OAS Node #1 [July 14]

Alternate Economies (Barter)

[Session 7]

• Workshop: Barter: Theory and Practice with Caroline Woolard of OurGoods.org
• Hosted by EYEBEAM

[NOTES]: I took a page-and-a-half of notes during the two-hour seminar, which I would be happy to share. Caroline said she would follow-up by sharing her booklist on barter and alt.economies (gift/barter/market) and the slideshow she created for the presentation. The workshop provided participants an opportunity to examine our existing notions about barter, gifting and these non-monetary systems' place in society and markets. We examined anthropological work on the subject, including Graeber's from Debt. Caroline cited the work of Caroline Humphrey on the nomadic Lohmi traders of Tibet as a prime influence, and also works by Allan Fiske and Marshall Sahlins. I think Louise Ma of Trade School was one of the attendees of our workshop; OurGoods and Trade School are I gather operating on a mutual aid basis, with some core members (like Caroline Woolard) in both orgs. Caroline also gave examples of barter models, from ancient Greece to the local present, to expand our understanding of how barter has worked or can work in different kinds of situations and societies, and what limitations or hazards apply to barter in practice, rather than theory or analytics. Participants shared food and drink, engaged in a barter game/team session and at the end of the workshop shared "haves" and "needs" in the format of OurGoods.

∞

Authorship & Appropriation in Contemporary Art

[Session 8]

• Printed Matter, Inc. (Chelsea)
• The opening of HELP/LESS
• Organized by artist Chris Habib

[NOTES]: (This entry is a stub/communique) Leaving EYEBEAM and the OurGoods workshop, I noticed a cool-looking artist happening on 21st... Turned the corner and noticed Max Schumann outside Printed Matter on 10th. He told me about the ambitious Printed Matter summer project HELP/LESS. Max invited me into the bustling artist bookstore, to check out the opening night's happ'nin's, which were awesome. Click on the image above for more details and the calendar of events. I think Max explained that the interactive art event I'd passed was connected to the opening, which made sense. Every time I visit PM, my respect for Max and this venerable Chelsea art-org grows. HELP/LESS is a compelling, must-see/-play exhibit cum program, diving into the murky swampwaters of art- and intellectual property-ism, post-web, post-modernism, post-reproduction/mechanical age, post-Dispersion, post-4chan, pre-image Apocalypse. The crush of content in the PM shop is introduced by a storefront (the same one we Occupied last fall) that appears to present art star worx that actually are derivatives or outright replicants. PM has fearlessly confronted in Habib's HELP/LESS the copyright (or -wrong) regime of idea ownership and originality/original-ism that besets the culture at every turn, from Tumblr to tee shirts to texts to the YouTube-infected art haus. Speaking of tee shirts, Max said I could score a Yoko Ono tee in exchange for a great idea at PM (quantities while they last, I presume)... Max is going to be busy for the next few months (he always is) - working on a CoLab book, co-ordinating the string of in-store and online events for HELP/LESS, and, we hope, finally getting to give us an Occupational Art lesson on artist books - the one we tried to do at the Spatial Occupation @Hyperallergic, but which didn't pan out for that residency. 

∞

[Follow-up]: Met Cody and Natalie at Bat Haus; we are making progress on our discussion about OAS siting there... STAY TUNED!

A photo from Bat Haus member & stylist Falosha Martin's shoot on location @BH. (click BH's blog link for more 411)