The Line

[From Caron Atlas]: This is a great project coming up soon in NYC on Jan 17 - it was presented on the OWS call we hosted (at Arts and Democracy).  They are looking for collaborating organizations, organizers and participants!  It isn't a big time commitment but will help contribute to a powerful collaboration and a striking visual representation of employment. 

[From Kristin]: Thanks so much for being willing to help spread the word about the Line. We are making some progress getting groups on board, but haven't reached 5000 yet - Here are the details:

The Line
A number of artists, activists and unions are planning The Line for January 17, 2012 at 8:14am. The Line will be the world's longest unemployment line stretching over three miles along Broadway, from the bull at Wall Street to Times Square. It will include 5000+ people holding pink slips over their heads for 14 minutes—one minute for each of the million currently unemployed in the USA. More about what we are doing can be found at : http://theline2012.wordpress.com/

History
This is a reanimation of a project that was originally created in 2004.  At 8:13 am on September 1, 2004, thousands gathered along three miles of Broadway, from the bull at Wall Street to the Republican Convention at Madison Square Garden. Standing silently for eighteen minutes, they held in their hands pink slips representing the millions of unemployed who were being left behind.  This was organized by The Imagine Festival of Arts and Ideas, People for the American Way,  artists, activists, unions, church groups, and social service organizations.  A number of us working on the 2012 action were the main organizers of that action. Here’s a link to some photos from the original action: http://www.wastedirony.com/linephoto/.  It was well covered in all the media – here’s a link to a NY Times piece : http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/01/nyregion/01CND-PROT.html

What we need
* We are looking for collaborating organizations to turn out people for this demonstration.
* We are also looking for experienced organizers, though we already have a number on board.
* We are looking for people willing to stand in for the unemployed for 14 minutes on January 17.

Contact:
Kristin Marting
Artistic Director, HERE
kristin@here.org
212-647-0202 x320

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Staten Island OWS exhibition: The Smell of a Critical Moment

Project: The Smell of a Critical Moment 

January 14th

Organizers: Gayil Nalls, artist
            Sophia Marisa Lucas, curator
Partners: Second Saturdays in Staten Island (Brendan Coyle)
        99 Occupiers  
        (Possibly Jean Toche)
Location: Doorways at 62 Van Duzer Street in Staten Island 
        (very accessible from the Ferry Terminal)

Mission:
To engage Staten Island’s North Shore community in dialog with OWS. Staten Island is overwhelmingly conservative, except for it’s North Shore area, and few from this community have been mobilized to join the movement. It is home to a predominantly lower-middle and lower class demographic, including many artists, musicians and immigrants of Mexico, Sri Lanka, Gana and Liberia. 

The conceptual framework for the project is not quite a direct action or form of cultural resistance, but rather an endeavor to further introduce the movement to those who have never been in Zuccotti Park, through an intellectual and sensorial experience. For those whose sole understanding of the movement comes via the lens of media coverage, not only is their perception of the movement’s  participants limited, but their sensitivity to the overall message is hindered by their lack of physical connectivity to the resisting body.  The expectation is that through this increased affinity, that by the end of the exhibition, locals will be more engaged with the veritable ideas of the movement, making for a powerfully participatory closing reception, which serves as generative element for uniting people in this isolated borough.

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Join students from SVA for ”I Win. You Lose.” - Dec 13, 2011

“I Win. You Lose.” A Call to Action by students from the School of Visual Arts. Participants needed to occupy every corner on Wall Street and deliver a message…. !

WHAT, WHEN WHERE….
We are….
….shocked by the unabashed corruption and self-interest that runs rampant throughout corporate America.
….faced with a life-time of debt in the pursuit of an education.
…the 99%.

Energized by the ideals and actions of Occupy Wall Street, we want to make our message heard and let the 1% know we will not be ignored nor can our path be bypassed.

Occupy every corner of Wall Street and New York’s Financial District at lunch time participate in the action: “ I Win. You Lose. ”
Join us on Tuesday December 13, 2011.
Orientation meeting at 12:00 noon at Louise Nevelson Plaza Triangle (at the junction of Liberty St., Maiden Lane and William St.).
Action begins at 12:30.
For more information contact Kirby at:
http://www.twitter.com/kikibraga (twitter) | @kikibraga (ows) | http://www.IWin-YouLose.blogspot.com

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Locked out Sotheby's art handlers confront Diana Taylor, Bloomberg's partner and Sotheby's board member

The locked out Sotheby’s art handlers and members of Occupy Wall Street confronted Diana Taylor (Bloomberg's partner), a member of the Sotheby’s board, at the Dec 1 meeting of the Hudson River Park Trust. If you have trouble hearing what Taylor says to the teamsters, it is the following: she will resign from the board if Sotheby’s accedes to any of the art handlers’ demands (i.e., getting back health care and a decent living wage).

SUNDAY, 11/20: Yes Men lab drum circle at Bloomberg's personal townhouse: 17 East 79th Street.

Massive 24-hour DRUM CIRCLE and JAM SESSION party starting tomorrow, Sunday at 2pm, outside Mayor Bloomberg's personal townhouse: 17 East 79th Street.

Tie-dye, didgeridoo, hackeysack welcome! No shirt, no shoes, no problem! And if you don't have talent, don't worry: FREE DRUM LESSONS offered! Also on offer: collaborative drumming with the police!

Even though this is a 24-hour drum circle, don't be late! The mayor loves evictions. Who knows what'll happen? In any case, there'll be an afterparty in world-famous Central Park right afterwards.

Please spread this announcement (www.yeslab.org/drumcircle) as far and fast as you can!

Occupy Yourself

Occupy Yourself… We are living Installations

The Movie

Michael Alan 

In solidarity with the occupation of Liberty Square

AT Judson Church entrance  

55 Washington Square South

Saturday, November 19th, 7pm till 10pmish

Free

a film about change, the limits of freedom, and an attack on fear. Working with the human body, metamorphosing into a living breathing installation that demonstrates we can withstand anything put onto us. Through intricate connections and juxtapositions in the guise of random chaos, these living installations transcend the injustices of the material world by employing these same materials upside down. We are more than property. We are more than buildings. We are part of Life. Living, breathing potential fire. With the ability to do anything. This is about people, not about businesses, faceless corporations or technology.

Through the simplest materials mixed and smashed, masks, multiple textures, stolen objects, and cut-up drawings rearranged artist Michael Alan adds on to his team of friends, and family. These fearless art activists armed, activated Glue-sprayed flesh joins together, splattered to combine into one boundless, self-aware living work of awarness. This artistic expression is in direct response to the confusing, uncertain and downtrodden world we all seem to experience. Occupy Yourself is a call to all individuals to become aware that limits are self-imposed and can be changed by going beyond barriers, thinking outside what you what should do, and joining together to overcome our imagined adversaries.

Action

OccupyYourself the movie will project on the Church entrance of Judson, were the political asylum is being held for the occupiers. Project it onto the entrance, then repeat and project many times, giving positive messages throughout the night to whoever shows. Everyone is asked to meet at 7pm at entrance of the church for a night of peace, and positive celebration of life. 

Michael Alan, Garry Boake, in solidarity with the Occupation of Liberty Square invite you for a night of Old time projection, awareness, and fun.This is a peace full action symbolizing Freedom and a pause in time, a new start, The entrance of the church represents a new beginning. OccupyYourself, Live Now, lets all get activated. Projection on the streets is a way to speak to the world around you. 

Cast and crew:  Garry Boake, Dave Modello, Theresa Magario ™, Michael Alan

Steev Perez, Raquel Mavecq, Kim De'ville, Kenny Scharf, Worm Carnevale, Teddi Rogers, Raquel Echanique, Dylan Morgan, Dave1,

Jarvis Jun Earnshaw, Emil BN,  George Marango, Nick Greenwald, Ana Andrade,  Julie Turner and many more



"Positions" by Public Movement and teach-in on non violence disobedience - Friday 11/4 1PM

Positions - An Action by Public Movement

Positions (NYC, Washington Square, 11/4/11) Friday, November 4, 1 p.m., Washington Square Park

**Following this performance the #OWS Direct Action group will hold a rally and a teach-in on non- violence disobedience at 1:30PM**

Positions (NYC, Union Square, 11/6/11)
Sunday, November 6, 1 p.m., Union Square South

This week, the action and research group Public Movement presents Positions, a choreographed demonstration that invites people to take a stand on any number of urgent issues. Presented in Warsaw, Holon, Bat-Yam, Eindhoven, Heidelberg, Stockholm, and now New York, the Movement invites the public to embody their preferences, aspirations, and beliefs—manifesting political and philosophical ideas as physical positions in Washington Square Park and Union Square South. This will be Public Movement’s first presentation in the United States.

In February 2011, Public Movement leader Dana Yahalomi began her research toward a project for New York, meeting with artists, historians, urban planners, memorial designers, politicians, government officials, and NYPD officers. The residency continues from January–April 2012, during which time Yahalomi will present bi-weekly salons as part of the 2012 New Museum Triennial, “The Generational.” The salons will culminate in a newly commissioned action for New York City in April 2012.

Public Movement is a performative research body that investigates and stages political actions in public spaces. The Movement explores the political and aesthetic possibilities that reside in a group of people acting together. It studies and creates public choreographies, forms of social order, and overt and covert rituals. Public Movement was founded in November 2006 and was led by Omer Krieger and Dana Yahalomi until August 2011, when Yahalomi became the sole group leader. Visit their website for more information.

Art Action: About Falling

Artist Ehud Darash presented his planned intervention at 16 Beaver last night.

Please join him in making this action happen:

What: About Falling in OWS

Where: The red cube, across from Zuccotti park

When: Sunday, October 30th, 12PM.

Description: We are going to fall, very slowly - from standing to laying down, in the vicinity of Zuccotti Park. It is an artistic action that is adressed *to* OWS, celebrating the diversity of this movement by introducing to it a temporary "otherness" - a different way of being.

We will meet at the red cube for a short teach-in and an explanation of the background of this gesture and practice.

The following is an example of previous renditions of the action:

Occupy Halloween-PLANNING UPDATE!

Occupy Wall St. has been invited to join the largest public halloween parade in the nation!
For more information about OWS's participation the Halloween parade, visit: http://occupyhalloween.typepad.com/occupyhalloween/

If you're interested in paraticipating, there are several meet-ups in the next few days:

For puppet building, please contact Joe or Alma with questions or days and times you're planning on coming by!  Our contact info can be foudn at the bottom of the post.  The studio is in Joe's name and he is the mind behind the puppets we are building. 

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 
Build puppets and paint banners 6pm to midight 
20 Jay Street, Brooklyn (A or F) 

Friday 
Build and paint all day! 
20 Jay Street, Brooklyn (A or F) 

Saturday 
1pm - Battery Park 
Participation and Info Meet Up! 
Come by the park to take a look at the puppets, meet some of the 
people involved and let us know if and how you'd like to participate 
the day of Halloween!  We will have a few choreographers, make up 
artists and others there if you need some assistance organizing and in 
general want to hear your plans for the parade. 

Sunday 
1pm - Battery Park 
Rehearsals and Report Backs! 
People who want to be in the Superheroes v Supervillains morning event 
or want to be in the parade, come to the park so we can settle any 
last minute logistic questions and check in on the various projects 
culminating on Halloween. 

Monday - Halloween! 
9am - Superheroes v. Economic Supervillains 
Contact Gan at gangolan@gmail.com, for more details.  We will have 
costumed crusaders, such as the Master of Degrees, there to fight the 
social and political inequities of our system.  Watch for an all out 
battle and contact Gan if you want to participate! 

7:30pm - Parade! 
We will begin meeting for the parade!  Please get in touch for more 
details on where to meet and how the blocs will be arranged. 

Conact info:

General email - powertothepuppets@gmail.com 
Joe - loucrimson@yahoo.com 
Gan - gangolan@gmail.com 
Alma - wafflesushi@gmail.com

Occupy Halloween: How to participate

Occupy Wall St. has been invited to join the largest public halloween parade in the nation!

They are going to give us a great spot and support our participation in the parade. Occupation Accomplished!

Last year over 60,000 people showed up and it was widely covered in the media, both in NYC and globally. So it's up to us to show the world what our movement is about. The whole world is watching!

TIME:  5:00 pm Meet-up. Parade begins 6:30. 

LOCATION: Parade begins at Spring St. and 6th Ave. We will meet up nearby to gather our forces before we march. Check back soon for the exact location.

MARCH ORGANIZATION:

In line with our movement's principles, we are asking people to step forward and self-organize their own costume blocs. If you are more than 30 people or so, consider having your own banner. We will all march together in our own #OccupyHalloween section of the parade.

BLOCS

We encourage you to find others doing similar themes and connect, so you can work together as a bloc. You can also contact us at occupyhalloween@gmail.com so we can help support you in this. 

Themed Blocs may include...

Wall St. Zombie Bloc

Corporate Vampire Bloc

Superhero Bloc

V-mask Bloc

Music Blocs (Marching bands, drummers, etcs)

Or whatever you want to do!

FREE FOR ALL SECTION

For those of us who do not have a bloc, we will all be marching together in the giant "Free for All' section. That will probably be most of us. Let's make it huge!

A NOTE ON MESSAGING

This is not only a chance to celebrate (which we deserve!) but also an amazing opportunity to express our message to the larger public, both in NYC and the entire world. So consider taking the following costuming tips in order to maximize your message. 

PARTICIPATE

We still need help building puppets and costumes, as well as with materials and supplies. To join in, go here.

 

For much more information, please visit the Occupy Halloween website