life story unfolds, as we hear about his family, his sideline pursuit of smuggling illegal CDs, and his dreams of a future abroad.
Ford Transit
Director: Hany Abu-Assad
Country: Palestine
Genre: Narrative
2002, 80 min
Posted by whatfelt at 05:15 PM
Jesse Shapins
UnionDocs
Jesse Shapins engages the perception of urban everyday life in his photographic, written, and curatorial work. He is also concerned with issues of national identity and the future of America's role in the world. From 2002-2003 he was a research scholar in Berlin, during which time he co-founded the gallery and artist group Stadtblind. The Stadtblind project "The Colors of Berlin" has been exhibited internationally and will be published in German and English by Prestel Publishers in March, 2005. Since returning to New York in 2004, he has been working as an "urban dramaturg" for Counts Media and been a lead creative collaborator on the YellowArrow project. He also co-founded the Williamsburg-based documentary arts collaborative UnionDocs. He has also published various articles on contemporary art and urban themes in German and English. He studied Urban Studies at Columbia University.
And So Forth links
Documenting, Aesthetic and Ethical Considerations - ModeratorCreating an Open Space for Collaboration - Discussion leader
External links
YellowArrowUnionDocs
Stadtblind
Posted by whatfelt at 05:04 PM
Creating an Open Space for Collaboration
5:00-6:15, Meeting Room, OfficeOps
The members of UnionDocs will discuss their experiences establishing a documentary arts collaborative and arts venue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Drawing upon their database of audio, video, image, and written documents generated in the past 14 months, the group will lead a conversation concerning the possibilities and pitfalls of politically-motivated collaborative work and living in New York City today.
Posted by whatfelt at 05:00 PM
Acting Out: Engaged Theater and the Audience
5:00-6:15, Event Space, OfficeOps
Steve Cosson, The Civilians
Najla Said, Nibras
Sophia Skiles, THAW
Kristin Marting, HERE
Ron Russell, Epic Theatre Center
Some of the most influential proponents of engaged art have been people of the theater, but many see theater as a place to disengage, to escape, to be entertained. Do these have to be mutually exclusive? How do directors, playwrights and actors with an eye to raising political and social consciousness and a desire to directly engage with the world around them manage the fine line between entertainment and responsibility? And how do they make a living doing it? Panelists will discuss what means they use to challenge their audiences to think about topics of social relevance, how the collective production of theater influences the way they approach their work, and what responses they hope to get or have gotten in the past.
Steve Cosson of The Civilians will discuss his and the company's melding of documentary and fiction to create works that examine society's passions and foibles; Najla Said will speak of her work with the Arab-American theater company Nibras and comment on comedy in the theater; Kristin Marting, director of HERE, will discuss her curatorial work as well as her work as a theater director; Ron Russell will talk about teaching high school students to use theater as a critical lens through which to view the world. Sophia Skiles of THAW will moderate the panel.
Posted by whatfelt at 05:00 PM
Action! Media Literacy and Production
Saturday, 4:00-5:15, Screening Room
Representatives from several organizations focusing on media literacy for urban youth will present short films created and produced in their programs.
The Bronx River Art Center
ProTV
The Ghetto Film School
Jordi Torrent
These days, media literacy is more important than ever—Americans spend an average of 10.5 hours a day with the media: television, movies, the internet, billboards, newspapers, magazines, and radio. Join representatives from The Bronx River Art Center, ProTV and The Ghetto Film School to view films created and produced by urban youth. Moderated by Jordi Torrent, media literacy consultant and Amnesty International NYC activist.
Posted by whatfelt at 04:00 PM
(over)Throwing Political Parties
3:40-4:55, Meeting Room, OfficeOps
Jason BK, Blackkat
Arrow Chrome, Blackkat
If you’re good, your fete can build and strengthen activist communities, support emerging artists, and make you some moolah. Learn from the masters in this soup-to-nuts overview of how the best benefit bashes are born, raised, and unleashed upon the world—they’ll cover everything from planning, budgeting, and getting permits to marketing, managing lawyers and cops, and keeping track of cash.
Posted by whatfelt at 03:40 PM | Comments (0)
Illustrate/ Instigate/ Activate: The Political Graphic Novel
3:40-6:15, Rehearsal Space, OfficeOps
Legendary political artist Peter Kuper will present artwork and animations from his illustrious illustratory career. Bring your graphic novels-in-progress, completed works, and ideas for discussion, feedback, and exposure.
Peter Kuper is a graphic artist who co-founded the political comix magazine World War 3, illustrated with Seth Tobocman. He has taught at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and is an art director of INX, a political illustration group.
Posted by whatfelt at 03:40 PM | Comments (0)
Politicizing Culture: The New Revolution In Music
3:40-4:55, Event Space, OfficeOps
Mike Connery
Stephan Smith
Hillary Maroon
Ebenezer Bond
Music and politics: like oil and water? Activists increasingly use music and youth culture to politically engage new audiences. And a recent resurgence in “protest” music indicates that songwriters and sound artists continue to express their values, through lyrics and formal innovation—but to what ends? How can music and the communities and networks of performers and listeners it creates contribute to a culture of progress and change?
The artists and activists on this panel will examine the disparate ways that music, musicians, and youth networks and communities can be mobilized to raise awareness of issues, raise money for specific causes, brand politics as “cool,” and frame music and youth culture as forces to be taken seriously.
Mike Connnery, co-founder of Music for America, a national network created to politically mobilize youth culture, will share his ideas about the ways that politics and culture can effectively be mixed. Folk musician and activist Stephan Smith will discuss strategies for using the global justice movement as a tool for booking and distributing new music and discuss ways in which he has successfully incorporated social justice education opportunities into concerts and tours. Hillary Maroon, musician and founder of New York City-based collective Jazz Against War, will share her experiences organizing concerts to raise money for specific political organizations. Moderated by Ebenezer Bond, founder and director of World Up!, an organization which mobilizes community through hip hop culture.
Posted by whatfelt at 03:40 PM
Resident Expert - Jeanne Bergman
3:00 - 4:30, Front Counter
Jeanne Bergman is an expert on women's human rights, and she's here to answer your questions and talk to you about ways you can get involved with women's human rights activities. Stop by at your leisure to chat and pick up information about the Amnesty International Women's Human Rights Program. Be sure to ask her about how you can support the activities of the New York City Human Rights Inititiative.
Jeanne Bergman is a human rights activist with Amnesty International, serving on the national steering committee for the Women’s Program, the coordinating committee for the New York City Women’s Human Rights Action Team, and as the member coordinator for New York City Human Rights Initiative. A pro-sex feminist with a passion for sustainable agriculture, she has worked in HIV/AIDS policy, advocacy and organizational development in New York City for over a decade. She has a doctorate in cultural anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley currently works as a consultant and trainer for non-profit organizations.
Posted by whatfelt at 03:30 PM
Little Voices
Saturday, 3:20, Screening Room
Little Voices uses computer animation and traditional documentary techniques to tell the stories of children displaced in Colombia. Presented by editor Hamid Saidji.
Little Voices powerfully documents the experiences of three young children driven from their homes as a result of the civil war in Colombia that left almost two million people homeless between 1985 and 1999. Carillo uses the childrens' drawings to show painful memories of dramatically escaping from guerrilla and paramilitary fighters.
Little Voices
Director: Eduardo Carrillo
Country: Colombia-UK
Genre: Documentary/animation
(2003) 20min
Posted by whatfelt at 03:20 PM
Snack
3:15-3:40, Event Space, OfficeOps
Posted by whatfelt at 03:15 PM
In the Eye of the Passerby: A Discussion on Street Art
2:00-3:15, Meeting Room, OfficeOps
Visual Resistance is a loose collective of artists and independent media activists who came together to organize the No RNC Poster Project, which covered the city this summer with thousands of protest stickers and posters. The RNC was just the beginning—their website is a forum open to art events and all artists for submission and discussion, and subversion.
Members of the group will present some of their past work, then open the floor for discussion and brainstorming.
Posted by whatfelt at 02:00 PM | Comments (0)
Media at the Margins: Sustainable Alternatives to the Mainstream
2:00-3:15, Event Space, OfficeOps
Pete Tridish, Prometheus Radio Project
Blake McDowell, Paper Tiger Television
Sarah Groff-Palermo, Soft Skull Press
Shira Golding, MediaRights
With large corporations dominating the mainstream media, political artists and activists have turned increasingly to small, independent radio and television stations, production companies, and publishing houses as alternative venues through which to broadcast their creative work and dissenting views. What place do these organizations occupy in the contemporary media landscape? How are activist-run media outlets able to stay afloat in a market controlled by companies with much greater financial resources and publicity networks? What strategies can independent media organizations use to extend their reach, target untapped audiences, and avoid simply preaching to the converted?
In this panel discussion, microradio activist Pete Tridish will discuss his work as a founding member of Radio Mutiny, a Philadelphia radio station, and the Prometheus Radio Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to establishing and facilitating the growth of local radio stations. Blake McDowell of Paper Tiger Television will offer his perspectives on video activism as an alternative to corporate-controlled television networks. Sarah Groff-Palermo will describe her activities as managing editor of Soft Skull Press, an independent publishing house. The panel will be mediated by Shira Golding of MediaRights, a non-profit organization promoting film as a tool for social change.
Posted by whatfelt at 02:00 PM | Comments (0)
Corrections
Saturday, 2:00, Screening Room
The Corrections Documentary Project began in 1998 with Corrections, a feature documentary on the privatization of U.S. prisons.
Corrections is a story of justice turned to profit, where the war on crime has found new investors: Venture Capital and For-Profit Prisons, the story of the Private Prison. It is now an ongoing project, focused on building tools that help us describe, understand and intervene in the prison industrial complex.
Corrections
Director: Ashley Hunt
Country: USA
Language: English
Genera: Documentary
(2001) 58 min
Posted by whatfelt at 02:00 PM
Resident Expert - Gabriela Villareal
1:45 - 3:00, Front Counter
Have a question about human trafficking? Gabriela Villareal is here to help.
Gabriela Villareal is the Coordinator of National Training and Technical Assistance for Safe Horizon’s Anti-Trafficking Program, which provides direct services to survivors of human trafficking and modern day slavery. Prior to moving to New York, Ms. Villareal orgnaized conferences in Seattle about the trafficking of womenand children and was a member of the Washington State Anti-Trafficking Task Force. She is also a national Governing Board Member of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum and a member of the New York City Women’s Human Rights Action Team.
Posted by whatfelt at 01:45 PM
Activism in the Real World
12:40-1:55, Meeting Room, OfficeOps
Andrea Liu, THAW
Jonny America, Greene Dragon
Max Uhlenbeck, Left Turn Magazine
It is rarely addressed in the activist world how difficult it is to survive as an activist, an occupation not acknowledged by mainstream society as a profession. On the other hand, purists wear their culturally and economically marginalized status as a badge of honor. How does the world of activism negotiate the paradox of having to survive in a world that it devotes its resources, worldview and energy to dismantling? Is there an inherent tension between the fact that activism is fighting to make a world more just and moral, but houses the (career or life) ambitions of the people within it? Has activism, and especially the unprecedented New York City renaissance of arts activism, turned into yet another rat race for press and putting on the most famous events? Is arts-activism just something people do at the beginning of their career trajectory while biding time before getting a real job or writing their own play? Can you blame them for abandoning activism when activist organizations cannot provide health care or basic services of their members or employees?
The discussion will be facilitated by Andrea Liu, a modern dancer, freelance writer, and activist in New York City.
Posted by whatfelt at 12:40 PM | Comments (0)
Political Circus: Just Clowning Around?
12:40-3:15, Rehearsal Space, OfficeOps
Circus Amok founder Jennifer Miller will lead this interactive workshop on political circus techniques.
Posted by whatfelt at 12:40 PM
Documenting: Ethical and Aesthetic Considerations
12:40-1:55, Event Space, OfficeOps
Barbara Hammer, Filmmaker
Danny Schechter, Globalvision
Matisse Bustos, WITNESS
Christopher Allen, UnionDocs
Jesse Shapins, UnionDocs
The documentary form has long been one of the main tools used by artist-activists to draw attention to political and social issues. Since the 1890s, when Jacob A. Riis published his famous series of
photographs documenting the lives of lower Manhattan's tenement population, photographers and filmmakers have captured countless images of suffering, conflict, and struggle on film, disseminating
them through channels ranging from newspapers, television, and websites to galleries and museums. Because documentarians convey a message simply by focusing viewers' attention on one thing and not another, the act of framing itself is politically charged. But what other aesthetic strategies are available to artists seeking to create engaged documentary work? What roles do post-production considerations such as context (the settings and formats in which documented images are presented and received) and contextualization (the textual and visual information with which documented images are juxtaposed) play in creating meaning?
In addition to discussing the aesthetic choices that go into creating documentary works, panelists will also offer their perspectives on the political potential of documentaries: How can making people see what needs to be changed translate into effecting change? When and how does the passive gaze become active?
In this panel discussion, experimental filmmaker and documentarian Barbara Hammer will discuss her work creating films focused on gender and queer politics; documentary filmmaker and media critic Danny Schechter will describe his role as the founder of both Globalvision, a film and television production company specializing in informational and educational programming, and MediaChannel, a media-issues website; and Matisse Bustos will share her experiences as outreach coordinator for WITNESS, an international organization dedicated to supporting human-rights advocacy through video and communications technologies. The discussion will be moderated by Jesse Shapins and Chris Allen of UnionDocs, a Brooklyn-based documentary collective.
Posted by whatfelt at 12:40 PM
Señorita Extraviada
Saturday, 12:30, Screening Room
Señorita Extraviada, Missing Young Woman, is a feature documentary that tells the story of the over 370 kidnapped, raped and murdered young women of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Directed by Lourdes Portillo.
Who are these women from all walks of life and why are they being murdered so brutally? The documentary moves like the unsolved mystery it is, and the filmmaker poetically investigates the circumstances of the murders and the horror, fear and courage of the families whose children have been taken. Yet it is also the story of a city of the future; it is the story of the underbelly of our global economy.
For more information, see www.lourdesportillo.com/senoritaextraviada.
Señorita Extraviada
Director: Lourdes Portillo
Country: USA
Genre: Documentary
(2002) 74 min
Posted by whatfelt at 12:30 PM
Opening Statements
12:00-12:25, Event Space, OfficeOps
Posted by whatfelt at 12:00 PM
Check-In
11:00 - 5:00, OfficeOps
Posted by whatfelt at 11:00 AM
January 19, 2005
Ron Russell
Theater director
Ron Russell, Founding Artistic Director, Epic Theatre Center: MFA-Directing, Louisiana State University, 1995; BA-Neuroscience, Oberlin College, 1992. After acting as Founding Artistic Director of the nationally acclaimed Summer Theatre Enrichment Program at El Centro de Servicios in Lorain. OH, from 1992-1995, Ron founded UBI Repertory Theatre in San Diego (which reached over 2,000 needy local students with theatre education programs in 18 months), then came to New York City as Education Director at Theatre For A New Audience. From 1996-2001, Ron administered one of the nation's most exciting and in-depth programs for introducing New York City Public School students to Shakespeare, serving over 25,000 students during his tenure, and created new programming including the Playwriting Program at Project Renewal, an assisted living facility for formerly homeless men. Ron sat on the Arts-in-Education panel of the New York State Council on the Arts from 1998-2001 and acted as an educational advisor to programs across New York City and State. He has also directed extensively regionally along with 12 Off-Broadway productions, including 6 for Epic. His classroom experience includes over 50 educational sites, and his work as an educator and education administrator in NYC has been recognized by citations from the Municipal Arts Society and Mayor Bloomberg.
Posted by whatfelt at 10:09 PM
Shira Golding
Director of Education & Outreach, MediaRights
MediaRights is a nonprofit organization committed to maximizing the impact of social-issue documentaries. Each month tens of thousands of independent producers, grassroots organizers, teachers, students and librarians visit www.mediarights.org. They come to find films to educate and motivate their communities. They come to participate in the Media That Matters Film Festival, access nationwide outreach programs and participate in youth media distribution training programs.
Shira Golding is an independent filmmaker, graphic designer and activist who has been with MediaRights since 2002. Serving as the Director of Education & Outreach, Shira writes and commissions article on how alternative media is being used as a tool for social change, organizes workshops and screenings around the country, helps independent filmmakers develop their outreach campaigns, and develops curricula and take action guides for teachers and activists. Shira has moderated and appeared on panels around the country on the issues of media activism, youth media distribution and media reform.
Posted by whatfelt at 12:36 PM
January 18, 2005
Barbara Hammer
Filmmaker
Barbara Hammer, an internationally recognized film artist who has made eighty films and videos, is considered a pioneer of lesbian-feminist experimental cinema. Her trilogy of documentary film essays on lesbian and gay history -- "Nitrate Kisses" (1992), "Tender Fictions" (1995), and "History Lessons" (2000) -- has received numerous awards and screened and Sundance, the Berlin Film Festival, and more. She has had retrospectives at The Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Berlin International Film Festival, the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery in Lincoln, Nebraska, The Film Forum in Los Angeles and most recently, at the Out In Africa Film Festival in Capetown, South Africa (1994). Many of her films are in permanent collections and film libraries at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the National Film Archives in Brussels, and the Donnell Library in New York City. Hammer's films were selected for the 1987, 1989, and 1993 Whitney Museum of American Art Biennials in New York. She has taught at many institutions including School of the Art Institute, Chicago; California College of Arts and Crafts, the San Francisco Art Institute, School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, School of the Visual Arts, and The New School for Social Research.
Barbara Hammer earned an MA in film at San Francisco State University. She lives and works in New York City.
Posted by whatfelt at 12:21 AM
January 17, 2005
Soft Skull Press
Founded in a Kinkos in 1993, Soft Skull Press approaches leftist topics through poetry, fiction, and many mutations of nonfiction, including memoir, analysis, and how-to. The Red Rattle imprint publishes books for children and young adults; recent and forthcoming Red Rattle titles have included Hey Kidz! Buy This Book, a primer on political organization; and Choir Boy, the first novel about transgendered youth by a gender variant author. Recent and soon-to-come books for grownups address topics such as water policy and activism, rage in America, queer resistance, the meanings of whiteness, and Rudy Giuliani and his legacy.
Posted by whatfelt at 11:53 PM
Hamid Saidji
Filmmaker
Hamid Saidji is a graduate film student at the Columbia University School of the Arts and holds a Master of Arts in Digital Moving Image from the London Metropolitan University (2002). He produced, edited and created animations for the award-winning documentary “Little Voices.” Besides his collaboration with Mr. Carrillo, Hamid Saidji has directed several experimental short films honored at several festivals, and worked as a freelance visual artist for dance companies, Channel Four and National Geographic Television. Hamid Saidji has also worked as a set design assistant on the film “Loungers” directed by the Oscar winning director Marc Forster (“Monster’s Ball”). “Loungers” won the Best Feature Audience Award at the Slamdance International Film Festival (1996). Hamid Saidji is currently working as a producer on a feature film project with a young Uruguayan writer/director Arauco Hernadez.
Posted by whatfelt at 05:28 PM
Chitra Ganesh
Artist
Chitra Ganesh's work explores how memory and its repression shape moments of personal and social crisis. Through installation, photography, and drawing, her work integrates personal and postcolonial narratives, challenging dominant representations of the postcolonial subject. Ganesh's source materials include Greek and Hindu mythology, 19th century portraiture, Bollywood posters, comic books, and mainstream media. Using collage, assemblage and digital manipulation, her work takes historical narratives apart at the seams, allowing suppressed histories and mythologies to emerge from within the very texts that seek to erase them.
Chitra Ganesh received an MFA from Columbia University in 2002. Her work was recently included in the group exhibition 637 Feet of Running Wall at the Queens Museum, Queer Visualities at Stonybrook University, NY, and Shaken and Stirred at Bose Pacia Modern Gallery in New York.
And So Forth links
Creative Alliances for Effective ActivismPosted by whatfelt at 05:15 PM
January 13, 2005
AND SO FORTH: A POST-INAUGURAL ASSEMBLY
AND SO FORTH: A POST-INAUGURAL ASSEMBLY
Artists and activists convene to discuss creative approaches to social change
January 22–23, OfficeOps (57 Thames St., Brooklyn)
BROOKLYN, New York – December 30, 2004 – On January 22 and 23, 2005, more than two hundred artists and activists will convene in East Williamsburg, New York, for a groundbreaking conference on activism and the arts. Sponsored by four local nonprofit groups – Amnesty International Firefly Project, Theaters Against War (THAW), FELT, and Art Is Permitted Everywhere – AND SO FORTH: A POST-INAUGURAL ASSEMBLY (ASF) will feature two days of panel and roundtable discussions, hands-on workshops, a film series, an evening of performances, and a gallery exhibition of political art.
Scheduled to coincide with the official beginning of George W. Bush's second presidential term, ASF was conceived and organized by members of Amnesty International Firefly Project in response to the surge of politically-engaged art-making that swept New York City in the months leading up to the Republican National Convention and the 2004 election. Says AI Firefly co-founder Amiel Melnick, "We wanted to channel those energies, to create a space for artists and activists to come together and share their ideas about how making art can make change. The election is over, but that doesn't mean everything should grind to a halt. There's still work to be done."
By providing a non-partisan forum in which artists and activists can share skills and strategies for raising social and political consciousness, ASF's organizers hope to reaffirm local commitment to arts activism, strengthen ties among members of New York City's artist-activist community, and address ongoing social justice concerns. “For over forty years, Amnesty International’s reliable research and worldwide activist network have been crucial resources for human rights advocates,” says Steffani Jemison, AI Firefly co-founder. “The challenge for artists is finding creative ways to join with research and service organizations so that their work can make a real impact – whether that means changing the law or simply changing the mind of someone who sees a performance, exhibition, or installation.”
Prominent members of New York City's burgeoning artist-activist community will join representatives from politically-oriented and grassroots arts organizations to discuss topics ranging from the political potential of gallery exhibitions to documentary filmmaking, public performance, political satire, and fundraising. Local luminaries slated to speak include the filmmaker Barbara Hammer, the visual artists Mariam Ghani and Chitra Ganesh, the media critic Danny Schechter, and the graphic novelist David Rees. Participating organizations and collectives include WITNESS, the Prometheus Radio Project, Jazz Against War, Billionaires for Bush, The Civilians, The Onion, Soft Skull Press, and Paper Tiger TV.
The conference film series, “How to Change the World in Short or Feature Length,” will include pieces directed by Naomi Klein, Hany Abu-Assad, and others. The gallery show, "Image Acts,” will be juried by Apsara DiQuinzio and Tina Kukielski, assistant curators at the Whitney Museum of American Art and co-curators of last summer's "Freedom Salon" exhibition at Deitch Projects. Comprising works by 25 visual artists (including Martha Rosler and the Guerrilla Girls), “Image Acts” will showcase responses to recent events ranging from the war in Iraq to clashes between Palestinians and Israelis.
The conference registration fee is $12 at the door, $10 in advance, and free for volunteers. (See www.aifirefly.org for more information.) ASF is open to the public.
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS AND ORGANIZATIONS:
The Onion
Billionaires for Bush
Music for America
Dread Scott
Jazz Against War
Prometheus Radio Project
Barbara Hammer
Peter Kuper
Mariam Ghani
Chitra Ganesh
UnionDocs
Blackkat
David Rees
The Civilians
Gigantic Art Space
Najla Said
Sophia Skiles
Stephan Smith
Paper Tiger Television
Soft Skull Press
Globalvision
WITNESS
Visual Resistance
. . . and many more
ABOUT THE SPONSORS:
Amnesty International Firefly Project is a New York City-based collective that works to raise awareness of human-rights issues through public events. AI Firefly supports the exchange of ideas, strategies, motives, and methods for creating politically- and socially-engaged art and is affiliated with Amnesty International USA as local group #704.
THAW is an international network of theater artists responding to the United States' ongoing "War on Terror" and attacks on civil liberties in the U.S. and abroad. THAW has over 200 member theaters in countries around the world.
Art Is Permitted Everywhere supports and sponsors community-based projects and activities that include community gardens, public sculptures and performances, outdoor poetry readings, and street festivals.
FELT encourages a range of art forms as tools for social-justice activists through original curatorial projects, collaborative programming, and international grantmaking initiatives.
ABOUT OFFICEOPS:
The conference will take place at OfficeOps, a Brooklyn community space and arts venue. OfficeOps is located at 57 Thames Street in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
To get to OfficeOps by subway, take the L to Morgan Avenue. Walk south on Morgan towards the firehouse, crossing Grattan Street. Turn left on Thames. 57 is the last steel door on the left.
For directions by car, visit www.officeops.org or call OfficeOps at 718-418-2509.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Steffani Jemison
Amnesty International Firefly Project
178 East 2nd St. #2A
New York, NY 10009
Phone: 917-513-7514
E-mail: andsoforth@aifirefly.org
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Posted by whatfelt at 12:47 AM
Ebenezer Bond
World Up!
Ebenezer Bond is the co-founder of World Up!, an organization committed to strengthening international solidarity by celebrating hip hop's influence as a universal tool for a new global culture. The goal of World Up! is to promote diversity and tolerance by creating a platform for open cultural exchange. Prior to founding World Up! Ebenezer was the associate producer for Jambalaya Jazz, an international music festival in Rio de Janeiro that combines American roots music with Brazilian roots music in the image of the New Orleans Jazz Festival. Ebenezer has also befriended and written about a number of Brazils rising Hip Hop stars.
Posted by whatfelt at 12:34 AM
Jordi Torrent
Filmmaker
Jordi Torrent is a New York based independent filmmaker whose feature films and documentaries are in distribution and have participated at festivals such as Sundance, London, Montreal and Rotterdam. Since 1989 Mr. Torrent is a Media Consultant for Community School District 6 (Region 10, New
York City Department of Education) where he implements media literacy instruction to elementary and middle school students, teachers and parents.
And So Forth links Action! Media Literacy and Production
Posted by whatfelt at 12:25 AM
January 11, 2005
Max Uhlenbeck
Editor
Max Uhlenbeck is part of the Left Turn magazine editorial collective. He has been active in the anti-war and global justice movements over the past few years both as a student organizer at New York University and nationally with United for Peace and Justice.
He has participated in and helped organize several large demonstrations including the FTAA protests in Quebec City in 2001 and Miami in 2003, the historic Febraury 15th Anti-War demonstrations in New York City and most recently the 2004 anti-RNC convergence. This past summer he was on the program committee for the Life After Capitalism Conference which took place in New York City.
And So Forth links
Activism in the Real World - Discussion FacilitatorExternal links
Left Turn MagazineLife After Capitalism
Posted by whatfelt at 07:36 PM
Jonny America
Performer, Writer, Founder of Greene Dragon
Jonny America is founder/co-leader of Greene Dragon, a street theater/media group of patriots celebrating the American Revel-ution against George II (Bush) and his corporate monarchy. Recent successes have been a Paula Revere's ride warning New York City 'The Republican's are coming!" for the RNC, as well as a Crossing of New York Harbor, posed like Washington crossing the Delaware, on the Staten Island Ferry. After several years living abroad (England, Spain, The Czech Republic), he returned to the U.S. and worked for the September 11th Fund. He attended the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert, where he became a political reveler, assuming the name Jonny America. He has written a novel, The Last Hangover, about expats in post Revolution Prague, which he is currently trying to publish. He is also writing a weekly column, Notes From America, about his adventures on America's political/cultural front lines. Jonny has appeared in Time Magazine, The Village Voice, The Chicago Tribune, and the cover of New York Magazine.
And So Forth links
Activism in the Real World - Discussion FacilitatorExternal links
jonnyamerica.comGreene Dragon
Posted by whatfelt at 02:10 PM
WITNESS
WITNESS uses the power of video to open the eyes of the world to human rights abuses. By partnering with local organizations around the globe, WITNESS empowers human rights defenders to use video to shine a light on those most affected by human rights violations, and to transform personal stories of abuse into powerful tools of justice. Over the past decade, WITNESS has partnered with more than 200 groups in 50 countries, bringing often unseen images, untold stories and seldom heard voices to the attention of key decision makers, the media, and the general public -- catalyzing grassroots activism, political engagement, and lasting change.
And So Forth links
Documenting: Ethical and Aesthetic ConsiderationsExternal links
WitnessPosted by whatfelt at 02:46 AM
Dario Tangelson
Actor, Director
Dario Tangelson: is an Argentinean born performer, director and acting teacher who first came to NY on a Fulbright-sponsored professional training program a few years ago. In Argentina, he had extensive experience as an actor in theater, film and television, while simultaneously working as theater teacher in different cultural centers like Centro Cultural Recoleta; Centro Cultural Ricardo Rojas (University of Buenos Aires) and University of Lanús.
In NY he has collaborated with different theater companies such as International Wow Company (“The Bomb” Clemente Soto Velez; “Orphan on God’s Highway,” La Mama), Wax Factory (“Moliere’s Monster,” Ohio Theater), NTUSA (“Placebo Sunrise,” Dublin Fringe), Flying Machine (“Journey to the End of the Night,” Public Theater). He also teaches acting and mask work through the Artist Teaching programs at the Museo del Barrio and Young Audiences NY.
And So Forth links
"Neutral Mask," Story-Telling, and Theater as a Lab or an Observatory - Workshop leaderExternal links
International WOWPosted by whatfelt at 02:39 AM
January 07, 2005
Pete Tridish
Prometheus Radio Project
Pete Tridish was a member of the founding collective of Radio Mutiny, 91.3 FM, in Philadelphia. He is also a founder of the Prometheus Radio Project. In 1997, he was an organizer for Radio Mutiny's demonstrations at Benjamin Franklin's Printing Press and the Liberty Bell; on both occasions the station broadcast in open defiance of the FCC's unfair rules that prohibit low power community broadcasting.
Tridish also worked on the first two microradio conferences on the East Coast -- and organized radio barnraisings in five communities around the United States. He participated actively in the rulemaking that led to the adoption of LPFM and sat on the committee that sponsored the crucial Broadcast Signal Labs study, which proved to the FCC that LPFM would not cause interference.
Tridish has helped to build a number of low power radio stations and provided advice to hundreds. He has done radio trainings in Guatemala, Colombia, Nepal and other countries, and has spoken at colleges and coffee shops, in living rooms, and even at the CATO Institute.
And So Forth links
Media at the Margins - PanelistExternal links
Prometheus Radio ProjectPosted by whatfelt at 12:10 PM
Ivy League Legacy
Actor, Billionaire
Melody Bates (aka Ivy League-Legacy) is the National Chair of the Speakers Bureau of Billionaires for Bush and a member of the B4B Cabinet. She is also a core member of the Billionaire Follies, the singing/performing wing of the organization. In the 2004 campaign she performed and spoke in swing states around the country and at many venues in NYC, as well as on WBAI, WNYE, and Air America's Majority Report. She co-wrote and directed "Dick Cheney's Holiday Spectacular," the 2004 Billionaires for Bush holiday show, which won wild acclaim for simultaneously propagating the billionaire message and spreading holiday cheer to billionaires everywhere. In her non-billionaire life she is an actor who has performed in numerous off- and off- off-Broadway venues, and teaches middle school drama at the Brooklyn Heights Montessori School.
And So Forth links
Serious Ridicule: Satire and Social Change - PanelistExternal links
Billionaires for BushPosted by whatfelt at 11:42 AM
January 06, 2005
Peter Tridish
Pete Tridish was a member of the founding collective of Radio Mutiny,
91.3 FM, in Philadelphia. He is also a founder of the Prometheus Radio
Project. In 1997, he was an organizer for Radio Mutiny's
demonstrations at Benjamin Franklin's Printing Press and the Liberty
Bell; on both occasions the station broadcast in open defiance of the
FCC's unfair rules that prohibit low power community broadcasting.
Tridish also worked on the first two microradio conferences on the
East Coast -- and organized radio barnraisings in five communities
around the United States. He participated actively in the rulemaking
that led to the adoption of LPFM and sat on the committee that
sponsored the crucial Broadcast Signal Labs study, which proved to the
FCC that LPFM would not cause interference.
Tridish has helped to build a number of low power radio stations and
provided advice to hundreds. He has done radio trainings in Guatemala,
Colombia, Nepal and other countries, and has spoken at colleges and
coffee shops, in living rooms, and even at the CATO Institute.
Posted by whatfelt at 10:10 AM
January 02, 2005
Andrea Liu
Writer, Dancer
Andrea Liu is a writer, satirist, political activist, and modern dancer in New York. Her dance group DAFOPE (Dance as a Form of Political Expression) uses the medium of dance to critique the cultural ghettoization of dance in our society and the perversion of dance to objectify women. She has worked or written for The Nation, Women and Performance Journal, The Movement Research Journal (contributing editor), Zeek, and New York Arts Curve. Her political satire Recipe for Another Vietnam was performed at HERE, Collective Unconscious, the UFPJ Benefit Concert, the European Graduate School Theatre and next year's Women Center Stage. An avid LGBT activist, she was Chair of the Media Division of the Public Policy Committee of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Community Center on 13th Street. She now serves as a Steering Committee member of THAW (Theaters Against War) and is director of the Counter-Inauguration National Day Of Mourning Project. She was a literature major at Yale and thereafter studied literary criticism at the Centre Parisien d'Etudes Critiques in Paris, France.
And So Forth links
Activism in the Real WorldExternal links
National Mourning ProjectPosted by whatfelt at 04:10 AM | Comments (0)