sarah.ross
NOW
The Audacity of Desperation is an art exhibition that will travel from Urbana, IL to DEMO Space at PS122 in New York, to Sea and Space Explorations in Los Angeles.
June 19 – June 22, 2008
Presented by PS 122 Gallery at DEMO Space 122
150 1st Avenue, enter on 1st Avenue, take stairs to second floor
DEMO Space 122 is pleased to present the NYC stop of “The Audacity of Desperation,” a 3-day nomadic exhibition of take-away projects (initiated and curated by Jessica Lawless and Sarah Ross and organized by Steven Lam) in conjunction with a series of performances and workshops responding to the spin of the upcoming election.
TAKE-AWAYS:
Artworks by activists, artists, enthusiasts and very concerned people are made in unlimited editions to be freely distributed. These artworks function as counter-propaganda. Like a virus, they are activated outside the exhibition context, in domestic and public spaces, on bodies, clothes, bags... This collection of take-away posters, manifestos, DIY kits, postcards, stickers, buttons and multi-media projects will travel throughout the country, creating a space to build relationships and foster dialogue around the desperate state of affairs resulting from a calamitous administration, complacent congressional leaders and a disempowered citizenry.
MODES OF ENCOUNTER:
In parallel to the take-away work on display, the exhibition will be structured as a succession of modes of encounter orchestrated by interested volunteers. Utilizing the exhibition parameters as a site of social experimentation, this open-ended program of conversations, workshops and performances will solicit the active and reciprocal participations of visitor and artist alike, thereby inviting reflection on how communities become connected, alliances selected, coalitions established. Those interested in participating for one of the remaining empty slots are encouraged to email DEMOspacedirector@verizon.net for more information.
The Radical Midwest Cultural Corridor presents:
The MRCC traveled this summer, made stops, discusses, ate, learned from people, sites, and made more stops. For more information see: http://radicalmidwest.blogspot.com/
Watch for our upcoming publication on the events!
SuperMax Subscriptions is an initiative that seeks to connect a surplus provided by well-traveled citizens to a population that never gets to go anywhere: prisoners in American SuperMax prisons.
SuperMax Subscriptions asks people with surplus miles from airline travel award programs to take advantage of a popular program that allows you to exchange relatively small quantities of miles for magazine subscriptions. Miles in these award programs will often expire before it is possible to save enough of them for a free airline ticket, seating upgrade, or other costly prize. For as few as 300 miles, one could instead use these miles to give the gift of a yearly magazine subscription to a person in prison.
The first goal of SuperMax Subscriptions is to connect people in travel award programs to the entire population of Tamms SuperMax Prison in Tamms, Illinois and to provide every prisoner in the facility with at least one magazine subscription.
Supermax Subscriptions sent a mailing asking every man
incarcerated at Tamms C-Max unit if they would like to receive magazine
subscriptions: free gifts from people with surplus airline award miles
that
they'd like to exchange for gift subscriptions. Tamms C-Max is a no
contact,
permanent solitary confinement prison in Southern Illinois. The men
have been
there for years on end, many for ten years. They have no communal
activity,
no phone calls, no programs, no education, no work, no librarian, and
virtually
no reading. Already, over ten percent of the population has replied to our mailing.
The
magazine requests are pouring in and we have men who would like to
receive
everything from Newsweek to the Wall Street Journal to Horse
Illustrated.
Clearly the need for reading materials is dire and we are excited to
start the
process of helping these guys out.
Participate: Email us at: supermax [at] temporaryservice [dot] org. Tell us how many miles you can donate (minimum of 400) and we will then provide you with the name, inmate number, address, and magazine preference for a prisoner. If you provide a large number of miles, we'll provide you with information to take care of multiple requests.
Thank you for your interest! If anything is unclear, please don't hesitate to ask!
Supermax Subscriptions is a collaborative effort of the Tamms Poetry Committee, Sarah Ross, Temporary Services (Brett Bloom,
Salem
Collo-Julin, Marc Fischer) and you.
More about Supermax Subscriptions:
www.temporaryserivces.org/supsub.html
More about activism against Tamms:
www.yearten.org