Candlelight Vigil at Liberty Plaza, Dec 24, 2011

[From Daniele]: Occupy Wall Street  Arts and Culture will be hosting a secular candle lit vigil tonight at 9pm at Liberty Plaza.  We will be gathering to mourn the loss of our rights and our park, and celebrate our bright future.  Below is a statement from the artist, and attached is a picture of the very special candles he designed for this occasion.

Tiny Tenting!

Hello Friends,

The Holiday season is now upon us, and it's most definitely time for tiny-tenting!

Tomorrow, Thursday, is the darkest day of the year - the Winter Solstice. For many cultures it's a festival of lights: Christmas Tree Lights, Hannukah Menorah's, Kwanzah Candles, and the like. For OWS, it's also... tiny tents! We can create little glowing structures that remind people about the spirit of justice and the warmth and solidarity of the 99%!

Tiny tents are popping up all over the country- what will NYC tiny tents look like? Bring materials such as newspapers, glue, little sticks, print-outs, make your own design, we will have some materials on hand too.

Can anyone bring OWS journals?

Thursday 2:00-4:40 in an art studio near Gowanus.

Then we'll so some tenting!

Please contact me for details.

♫

fischer.noah [at] gmail [dot] com



Update on Saturday, December 24, 2011 at 01:22PM by admin

[NOTE: OwA contributing photographer Paul Talbot first posted this follow-up on his excellent blog, The Wheel.]:

OWS groups push the boundaries of occupying with #tinytenting

"The most revolutionary acts are not those of violence, but of kindness; try a little tenderness, try a little tiny tenting! Make a tent, create a message, and GO TENTING! it can be done anywhere, everywhere, and costs almost nothing. Get twigs, old fabrics, glue, and hazah! You have a poetic tiny tent which spreads radical imagination everywhere" (Alex C.)

Building of a tiny tent with dowels and canvas

Building Materials

Luminaries in side the tent, this size seemed to be the best for fire inside the #tinytents

Used recycled materials and stuff from outside to build your tents

Art supplies for writing our messages on the canvas, wax, paper or any other material that would act as a lumiary

#tinytenting is fun and inspirational, the occupy movements have to find ways to allow people to have fun and be creative and this is one way that has come about in kind of a natural progression since most occupation are being evicted. Tiny Tenting allows you to occupy spaces that you would otherwise be immediately turned away from. Push the boundaries, take a picture. Leave a tent or two in an area to see what kind of response the tents have on others.

For more information about #tinytent building or to share your tenting adventures tag your photos with @nerephotography and #tinytenting #ows

To see all photos and ideas on how to build tiny tents click the link below

http://www.occupywithart.com/occupy-photos/tinytenting-nyc/



[Aaron Burr Society] Winter Solstice bar crawl & occupation of the Commons with light & sound

Pilgrims,

The Aaron Burr Society will occupy the Winter Solstice by marching through the Oak, Maple and Sycamore tress of our Commons at McCarren Park in Williamsburg.

At 9pm on Thursday, December 22, we will meet at the Matchless bar on the corner of Manhattan and Driggs, just one block from McCarren. Then from 9 till dawn of the new celestial year [1], we will march back and forth over the roots of these old trees to celebrate our Common ground, this planet, our earth. There will be no agenda, just communing with our fellow travelers and the spirits of change, which will be in perfect balance, suspended by the solstice. Please join us to commune with these transgendered spirits and together we will tip the balance to the 99%; to save this misshaped sphere, our planet, Mother Earth.

Celebrate with us by making noise, smoking cigars and placing luminaries along the pathways of our Commons. For the uninitiated, luminaries are paper bags with lit candles inside. Of course the Society's luminaries will be stamped with "Free Money" and "Slave of Wall Street" just as our Federal Reserve Notes [dollars]. And we will write #OWS on the bag in anticipation of our newly ordered stamp.

Our march will be accompanied by the French bugle, the chrome plated baritone bugle/tuba, and symbols which are the cymbals that we have played from Madison WI to the Summer of Change and throughout the occupation. Please bring bells plus pots and pan to bang. Of course it goes without saying that additional musical instruments are always welcome.

and yes, yes, I said yes, the Society will bring a bottle of our home distilled, 2nd Whiskey Rebellion spirits to warm our collective soul.

p.s. attached is a foto of the New York Stock Exchange’s xmas decorations. Please note the predominance of Red without Green, the traditional holiday colors. The monochromatic light emanating from the NYSE is indicative of the fires of hell, though I regret besmirching the devil’s reputation by aligning the prince of darkness with Wall Street Bankers.

Our Winter Solstice luminaries will feature white candles in brown, working class lunch bag.

p.p.s. it goes without say that all Pilgrims are welcome to our Solstice celebration whether or not you are a member of the Society or haven’t been occupying. Please pass this along.

[1] Please do not confuse the dawn of a new celestial year with the dawn of the next day. The new celestial year is 12am, not the rising of the sun. We would assume that members will be continue celebrate well past midnight but no consensus has been reached about last call.



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.

Click to read more ...

Occupy Your Opinion

From the Occupy Ft. Myers Infodesk:

Could you please help spread the word about this Art Installation / Project.  We would love to have submissions from around the world.  Here is the information and details of this wonderful artists vision...

What is Occupy Your Opinion?

Occupy Your Opinion is an interactive art installation that depicts methods of communication through collaged materials within the context of the Occupy Wall Street Movement.

You can join the discussion by posting your convictions (What do You Occupy For? What in Your Opinion has Occupy Wall Street been able to accomplish? What do You Hope Occupy Can Do?) along with an outline of your prostrate personage on this blog:

http://occupyyouropinion.tumblr.com/

Do this and I, artist at large Mandalin Paul, will make a white cardboard cutout in your shape, cover it with your words and lay it shoulder to shoulder on the grounds of the Sidney & Burne Davis Art Center in January so the public will be faced with a physical decision to mirror the subconscious choices they make daily in context of the OCCUPY Wall Street Movement.  Will you walk over the views of your countrymen and pretend they don’t exist, carefully weave between and pause to reflect on their meanings, or will you Occupy Your Opinion and join the global discussion?

We the People are an Installation of collaged intentions,

Diverse origins with a unified direction

To stand present and accounted for

When you believe in something more

What do You OCCUPY for?


Mandalin Paul can be found on Facebook under the same name and has been a wonderful contributor here in Occupy Fort Myers.  Thank you in advance for your time and efforts to pass this along!  


Best,

Matthew and your brothers and sisters in Fort Myers

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

Click to read more ...

COURAGE & REPRESSION

Grindcore Violinist protests 1st amendment violations at Lincoln Center

On December 3, 2011, I was again removed from the city-owned plaza of Lincoln Center for holding a sign, two days after a general assembly including Philip Glass, Lou Reed, and Laurie Anderson came to celebrate Glass's opera about nonviolence, "Satyagraha" only to find the plaza entirely barricaded and inaccessible.

As is the case in most "public-private" situations, the private security wanted more.  They wanted me off the city sidewalk which was not their jurisdiction.  Thanks to one real NYPD officer who chose not to order me off the sidewalk (the old, "blocking the wide-open sidewalk" trick), I was able to finish my set and address the crowd.

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).

Occupy Museums & Occupy 477 Stand against Foreclosures - Dec 6, 2011

477 W. 142nd Street is a landmark building on Alexander Hamilton's former estate. The building has served for decades as a residence for low-income families and been a key site of the black community in New York City. The house is currently facing foreclosure by Madison Park Investors LLC and E.R. Holding. Brutal tactics have been used to try and force residents out, including the sabotage of the building's boiler as the winter months approach.

December 6th marks the international day of action for Occupy Wall Street against the foreclosures led by the 1%. On this historic day Occupy 477 and Occupy Museums join forces to stand against gentrification and stand up for the right to housing for all!

It just so happens that The Museum of Finance on Wall Street is housed in the former headquarters of the Bank of New York, founded by Alexander Hamilton—America's first Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton created the country's financial system. On December 6th, we will march a replica of 477 W. 142nd Street to the Museum of American Finance, and offer it as an exhibit of the damaging effects of Wall Street’s financial system on American’s everyday lives.

December 6th
12:00 PM ----Meet at 477 West 142nd st. HDFC
3:00 PM----Arrive at Museum of American Finance, 48 Wall Street, New York

Click to read more ...

Occupy Ninjas Take Manhattan!

Philip Glass and Lou Reed speak at Occupy Lincoln Center - Dec 1, 2011

Occupy Museums protests the anti-democratic policies of Lincoln Center and Bloomberg at Satyagraha

Occupy Museums to protest the anti-democratic policies of Lincoln Center and Bloomberg on the last performance of Satyagraha Thursday December 1, 2011 at 10:30PM.

It is no doubt timely that Philip Glass' opera 'Satyagraha'--which depicts Gandhi's early struggle against colonial oppression in South Africa--should be revived by the Metropolitan Opera in 2011, a year which has seen popular revolutions in North Africa, mass uprisings in Europe, and the emergence of Occupy Wall Street protests in the United States.

Yet we see a glaring contradiction in ‘Satyagraha’ being performed at the Lincoln Center where in recent weeks protestors from Occupy Wall Street have been arrested and forcibly removed for exercising their First Amendment rights to peaceful public assembly.

Click to read more ...

Occupy the URL

Enter in any URL and watch as the website gets occupied:  http://occupytheurl.com

OCCUPY BROADWAY!

CONTACTS:
Benjamin Shepard 917.586.7952
Monica Hunken and Benjamin Cerf 917.215.0163

Click to read more ...

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



Barricade the Barricade, or Occupy Red Cube

To all performers, artists, merry-makers, interested parties, and any seeking justice for the 99%…

Start your day bright and early to greet the Wall Streeters on their way to work with a dose of rebellious performance

Any performers willing to support this action would be greatly appreciated.

Thursday, November 17
8:00am meet up at Red Cube
8:30am Performance

Barricade the Barricade, or Occupy Red Cube
Help Us Free Public Art

In support of Occupy Wall Street and the Day of Global Action, please join us as we build a living sculpture to surround the Red Cube at Broadway and Liberty, across from Liberty Square. By linking our bodies in the creation of our own public art form, we can render useless the barricades that tarnish the art work displayed on our city streets. Isamu Noguchi, the sculptor of Red Cube, is quoted as saying, “the sculptor is not merely a decorator of buildings but a serious collaborator with the architect in the creation of significant space and of significant shapes which define this space.” (blueofsky.com). Let’s form a living sculpture around the entire Cube and show the world how powerful our bodies can be in defining our space! We will occupy public art and take back what is intentioned for public access! The group, intertwined in various and intricate ways, will remain still and strong throughout the 30 minute performance. Only when participants hear the sound of a helicopter (sure to be there) will they shift their poses to face the Cube. When participants hear the sound of a siren, they will shift to face away from the Cube. These interactions with environment, along with our intertwined bodies, remind us how interconnected we really are.

Any and all are welcome to join our living sculpture. No prior experience necessary.
Wear read in solidarity with the Cube.

There will be a sign detailing 5 simple rules for this action, so any passersby may join:

1. Observe the human barricade/sculpture.
2. Join human sculpture/barricade whenever a traffic light turns green. Link to someone else and find a comfortable pose you can sustain. Please respect self and others when connecting to other bodies.
3. When you hear a helicopter, shift your pose to face inward toward the Cube.
4. When you hear a siren, shift your pose to face outward away from the Cube.
5. Come and go as you please, when a traffic light turns green.

 

We also welcome musicians, puppeters, and any others who wish to share their talents in this inspiring action. Come support the sculpture with your creativity!!

See you there!!

Peace together,

Amy



This Wednesday Occupy Museums once again stands in solidarity with the art handlers at Local 814 who have been locked out of their jobs for three months. Despite pulling in record profits last year, Sotheby's is demanding wage and benefit cuts and has hired unskilled replacement art handlers at a lower wage. The union has stood vigilant on the picket lines against these injustices for twelve weeks, but are still without a fair contract. Join us Wednesday November 9th, on the picket line outside of Sotheby's contemporary art auction to show your support and solidarity for Teamsters Local 814!

Schedule of Events:

Wednesday November 9th, 2011

4PM Meet in Liberty Park

4:45 Occupy the Subway

5:30 Meet with Teamsters Local 814 and Hunter College Students and March to Sotheby's!

Occupy Union Square - SUNDAY, Nov 6, 1PM

Public Movement will be performing in Union Square at 1PM, followed by a GA initiated by several members of the Arts & Culture Working group at 1:30PM.

We will be meeting at Libery Plaza at 10AM to make signs and discuss agenda items for Occupy Union Square, and heading over to Union Square around noon. Performance starts at 1PM, the GA will begin at 1:30PM. Join in and bring your friends.

"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.