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Somerville’s speculative history/community art project by artist Tim Devin (previously seen on Groundswell here) has launched, offering a rich vision of the next 90 years, from fleets of mobile libraries to population influx due to the flooded streets of neighboring Boston. Grab a free PDF of the book, or browse the full timeline here.
Bilal’s tattoo design, courtesy of information aesthetics.
Wafaa Bilal (author of Shoot an Iraqi) is known for putting his body on the line. For his Domestic Tension, he lived under constant threat of a paintball gun, his Virtual Jihadi cast himself as a suicide bomber avatar. Now, back in the flesh, Bilal will soon take to a 24-hour performance, called …and Counting, in which he’ll tattoo an infographic on his body that denotes the casualties of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Designed by Kyle McDonald, the tattoo of a borderless map of Iraq includes more than 5,000 red dots representing American soldier deaths in a permanent, visible link, and more than 100,000 dots of green UV ink for Iraqi casualties, which show only under a blacklight.
Bilal’s performance takes place March 8th, and includes people of varied backgrounds reading the names of the dead as he is tattooed.
“Why should we continue to be poor when it is possible to use the infinite imagination which is our HEAD and our HEARTS!” -Bertrand, France
Lori Nelson has been documenting recession-era stories in souvenir form, painting stories of foreclosure, shame, swindling, and failure on pine plaques. Inspired by Studs Turkel, her project is a people’s history, a folkloric look at our habits and emotions during a crisis, with the aim of memorializing these intensely personal stories for ourselves and for future generations.
Thanks, Rayna!
Gestures of Resistance returns this January with a re-envisioned show at the Museum of Contemporary Craft. Like the 2008 public presentation, the upcoming show focuses on craft actions, “direct political statements, public interventions, or dialogical, community-specific project.” This is furthered by the exhibition’s planning; each of the eight artists participate by creating their work in the space, sharing it with other artists as the show unfurls, emphasizing both the work produced and the process of its making.
The exhibition takes the approach that to understand ‘performative craft’ requires a relational lens that sees objects and gestures as deriving meaning largely from how and where they are deployed, and that sees action as situated within social and political particulars.
While the studio/town hall/venue is on-going, upstairs in the Museum will be a study center with one work by each artist and reading materials on performative craft. A podcast of the same materials read aloud will also be available.
Participating artists include Sara Black and John Preus, Anthea Black, Carole Lung, Cat Mazza, Mung Lar Lam, Ehren Tool, and Theaster Gates, and the show is co-curated by Judith Leemann and Shannon Stratton.
Disclosure: Co-curator Judith Leemann is a friend of Groundswell, and the artist-in-residence at DS4SI, where we think and work together.
Artandwork.us is now up and running, hosting the much discussed newspaper from Temporary Services and SPACES, Art Work: A National Conversation About Art, Labor, and Economics.
Download a free version copy of Art Work to read, print and host an exhibition, discussion or reading group. There are various PDF versions for download as well as an e-book.
The hard copies can be requested through Half Letter Press, and will also be syndicated through Groundswell’s forthcoming online store.
Congrats to our friends on an amazing piece of work!
