Introduction

The Collective Action Archive performing, provoking, etc.?” Lippard and PAD/D continued is an exhibition consisting of Also, rather than imposing a to collect materials through- items from a recently creat- definition on what a “politi- out the 1980s. The PAD/D ed archive that goes by the cally and socially active” col- Archive includes groups such same name. The videos, lective of artists is, the cura- as ACT UP, Not For Sale, zines, posters, books and tors accepted materials from Deep Dish TV, PESTS, and Art other materials that form the any groups that self-identi- Workers Coalition. archive and exhibition were fied in this way. The decision submitted by more than thir- to only invite U.S. collectives With the Purchase College, ty socially and politically ac- was largely logistical, taking SUNY, redux of the Collective tive artist collectives between into account budget and Action Archive, the school’s October, 2012 and July, 2013. time limitations. student gallery provides a The call for materials was generous space that, unlike initiated by the not-for-prof- The Collective Action Archive the Collective Action archive’s it art space, Franklin Street was inspired in part by the first iteration, allows for all of Works, Stamford, CT, as one Political Art Documentation/ the collectives to be exhibited component of their exhibition Distribution (PAD/D) archive simultaneously. This gives Working Alternatives: Break- started by art historian Lucy audiences the opportunity to ing Bread, Art Broadcasting, Lippard along with artist/ explore the archive, unpacked and Collective Action (October activist Gregory Sholette and from its files and boxes in a 27, 2012 – January 13, 2013). other PAD/D members, in- shared space, providing an cluding Barbara Moore and ideal setting for conversa- That call aimed at an infor- Mimi Smith. That collection of tions, observations, and dis- mal survey and gave only materials, now in the MoMA coveries about the strategies, loose parameters on types Library collection, was initi- materials, organizational of materials or what kinds of ated with Lippard’s 1979 call structures, and themes found groups could send them. It asking political artists for ar- in socially and politically ac- asked among other things: chive materials as part of her tive artist collectives today. “What is your collective say- Artists Space exhibition Some ing, making, distributing, British Art from the Left. Essays

CollectiveActionArchive Brooke Singer, Associate Professor of New Media, New Media Program Coordinator, School of Film & Media Studies, Purchase College, SUNY.

COLLECTIVE

Google the word “collective” and the top replaced the faux brown leather encyclopedia result (at least on August 24, 2013) is collec- set of my youth. (As a child I started precisely tive.com – a company about big data science at the beginning and began to memorize the that is passionate and client-centric. Yes, big contents of my parents’ encyclopedia. This data is a form of collective, maybe even the fixed knowledge, I believed, once digested most salient today. This collective is the data and retained, would bring me unequivocal stream of our digital bits that we offer up intelligence. The first word was aardvark.) hundreds of times a day to feed server banks scattered across the globe. It is not only big Wikipedia has a different tone. Under the in size but, according to collective.com, is header “collective” there is talk of a group also big with ideas, heart and fun. of people sharing, motivated by a common interest or issue. There is this idea of Try looking for collective.org and it does not working together – or collaborating – to appear; it is parked and maybe waiting for achieve a common goal. Collectives are not the highest bidder. necessarily focused on economic benefit the text goes on to say. The structures are vari- If you are feeling depressed, turn to Wiki- able. The models are numerous. pedia.com, a massive collective experiment of a different kind. Here online you-sers The list of collectives in this exhibition reads everywhere are describing what is important like band names: fierce pussy, The Pinky in the world. It has, as many once feared, Show, Temporary Services, Philly Stake, etc. No individuals listed, instead there are indi- Action here is dumb time – but a smart cations of direct sentiment with a peppering move: carving space to do nothing. Action of sass. As the audience we wonder what can be non-activity, deciding not to take part. they are up to, why and how. The items pre- Action can be laziness that is practiced and sented in this exhibition share some of the perfected. Action in the context of this exhi- story; they point toward common goals and bition means creating the life you want to see shared interests among the groups. rather than following a path that has been laid before you. Life hacks are entertaining ACTION one-liners, but hacking life is a full-time job. The world is your studio. You will find it in the video games you play, the person who sits ARCHIVE next to you on the bus, the construction of a park bench, the advertisements that frame The irony of course is that we have brought your emails, the worms in your compost ephemera into a room, the gallery, for you to bin. By any media necessary, by any means look at, consider and enjoy. We have trans- necessary, get out from where you think you formed these collective actions into objects, ought to be making art. taking away their lifeline and making them part of the production/promotion/ A friend recently forwarded a short essay titled competition system. “In Praise of Laziness,” by the Croatian artist, Mladen Stilinovic. Laziness? What could lazi- We have done this to celebrate this loose ness have to do with action? The essay is a grouping of work that is collaborative, issue- short provocation (please find online to read in based and action-oriented. its entirety). Here is a sample: We have done this to fuel a conversation about art, ideas and alternative histories. “Laziness is the absence of movement and thought, dumb time - total amnesia. It is also We have done this because action can look indifference, staring at nothing, non-activity, good and should be admired from an aes- impotence. It is sheer stupidity, a time of pain, thetic perspective. futile concentration. Those virtues of laziness are important factors in art. Knowing about We have done this because when collective laziness is not enough, it must be practised and action art goes out of fashion, this archive perfected. Artists in the West are not lazy and will persist. therefore not artists but rather producers of something... Their involvement with matters of We have done this to nourish minds and no importance, such as production, promotion, spirits and incite you to join, continue and gallery system, museum system, competition claim for your own. system (who is first), their preoccupation with objects, all that drives them away form lazi- ness, from art. Just as money is paper, so a gallery is a room.” The Collective Action Archive: Virtual Geography Gina Mischianti, Curatorial Intern, Collective Action Archive

Within last quarter century, we have steadily it means to be without it. This examina- built rapidly changing technologies and tion manifests itself in a variety of ways, systems that have most of us scrambling extending throughout many facets of their to process the resulting paradigm shifts in work. Looking at neglected geographical human interaction. Systems built around the locations is a prominent method by which concepts of physical boundaries and cor- physical location is explored. Groups such poreality have been rendered almost com- as the M12 Collective and Regional Rela- pletely obsolete in the face of rapid techno- tionships focus heavily on often-ignored logical advancements. Despite these shifts, rural and/or impoverished areas, as well as we have seen few large-scale changes in the man-made, synthetic boundaries. Both col- ideology of the world’s cultural institutions. lectives deconstruct elitist and regressive One could ask, “Do these reasons include misconceptions about these areas created fear, reluctance, confusion, or perhaps, igno- by conventional institutional thought while rance?” In the face of seeming institutional respecting and upholding unique regional complacency some groups are studying and cultures. Examples include M12’s project/ tackling the consequential issues emerging event called “The Big Feed,” an annual gath- in this environment. Compelling models are ering that combines the so-called “high- present in the various artists groups fea- brow” and “cosmopolitan” elements of a tured in the Collective Action Archive exhi- contemporary art/architecture fair with bition. These collectives explore, examine, those of a “low-brow” and “rustic” cookout and expand the developing mindsets born festival. This is also seen in Regional Rela- from technological globalization and virtual tionships’ prominent projects “A Map Without landscapes, critically deconstructing the Boundaries” and “Greetings from the Corn- stagnating institutions of a freshly outdated belts,” where mail art utilizes information past. The groups encapsulate (either through to re-imagine spaces and cultural histories, a direct reaction to the new technological including the juxtaposition of indigenous nar- age or forward thinking correspondence), ratives kept apart. These projects show the the various conflicts, fears, and hopes cre- arbitrary and unnecessary nature of regional ated on the cusp of this bourgeoning cultural exclusions and expose the areas’ unique evolution, ranging from the contemplation of local culture to a wider demographic. physical/non-physical location to the desire for connectivity. Meanwhile, some of the collectives focus on exploring and critically examining the One primary way that the collectives in non-corporeal environment of cyberspace. Collective Action Archive contemplate the Since the virtual landscape of the Internet growing culture of physical limitlessness is a new invention (and its widespread use is by fixating on geography and/or what by common civilians an even more recent development), the nature and effects of the Collective Action Archive aim to strengthen its full-fledged usage are yet to be deter- their target communities vary. Some collectives, mined. Groups such as Second Front and such as Just Seeds, take a proactive, social jus- Preemptive Media realize this and, much tice/political activist approach to preserving and like explorers of the past, intend to traverse improving communities. Whereas Philly Stake this intangible territory keeping in mind its aims to build a sense of connectivity by creating far-reaching ramifications. Second Front public events that utilize local agriculture and studies and questions the possible expan- small businesses. Others, such as National sion of performance art as well as the way Bitter Melon Council, work to make minority we socially interact and “physically” live groups and opinions within a community more inside the worldwide web. They do so by visible to a mainstream audience, fighting to utilizing a social media/life simulation pro- decrease social hegemony and stagnation gram called “Second Life” both to create within their region. separate virtual identities of each artist and to stage elaborate, group performances The artists featured in the Collective Action via manipulation and play within the digital Archive are adapting and building types of net- space. On the other hand, Preemptive Media works and artworks designed to fit the envi- is more heavily focused on how the growing ronment created by technologically advanced landscape of technology affects us in our age. While the culture jamming impulses and everyday lives. They educate the public on do-it -yourself aesthetics of Dada, Punk and the how big business and government unscru- Picture Generation continue to influence many pulously utilize new media for invasive pur- of the collectives, they strive to create innova- poses and how to create personal gadgets to tive, and often improvisational, dynamics and help counteract the potentially negative aspects paradigms that challenge institutional thinking of a technologically advanced world. and eschew the Western art history canon. The non-physical age on the horizon has pro- Finally, other collectives address slowly devel- vided the artists in Collective Action Archive oping social shifts due to the changing land- the means and the motive to break away from scape of technology-based interaction. They these systems and pursue fresh approaches. As have become more focused on creating and the world changes, these artists are helping to fostering a sense of community within local- shape what it means to gather, interact and even ized areas or specific social networks. Not only live within this increasingly virtual culture. would many of these artists be unable to carry out their activities without the expanded social capabilities made possible by technology, but they are also using these tools to rethink and reimagine outdated concepts of social individ- ualism. They turn to an Internet-compatible collectivist mindset in which technology enables overlooked or socially marginalized groups to assemble and/or grow stronger through com- munication. The ways that the collectives within Examining A Collective: Temporary Services Sandrine Milet, Curatorial Assistant, Franklin Street Works

Temporary Services is a collective made up at Purchase College, SUNY, I spent time on of Brett Bloom, Salem Collo-Julin and Marc the Temporary Services website and read Fischer. Founded in 1998, it is based in Chi- through their submitted archival materials. cago, Copenhagen and Philadelphia. Born Immediately, their “Why the Exhibition was from a desire to provide art as a service for Canceled” zine caught my eye; its authen- others, Temporary Services was originally ticity, humor and simplicity kept me reading. an experimental exhibition space in one of As a staff member of a not-for-profit, it was Chicago’s lower income neighborhoods. They also relatable because of my recent expe- produce exhibitions, events, and projects riences of corresponding with artists. Ever and are largely known for their vast number since then I have been hooked and have been of publications. Their main concern is to on a quest to learn more about Temporary examine the way in which art is produced and Services’ strategies, influences and connec- received in society today and to experience tions to other collectives. art in the places the members inhabit on a daily basis. Temporary Services attempts One of Temporary Services’ key approaches to decentralize art making and viewing. is to create ephemeral art, hence the word They experiment and test out ideas without “temporary” in the group’s name. Mobile hesitation or permission. They take risks, Sign Systems: A Temporary Public Art defy rules, give back, and most importantly, Project (1999) involved the collective asking according to the collective, ignore distinc- artists to create mobile signs inspired by tions made between art practice and other those used at gas stations, car washes and creative human endeavors.1 food stands. After all of the signs were tem- porarily displayed in the gallery and viewed I first came across Temporary Services while together, they were placed anonymously working on the Collective Action thread of throughout the city of Chicago, in specific the Franklin Street Works exhibition Working or random locations, until the signs were Alternatives: Breaking Bread, Art Broad- removed, vandalized or stolen. With this casting and Collective Action in October, project, the collective gives Chicago and its 2012. I didn’t know much about them at the citizens the power to determine whether time, but took a keen interest in their activi- these works stay in the city and deserve ties since they were partially based in Copen- respect, including how long they will hagen, Denmark, a city that I had studied remain public art. in for four months. While more thoroughly researching collectives for the second itera- This intentional brevity and focus on the tion of the project, Collective Action Archive city reflects Temporary Services’ desire to eliminate competition and to challenge the 1 http://www.temporaryservices.org/contact.html demands of the art market. The collective explained in a recent Art 21 interview, “The accessible to those who wouldn’t normally commercial market needs to be abandoned seek it out. Projects like, Illegal Art’s Per- on a massive collective scale and artists need sonal Space or M12 Collective’s Campito in to stop relying on others exploiting them the Collective Action Archive have similar to be the definition of how art is made and goals of creating engaging art experiences in received. ... We simply want to support and the environment while encouraging dialogue, encourage anyone who finds other ways of conversation and interaction between com- putting their art into the world.” 2 Looking at munity members. the rest of the archive, these ideas also per- meate fierce pussy’s wheat pasting posters Temporary Services’ fascination with the in the streets of New York City and Conflict public sphere is also evident in their many Kitchen’s temporary menus that focus on publications. In the Collective Action Archive, food from countries that the United States is there is Public Phenomena: Informal Modi- in conflict with. Additionally, Second Front’s fications of Shared Space (2010), a book that performances in the avatar world of Second visually archives regional culture in public Life not only challenge the notion of perfor- spaces in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. mance art in the virtual, but also the mate- Mobile Phenomena (2012), published by the riality of art. Collectives such as these are Temporary Services publishing initiative, searching for ways to challenge the institu- Half Letter Press, brings together a selec- tion of art and are creating new models for tion of images featuring mobile structures democratizing art making. such as bookmobiles, traveling art projects, structures created for protests and bar Mobile Sign Systems is not only a look at one bikes. These mobile phenomena allow ideas of the collective’s many projects that focus and projects to move with ease, while also on the temporal, but is an example of Tem- evoking the idea of “social mobility,” calling porary Services’ explorations and interven- into question whether people have the power tions in public space. Boston Ravioli (2003) to alter structures around them to fit their and Chicago Ravioli (2004) examine the needs. The Mobile Phenomena project is ephemeral qualities of public art projects, reminiscent of Floating Lab Collective, also where “raviolis,” or plastic bags filled with in the Collective Action Archive, who uses a art, were placed around the city as a means converted taco truck as a mobile museum to to distribute free art to the public. Similarly, circulate art projects among different neigh- The Window Show (2005) was a public art borhoods and regions in Washington, D.C. project where art was installed on boarded up windows of vacant homes in downtown Mobile Phenomena became one of four Baltimore. These public art projects maintain Temporary Services digital archives, which the collective’s desire to broaden the audi- also includes: Group and Spaces, Public ences for art and creative practices beyond Phenomena Archive, and Reading Material. the museum or gallery setting, making art These archives serve as resources for other artists and communities and are a way for the group to distribute ideas to the public. 2 Donovan, Tom. “Five questions with Temporary Additionally, Temporary Services has curated Services,” Art 21 blog. October 21, 2010. exhibitions that are structured with a similar initiative, it encourages people to think and impulse to share information. One such exhi- expand upon their ideas of how art is used bition was Designated Drivers (2011) where and for whom it is meant, reinforcing Tem- twenty artists and groups were invited to upload porary Services’ goal of ignoring distinctions four GB of their archives, videos, images, etc. between art practice and other creative onto a USB drive that was presented in an activities. This final point calls attention to exhibition space for audiences to copy onto the spirit of the Collective Action Archive their own laptops or drives. The booklet of this itself, conjuring a list of other collectives exhibition can be found in the Collective Action seen here, including: National Bitter Melon Archive and provides an introduction from the Council, Guffey Hollow, and Conflict Kitchen. twenty participating artists. All of these steer away from pure artistic objectives and ask the question, “Is this art?” While many of their activities revolve around in a variety of ways. As with Temporary Ser- art projects, Temporary Services’ main vices, the goals of artist collectives often strategy for challenging the demands of the include the blurring of these distinctions as art market is, as their title implies, by pro- a challenge to hegemonic ideas of the pro- viding services to their communities. This duction and consumption in contemporary approach frees art from the confines of the art. With this as the backbone of Temporary art market, but also engages in social prac- Service’s core mission, the collective ques- tice, activism and collaboration. One-Week tions who and what art serves, using a DIY Boutique (2000) was a project that invited aesthetic and an openness to shifting mean- visitors to drop by their pop-up boutique for ings and visibility at the hands of the local coffee, read their publications, try on donated communities they serve. clothes, and take them home for free. An extension of One-Week Boutique was the For more on Temporary Services see Gregory Warming Center (2001), which turned the Sholette’s chapter on the collective in Dark Temporary Services offices into a space for Matter: Art and Politics in the Age of Enter- the public to get warm and take home free prise Culture (Pluto Press, London, 2011), 94 clothes. Epicerie and Portable Store (1999) – 115. and Library Project (2001) also instigated and activated, furthering the questioning of education, economies and authority. In the Collective Action Archive there is docu- mentation of the Supermax Subscriptions (2008) project, which aimed to provide all of the Tamms supermax prisoners with yearly subscriptions to magazines by exchanging donated unused frequent flyer miles for magazine subscriptions.

While this last project, Supermax Subscrip- tions, resembles a social or political ABC No Rio // New York, NY

ABC No Rio is a collectively-run center for art and activism. We are known internationally as a venue for opposi- tional culture. ABC No Rio was founded in 1980 by artists committed to political and social engagement, and we retain these values to the present.

We seek to facilitate cross-pollination between artists and activists. ABC No Rio is a place where people share resources and ideas to impact society, culture, and community. We believe that art and activism should be for everyone, not just the professionals, experts, and cogno- scenti. Our dream is a cadres of actively Participating aware artists and artfully aware activists. Our community is defined by a set of Collectives shared values and convictions. It is both In Their Own Words a local and international community. It is a community committed to social justice, equality, anti-authoritarianism, autonomous action, collective processes, and to nurturing alternative structures and institutions operating on such prin- ciples. Our community includes artists and activists whose work promotes critical analysis and an expanded vision of possibility for our lives and the lives of our neighborhoods, cities, and soci- eties. It includes punks who embrace the Do-It-Yourself ethos, express positive outrage, and reject corporate commer- cialism. It includes nomads, squatters, fringe dwellers, and those among soci- ety’s disenfrachised who find at ABC No Rio a place to be heard and valued. http://www.abcnorio.org/ Artists Against Apartheid // worldwide States on subjects ranging from the U.S. economic embargo to Cuba’s relation- Artists Against Apartheid is an inter- ship with other global players. national alliance committed to Equal Rights and Justice, and the elimination http://www.conflictkitchen.org of apartheid in our world. http://www.artistsagainstapartheid.org fierce pussy //New York, NY fierce pussy is a collective of queer Big Tent // Winston – Salem, NC women artists. Formed in New York City in 1991 through our immersion in AIDS To provide young people with a safe place activism during a decade of increasing outside of the school structure to talk political mobilization around gay rights, about the problems and joys of growing fierce pussy brought lesbian identity and up in a multiracial, post-segregation visibility directly into the streets. society and to create art that commu- nicates issues of racial identity among Low-tech and low budget, the collec- peers and to the larger society. tive responded to the urgency of those http://www.facebook.com/pages/Big-Tent- years, using readily available resources: Transforming-Race/198094470230054?sk=info old typewriters, found photographs, our own baby pictures, and the printing sup- Conflict Kitchen //Pittsburgh, PA plies and equipment accessible in our day jobs. Conflict Kitchen is a take-out restaurant that only serves cuisine from countries Fierce pussy projects included wheat with which the United States is in con- pasting posters on the street, renaming flict. The food is served out of a take-out New York City streets after promi- style storefront, which rotates identities nent lesbian heroines, re-designing every 6 months to highlight another the restroom at the LGBT community country. Each Conflict Kitchen iteration center, printing and distributing stickers is augmented by events, performances, and t-shirts, a greeting card campaign, and discussion about the culture, politics a video PSA and more recently, various and issues at stake with each country installations and exhibitions in galleries on which we focus. We are currently and museums. presenting the third iteration of Conflict Kitchen via COCINA CUBANA, a take-out Originally fierce pussy was composed restaurant that serves homemade Cuban of a fluid and often shifting cadre of dishes. Developed in collaboration with dykes including Pam Brandt, Jean members of the Cuban community, our Carlomusto, Donna Evans, Alison food comes packaged in take out boxes Froling, and Suzanne Wright. Many sealed with stickers and custom-de- other women came to an occasional signed wrappers that include interviews meeting, and joined in to wheat paste, with Cubans both in Cuba and the United stencil and sticker. Four of the original core members —Nancy Brooks Brody, the Arts and Humanities. Joy Episalla, Zoe Leonard, and Carrie (http://floatinglabcollective.com) Yamaoka— continue to work together. http://www.fiercepussy.org/ Futurefarmers // San Francisco, CA

Floating Lab Collective // Washington, DC Futurefarmers is a group of artists and designers working together since 1995. The Floating Lab Collective is a group of We are artists, researchers, designers, artists working collaboratively on social farmers, scientists, engineers, illus- research through public and media trators, people who know how to sew, art projects in Washington DC, as well cooks and bus drivers with a common as nationally and internationally. They interest in creating work that challenges experiment with the aesthetics of direct current social, political and economic action in crafting responses to specific systems. Our design studio serves as places, communities, issues and cir- a platform to support art projects, an cumstances. FLC artists move across artist in residency program and our visual art, performance, new media, and research interests. publications to engage and integrate http://futurefarmers.com such social topics as housing, the envi- ronment, migration, labor and urban Guerrilla Girls // New York, NY mobility. One of FLC’s most important tools is a converted taco truck– a In 1985, a group of women artists Floating Museum– that circulates proj- founded the Guerrilla Girls. They ects among different neighborhoods, assumed the names of dead women communities and regions. artists and wore gorilla masks in public, concealing their identities and focusing Floating Lab Collective was started in on the issues rather than their person- 2007 in partnership with Provisions alities. Between 1985 and 2000, close Library, an arts and social change to 100 women, working collectively and research and development center at anonymously, produced posters, bill- George Mason University. To date, over boards, public actions, books and other 50 groundbreaking community proj- projects to make feminism funny and ects have been produced in the Balti - fashionable. At the turn of the millen- more-Washington Metropolitan Area, nium, three separate and independent New York City, Mexico City, Detroit (MI), incorporated groups formed to bring Louisville (KY), Medellin (Colombia) fake fur and feminism to new frontiers: and Port of Spain (Trinidad). Through Provisions, FLC has been funded by Guerrilla Girls, Inc., www.guerrillagirls. The Creative Communities Initiative, com, was established by two founding The Nathan Cummings Foundation, The Guerrilla Girls and other members to Virginia Museum, George Mason continue the use of provocative text, University and the DC Commission on visuals and humor in the service of feminism and social change. They have how they like that kind of bread.” Now, written several books and create proj- with the local Pittsburgh militia all but ects about the art world, film, politics mutinied and the State Militia rapidly and pop culture. They travel the world, retreating, he must have wondered if his talking about the issues and their expe- hard-line stance had backfired… riences as feminist masked avengers, reinventing the “f” word into We’re imagining here what the events the 21st century. of July 21st and 22nd, 1877 must have www.guerrillagirls.com looked like to one of that era’s most prominent robber barons. This approach follows a tradition of reporting history Guffey Hollow // Pittsburgh, PA from the point of view of a powerful, Guffey Hollow is a semi-regular speak- moneyed elite. It is the last you’ll see easy, created autonomously with the of that perspective here. While the intention of creating a situation where mainstream media—both past and handcrafted beverages can be shared present—frame events in terms of their privately in unpretentious, convivial sur- effect on national economic interests, roundings. Drinks are served in mason the Howling Mob investigates history jars alongside mindful homemade food, through the experiences of common, both for the tune of a dollar, and can- working people. The Howling Mob dles light the space while a rotation of Society (HMS) is a collaboration of friends DJ low-key music. Guffey Hollow artists, activists and historians com- is named for a settlement of coal- mitted to unearthing stories neglected mining Italian anarchists in Western by mainstream history. HMS brings Pennsylvania around the turn of the increased visibility to the radical history century, who where run out of town due of Pittsburgh, PA through grassroots to anti-anarchist sentiment following artistic practice. Our current focus is the assassination of President William The Great Railroad Strike of 1877, a McKinley. Codes of conduct at Guffey are national uprising that saw some of its few: be classy, be discreet. most dramatic moments in Pittsburgh. http://howlingmobsociety.org Howling Mob Society // Pittsburgh, PA Illegal Art // New York, NY Looking out over the burning Strip District from the safety of his office in Illegal Art was a collective of artists who Pittsburgh’s Union Station, Thomas worked together from the summer of Alexander Scott must have been hum- 2001 until the fall of 2011, whose goal bled. Only days before, as president was to create interactive, participatory of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Scott based public art to inspire self- famously suggested that impoverished reflection, thought and human connec- and striking railroad workers be given tion. Each piece was then presented or “a rifle diet for a few days and see distributed in a method in which partici- pation was simple and encouraged. opportunities to network, collaborate http://illegalart.org/ and inspire on another.

Just Seeds // Pittsburgh, PA Knifeandfork // New York, NY & Los Angeles, CA Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative is a decentralized network of 24 artists com- Knifeandfork, founded by Brian House mitted to making print and design work and Sue Huang while on a coffee that reflects a radical social, environ- break during a figure-drawing class in mental, and political stance. With mem- Sweden, currently operates out of New bers working from the U.S., Canada, and York and Los Angeles. Knifeandfork Mexico, Justseeds operates both as a projects are concerned with the critical unified collaboration of similarly minded reconfiguration of media structures and printmakers and as a loose collection contexts. American culture guide Fla- of creative individuals with unique view- vorpill says of the collective, “the imag- points and working methods. We believe inative bicoastal duo[‘s] installations in the transformative power of personal utilize unorthodox media, including expression in concert with collective text messages and video clips, in their action. To this end, we produce collec- expository repositioning of traditional tive portfolios, contribute graphics to art forms.” grassroots struggles for justice, work collaboratively both in- and outside the Knifeandfork recently completed a co-op, build large sculptural installa- series of non-object-based social tions in galleries, and wheatpaste on the engagement projects at the Museum of streets – all while offering each other Contemporary Art (MOCA) Los Angeles daily support as allies and friends. in 2009. Other recent work includes The Wrench (2008), which recasts http://justseeds.org Primo Levi’s The Monkey’s Wrench as an open-ended mobile phone text-mes- Kitchen Sink // Portland, OR sage exchange between participants Kitchen Sink is a series of nomadic and an artificially intelligent character; multidisciplinary arts events that strive 5 ’til 12 (2006), a nonlinear interactive to initiate a dialogue between artists installation utilizing a database of video involved in the various realms of cre- clips to create a near-infinite number of ative expression. Visual artists, musi- narratives based on the Akira Kurosawa cians, filmmakers, performance artists film Rashomon; and Hundekopf (2005), and those that would claim to be none a location-based narrative project uti- of the above can share their work with lizing SMS text-messaging to animate the public in one place. These events and recontextualize the experience of aim to expose viewers to mediums with riding the Berlin Ringbahn. Knifeand- which they may have previously been fork has exhibited with Rhizome at the unfamiliar, and to provide artists with New Museum for Contemporary Art, New York; Beall Center for Art + Tech- Our projects explore community iden- nology, University of California, Irvine; tity and the value of often under-rep- Loving Berlin Festival, Berlin; and Kul- resented rural communities and their turhuset, Stockholm. surrounding landscapes. We strive to be stewards of effective local and global Lucky Pierre // Chicago, IL creative problem solving, and a commu- nity resource for evolutionary thinking Lucky Pierre, founded in 1996 by and innovative communication. Michael Thomas and Mary Zerkel, is a M12 affiliates have worked locally in collaborative group working in writing, Colorado and internationally with pro- performance, and visual forms. Lucky grams and exhibitions appearing at The Pierre creates structures for engage- 2011 Australian Biennial (SPACED), The ment with various publics. In these Biennial of the Americas, The Center for forms, we explore complex issues and Land Use Interpretation in Wendover, ideas (political, aesthetic, social) in Utah, The Ewing Gallery of Art and Archi- ways that accommodate a wide range of tecture at the University of Tennessee, The experience, styles and approaches. The Center for Contemporary Arts in Santa open structure allows collaborators and Fe, New Mexico, The Boulder Museum of viewers to define their own participa- Contemporary Art in Boulder, Colorado, tion; helping to create the meaning, and The Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, determine the final form and outcome of Wisconsin, The Contemporary Museum the work. in Baltimore, Maryland, the Wall House www.luckypierre.org Foundation in Groningen, the Netherlands, and the Irish Museum of Modern Art in

Dublin, Ireland. M12 Collective // Denver and Byers, CO http://m12studio.org The M12 art collective is organized and operated by a collective of artists and Meme Rider Media Team // Anchorage, AK creative professionals and is based in Denver and Byers, Colorado. We also The Meme Rider Media Team is an operate a rural field office and land- international art organization formed based project site that is located 2 miles in Anchorage, Alaska in 1999 by artists south of the HWY 71 and 36 intersection Sarah Lindisfarne, Zephyr Quiettus, Joelle in Last Chance, Colorado. M12 creates Howald, Isaac Boatright, Nathan Shafer interdisciplinary site-based art works, and F. Austin Love. Based on the concept research projects, and education and of memes as ridable happenstances. outreach programs. Working in the fields of sculpture, architecture, and National Bitter Melon Council // Boston, MA public art and design, we favor projects The National Bitter Melon Council that are centered in rural areas and (NBMC) is an organization run by an which can be developed through dia- artist collective that is devoted to the logical and collaborative approaches. cultivation of a vibrant, diverse commu- nity through the promotion and distri- artworks reveal the unique perspec- bution of Bitter Melon. Supporting the tive provided by a group dynamic, give use of Bitter Melon for its myriad health emphasis to drawing and the artist’s benefits and culinary possibilities, the hand, and are always leavened by a NBMC celebrates this underappreciated sense of humor, whimsy, and larger- vegetable through the production of cre- than-life Texan spirit. Playing on the ative and stimulating food-focused proj- conventions and absurdities of contem- ects that highlight the foreignness of porary consumer culture and drawing Bitter Melon, instigating situations that, upon pop graphics and styling, their through bitterness, create an alternative works are scrappy, colorful, and max- basis for community. Bitter Melon is a imal-just like the artists themselves. truly unique and bitter ingredient that is Most of the artists are graduates of the not yet well known in the United States. University of Texas at Austin, others are Advocating the appreciation of this graduates of University of California vegetable across cultures and cuisines, Los Angeles, Rhode Island School of the NBMC believes that these Bitter Design, and the University of Kansas. Melon focused- events can bring whole communities together through a single OKAY MOUNTAIN has exhibited at shared experience -- that of bitterness. Freight + Volume, NYC, Austin Museum http://bittermelon.org/ of Art, Galeria Enrique Guerrero in Mexico City, Paragraph in Kansas City, PULSE in Miami, Texas State Univer- Okay Mountain Collective // Austin, TX; sity in San Marcos, TX and the Creative Cambridge, MA; Chicago, IL; Los Angeles, CA Research Lab in Austin. Upcoming Formed in 2006 and based in Austin, projects include exhibitions at Prosect OKAY MOUNTAIN is a collective con- 1.5 in New Orleans, Blaffer Art Museum, sisting of ten artists who live and work Houston TX and McNay Art Museum, in Austin, Cambridge, Chicago, and Los San Antonio, TX. Angeles. All exhibit as solo artists as http://www.okaymountain.com/ well. Originating as an artist-run alter- native gallery space, OKAY MOUNTAIN Paper Tiger // New York, NY evolved into an artist collective when its founding members began creating Paper Tiger has been creating fun, art together outside of the gallery funky, hard-hitting, investigative, com- environs. What began as collaborative pelling and truly alternative media since drawing sessions during weekly staff 1981! The programs produced at PTTV meetings has since developed into a have inspired media-savvy community wide range of collaborative projects productions and activism around the across a variety of media, including world. Our archive includes shows that drawing, video, sound, performance, provide critical analysis of media, edu- prints, zines, murals, and large-scale cate about the communications industry sculptural installations. Their shared and highlight issues that are absent from mainstream information sources. donation for dinner and an opportunity Through the distribution of our short to vote for the project they deem most documentary programs, media literacy/ worthy for the funding. These projects video production workshops, community aim to contribute to the vitality of Phil- screenings and grassroots advocacy, adelphia in a multitude of innovative PTTV works to expose and challenge ways. Awardees will leave with the the corporate control of media. Because dinner proceeds and will present their of the bias and misrepresentation of project at the next meal. issues in mainstream media it is critical http://phillystake.org to include diverse perspectives in the process of making media. PTTV strives to increase awareness of how media can Preemptive Media // New York, NY be used to affect social change. A public Preemptive Media is a group of artists, that can strategically and creatively use activists and technologists who are the media is necessary for a more equi- making their own style of beta tests, table and healthy democracy. trial runs and impact assessments based on independent research. PM Paper Tiger Invites You to Join the Col- is most interested in emerging poli- lective. Paper Tiger Television is a cre- cies and technologies because they are ative, nonprofit, volunteer-based artists contingent and malleable. The criteria collective that produces documentaries, and methods of PM programs are dif- studio shows and advocacy shorts. Most ferent than those run by businesses and collective members are media makers government, and, therefore, PM gets interested in creative, independent, different results. PM hopes that their alternative media production. We inquiries create new opportunities for learn as we go and if nothing else public discussion and alternative out- bring enthusiasm! comes in the usually remote and closed http://papertiger.org world of technology-based research and development. Philly Stake // Philadelphia, PA http://www.preemptivemedia.net/

Philly Stake is a recurring event cele- Publication Studio // Portland, OR brating locally sourced food and creative community projects; organized com- We print and bind books on demand, pletely by volunteers. We hold events creating original work with artists approximately every 3-4 months. and writers we admire. We use any means possible to help writers and Stake dinners are seasonal meals artists reach a public: physical books; sourced from local farms and purveyors. a digital commons (where anyone can At each dinner, project proposals are read and annotate our books for free); presented to the diners. Community eBooks; and unique social events with members pay a sliding scale ($10-$20) our writers and artists in many cities. We attend to the social life of the book. Second Front // Italy, London, New York, Publication Studio is a laboratory for Victoria, San Francisco, Chicago and publication in its fullest sense — not St. Johns just the production of books, but the Second Front is the first performance production of a public. This public, art group in the online virtual world of which is more than a market, is created Second Life. Founded in 2006, Second through physical production, digital cir- Front quickly grew to its current sev- culation, and social gathering. Together en-member troupe – Gazira Babeli these construct a space of conversation, (Italy), Yael Gilks (London), Bibbe a public space, which beckons a public Hansen (New York), Doug Jarvis (Vic- into being. toria), Scott Kildall (San Francisco), http://www.publicationstudio.biz/ Patrick Lichty (Chicago) and Liz Solo (St. Johns). Second Front creates score- Regional Relationships // Chicago, IL based performances and interventions that challenge notions of traditional Regional Relationships commissions performance, virtual embodiment and artists, scholars, writers and activists the culture of immateriality. to create works that investigate the http://thesecondfront.blogspot.com/ natural, industrial and cultural land- scapes of a region. It is a platform to re-imagine the spaces and cultural his- Students of the African Diaspora // tories around us. An invitation to join in New York, NY seeing what we can learn—and learning The Students of the African Diaspora what we can see—by juxtaposing spaces (SOAD) were in their second year as an and narratives that are usually kept officially recognized group at the New apart. School when I initiated our collaboration. Founded by Akeema Zane and others, it Popular beliefs about human geography is an active campus organization at The are composed of binary oppositions like New School. I met a number of former “urban” and “rural” and “cosmopolitan” and current members of SOAD at the and “provincial”. These divisions nat- New School’s Justice Leadership Insti- uralize synthetic borders and harden tute in the fall of 2011 and instantly con- political boundaries, obsfucating their nected with their visions for how to bring cultural function. Applying a regional culture, ritual and politics to campus. We lens encourages us to think more discussed Liberation Theology and its expansively about the disparate geogra- historical connection to the Civil Rights phies that might exist within the space movement. I shared my interest in Kab- of one small town or across continents balistic geometry and a proposal for and oceans. shifting consciousness which is rooted in http://regionalrelationship.org justice rather than capital. This inspired and rhizomic conversation birthed SOAD’s Residency at The New Division. subRosa // Pittsburgh, PA mission or invitation. We invent infrastruc- ture or borrow it when necessary. We were subRosa is a mutable (cyber)feminist art not taught this in school. We try different collective combining art, social activism approaches, inspired by others equally and politics to explore and critique frustrated by the systems they inherited, the intersections of information and who created their own methods for getting bio technologies on women’s bodies, work into the public. lives and work. Since its founding in 1998, subRosa has developed situated, trans-disciplinary, performative, and Temporary Services started as an discursive practices that create open- experimental exhibition space in a ended environments where participants working class neighborhood of Chicago. engage with objects, texts, digital tech- Our name directly reflects the desire to nologies, and critical learning experi- provide art as a service to others. It is a ences interacting with each other and way for us to pay attention to the social the artists. subRosa has performed, context in which art is produced and exhibited, lectured and published in received. Having “Temporary Services” the USA, Spain, Britain, Holland, Ger- displayed on our window helped us to many, Croatia, Macedonia, Mexico, blend in with the cheap restaurants, Canada, Slovenia, and Singapore, and dollar stores, currency exchanges, and has received many commissions for its temporary employment agencies on work as well as funding from the Cre- our street. We were not immediately ative Capital Foundation, Pennsylvania recognizable as an art space. This was Council on the Arts, and the STUDIO for partly to stave off the stereotypical role Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon. we might have played in the gentrifica- tion of our neighborhood. We weren’t http://www.cyberfeminism.net interested in making art for sale. Within the boundaries of “what sells,” artists Temporary Services // Chicago, IL; often carve out tiny aesthetic niches to Copenhagen, Denmark; Philadelphia, PA protect, peddle, and repeat indefinitely, rather than opening themselves up to Temporary Services is Brett Bloom, new possibilities. Salem Collo-Julin and Marc Fischer. We are based in Chicago, Copenhagen, and Philadelphia. We have existed, with sev- Experiencing art in the places we eral changes in membership and struc- inhabit on a daily basis remains a crit- ture, since 1998. We produce exhibi- ical concern for us. It helps us move tions, events, projects, and publications. art from a privileged experience to one The distinction between art practice and more directly related to how we live our other creative human endeavors is irrel- lives. A variety of people should decide evant to us. how art is seen and interpreted, rather than continuing to strictly rely on those The best way of testing our ideas has in power. We move in and out of officially been to do them without waiting for per- sanctioned spaces for art, keeping one foot in the underground the other in the siders an active, implicated audience, institution. Staying too long in one or the performing collectively. other isn’t healthy. We are interested in art that takes engaging and empowering In its current incarnation, WPC is a forms. We collaborate amongst our- working agency, referential of a modern selves and with others, even though this day Farm Security Administration doc- may destabilize how people understand umentation initiative. The WPC head- our work. quarters on Governors Island currently http://www.temporaryservices.org houses its three founders, Erica Leone, Heather M. O’Brien, and Felisia Tan- diono; three artists with diverse national, The Pinky Show // Honolulu, HI educational, and professional back- Pinky & Bunny are the creators of The grounds who seek to evoke a collective Pinky Show (www.PinkyShow.org), the experience, a conduit of curiosity and world’s only independent super lo-tech learning that can be shared with others. radical metaeducational project by cats. They live in the desert near Death WPC recently participated in 2010 Cre- Valley, California. ative Time/PS1 Open Door Program. During LMCC Swing Space residency the W.A.G.E // New York, NY collective has engaged in and observed image-making during the current eco- Founded in 2008, Working Artists and nomic recession, including conducting the Greater Economy (W.A.G.E.) is a focus groups, interviews, research New York-based activist group whose outings, and producing cultural data advocacy is currently focused on regu- through video, audio, and photographic lating the payment of artist fees by non- means. WPC’s office headquarters profit art institutions and establishing installation on Governors Island will a sustainable model for best practices present agency findings and engage between cultural producers and the participants in dialogue about present institutions that contract their labor. day image-making and consumption. www.wageforwork.com Future projects include visual literacy educational platforms and an online Work Progress Collective // New York, NY journal of findings; two timely grass- roots alternatives to formal institutions Work Progress Collective (WPC) is a in the current financial climate. hybrid identity, equal parts artist, jour- www.workprogresscollective.org nalist, political activist, archivist, and curious observer. WPC acknowledges the contemporary condition of art making; looking beyond the traditional artistic boundaries that place partici- pants inside or outside, the model con- lishing a sustainable model for best About the practices between cultural producers and the institutions that contract their Symposium labor. Over the past 5 years they have delivered speeches, made videos, held open meetings, teach-ins, coffee Panelists: klatches and workshops, wage-raging in panel discussions and symposia at museums, galleries, conferences, festi- Gregory Sholette vals, schools, summits, and art fairs. In Gregory Sholette is a New York-based 2010 they launched the W.A.G.E. Survey, artist, writer and founding member which gathered data from visual and of Political Art Documentation/Distri- performing artists about their experi- bution (1980-1988) and REPOhistory ences with the payment practices of New (1989-2000). His most recent exhibition York City non-profit arts organizations. is Collectibles: Models, Action Figures, Objects (8/28-9/4) at Station Independent Projects, NYC, NY, and Imaginary Archive: Knifeandfork Graz, Austria (9/21-11/2, 2013). The first Brian House is a co-founder of Knife- chapter of his serial sci-fi graphic novel andfork with Sue Huang. He is a media Double City appears in the Summer artist whose work traverses alternative issue of Frieze, 201, and his recent books geographies, experimental music, and include Dark Matter: Art and Politics a critical data practice. By constructing in an Age of Enterprise Culture (Pluto embodied, participatory systems, he Press, 2010) and the co-authored book seeks to negotiate between algorithms It’s The Political Economy, Stupid with and the rhythms of everyday life. His Oliver Ressler, (Pluto 2013). Sholette is work has been shown by MoMA (NYC), a frequent lecturer and seminar leader MOCA (LA), LACE, Ars Electronica, in the US and abroad, he teaches at Eyebeam, Rhizome, Conflux Festival, Queens College CUNY where he recently ISEA, and Issue Project Room, among co-founded the Social Practice Queens others, and has been featured in publi- master’s concentration. cations including WIRED, TIME, The New York Times, SPIN, Metropolis, and on Univision Sports. He is currently a W.A.G.E. doctoral student at Brown University in Founded in 2008, Working Artists and the Music and the Modern Culture and the Greater Economy (W.A.G.E.) is a Media departments and teaches in the New York-based activist group whose Digital + Media program at RISD. advocacy is currently focused on regu- lating the payment of artist fees by non-profit art institutions and estab- degree program at the intersection of About: art, technology, and society. Students study the effects of digital media from multiple perspectives and develop their FRANKLIN STREET WORKS own voice through hands-on production in courses drawn from the visual and Franklin Street Works is a not-for-profit performing arts, computer science, the contemporary art space, café, and social social sciences, and other liberal arts gathering place in Stamford, Connecti- disciplines. cut. It produces original on-site and off-site exhibitions, artist projects, and related programming. Located in reno- THE PASSAGE GALLERY vated row houses on Franklin Street, the The Passage Gallery is an interdisci- two-story space includes three galler- plinary media space founded in 2011 on ies and a café. Franklin Street Works the campus of Purchase College, SUNY. embraces innovative art and exhibition Dedicated to exhibiting work executed practices, a DIY attitude, and a work- by students from all areas of study, The shop approach to its programming, Passage Gallery is committed to con- audiences, and organizational structure. tinually providing professional grade The activities and attitudes of the café exhibitions and in a professional quality reflect and expand on the organization’s space. Admission is free and the gallery mission as a contemporary art venue. is open Tuesday through Friday 2:00- 6:00 pm during exhibitions. THE SCHOOL OF FILM & MEDIA STUDIES AND NEW MEDIA PROGRAM AT PURCHASE COLLEGE, SUNY

The School of Film and Media Studies integrates production and critique of the media that shape contemporary life. The programs that comprise the School of Film and Media Studies offer studies in new media, video art, and production training in filmmaking in a shared core curriculum. Highlighting the growing convergence of media, the school’s ma- jors offer rigorous and forward-looking programs that provide students with the professional and critical tools to engage their desired fields of work or study. The New Media program at Purchase College offers an interdisciplinary bachelor’s