The Audacity of Desperation: Post election events begin this weekend

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Post election events begin this weekend

A lot to consider in this incredible moment. The election of our first black president is amazing and at the same time thousands of folks have taken to the streets here in California protesting the results of Prop 8.
In LA, everyone gathered in front of the Mormon church in Westwood, celebrating the sanctity of marriage between one man and as many women as he wants.
How do we talk about these two events without collapsing black civil rights movements and the right for same sex couples to marry as the same struggles?
And did you check out our new first lady proudly wearing the black and red? Viva la revolucion!
Hang out with us the next couple of weekends to consider all of this and more.

Saturday November 8th -- 8pm
FOCUS: The Culmination
Interactive Multimedia Presentation, with Dance Party
Over the summer, Jeff Foye and Gordon Winiemko were commissioned by a progressive arts organization to do a piece about "participation in the political process."
Their response was to emulate one of the most ubiquitous forums for participation our society has to offer — the focus group.

Now, after a summer of surveying the opinions and preferences of the Los Angeles progressive arts demographic, Jeff and Gordon culminate this performative research project with an interactive multimedia presentation and dance party -- the latter courtesy DJ Troll Baby.

Saturday November 9th — 6pm
Violations and Obfuscations
Videos produced over the past eight years that revolve around themes of political and democratic process and violations of either under the current administration.
Curated by Nancy Popp as a part of The Audacity of Desperation and Habeas Lounge http://habeaslounge.org/

Paul Chan
RE: THE OPERATION, 2002 (excerpts)

Hillary Mushkin
As We Go On, 2005; Animated Drawings, 2008

Nabawia Jane El-Soudani
Human Beings, 2004

John Davis
Between Subjects, 2003

Nancy Popp and Serena Wellen
United States Code Section 2340A, 2007

Jessica Lawless and Von Edwards
Dick!, 2007

Martha Rosler
Prototype (God Bless America), 2006

Mark Boswell
The End of Copenhagen, 2004

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The Audacity of Desperation

Why are we so desperate?

In November 2008 something is going to change. The worst president ever will finally be voted out of the White House. But, as the infamous writing on the wall reads, IF VOTING CHANGED ANYTHING THEY'D MAKE IT ILLEGAL. The desperate push by progressives to include Ralph Nader in the 2000 elections and then their desperate about face towards Nader in 2004 is forgotten history. Now, in 2008, even though Nader is back in the race, we are still firmly rooted in the abyss of a two party system.

For many of us born after the assassinations of JFK, MLK and Malcolm X, belief in revolutionary change through electoral politics is not easily resuscitated. Our first political memory falls somewhere between Nixon's resignation and Bill Clinton's lies about having sex with Monica Lewinsky. Obama's seductive oratory style that instills nostalgia for movements we can't remember, Clinton's ability to go up against the men weighing down the glass ceiling, and Edwards' anti-corporate power to the people rhetoric is countered by Nancy Pelosi's miserable failure to radicalize the senate and end the war in Iraq as the first woman Speaker of the house.

The potential for the executive branch to be made up of firsts: the first president to be a black man or the first woman or Latino vice president, is not enough. The Bush white house knew the power of representation, and they delivered: Condoleeza Rice, Alberto Gonzales, John Yoo, Clarence Thomas and Mary Cheney's baby. Choosing to vote based on community affiliation has led to more exclusive tendencies, not less.

What are our options?

Despite the the crisis in American leadership, there's a real utopic moment before us. Electing the first president of color, indeed, might bring change. But our political system, in which any president would work, is fraught with inequities, violence and power plays in which change looks like reform. Movements, not leadership, new technologies, or more consumer products, is what makes long term, change.

Now is not the time to congratulate ourselves for supposedly moving past our radicalized state, we must not be complacent. How much do we compromise when we chose to participate in a stubborn old beast of a system that is unlikely to learn new tricks or rollover. How do we connect communities, select alliances, establish coalitions? Is it possible to be so reckless that desperation can be re-imagined as a tool for political organizing? Do we need to delve fully into an emotional crisis or can we wallow in our desperation and find creative possibilities for effecting social change?

Detour/Detournement

The Audacity of Desperation had an additional stop in NYC in June. Steven Lam has organized a very cool 3 day event based on the original questions raised by this show. The fact that this project can be fluid and morph as necessary in different spaces, connecting with artists/activists/concerned folks beyond those of us already involved is one of the ways we understand The Audacity of Desperation to be "political," and also a catalyst for social change. Creating relationships -not for networking or career building but to break out of the deep isolation and sense of desperation we all feel after the last 8 years under the Bush Administration becomes one of the few radical acts that cannot be legislated away.

If you're in or near New York, check out what Steven has put together and meet other folks involved. If you want to host another The Audacity of Desperation stop, let us know ideas you have for more collaborations.

Situationist texts on Detournement
a users guide to...
as negation and prelude

Continental Drift Through The Midwest Radical Culture Corridor

On June 4th this conference kicked off at the Audacity of Desperation exhibit at the Urbana IMC. The folks who organized this - including our own Sarah Ross and others participating in the Desperation show- did an incredible job. Being in the Midwest, we learned first hand the consequences of food shortages and depleted crops as well as the politics of supporting local and organic farms versus corporate and government subsidized farming and food sources. Check out the below links for more information about this conference and the larger " Continental Drift" project. It's a fantastic ongoing event we had the honor of connecting with.
(note: in the midwest ending a sentence with a preposition is kosher)

Temporary Services blog on Continental Drift through the Midwest

Continental Drift: the other side of neoliberal globalization
Brian Holmes blog on the larger project. Be sure to read Articulating the Cracks in the Worlds of Power, a link under the "Continental Drift Resources" section.

The Audacity of Desperation

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Post election events begin this weekend

1 comment:

Audacity Network

desperation video

"I'm so desperate I voted"