Plausible Artworlds

http://www.basekamp.com/about/events/public-school-and-aaaargorg

with all my recent investigation into the art market, obsessive reading of art blogs and feeling out my place in this sector affectionately known as the art world it was only absolutely imperative to attend basekamp's new series Plausible Artworlds. basekamp has given its weekly series of potluck dinners a theme and focus. They are looking at alternative artist practices that circumvent the formal art market. That is right up Plastic Fantastic's alley too. We love it. muah.

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From the Plastic Fantastic Manifesto:

"HH. Plastic Fantastic – Semester Four – basekamp/rizumu

Basekamp is an artist collaborative with a studio and exhibition space in Center City Philadelphia. Rizumu curates techno events in the Philadelphia area. Rizumu /basekamp asked me if I would like to do something for the party. We decided since the space could handle it that the best idea would be to bring the dome. I saw it as an opportunity to get a lot of work on the dome done using the new technology of chicken wire. I can’t set up the dome in my tiny studio so the event gave me another opportunity to experiment with execution. The new system was the best development to date. From this event I approximated how many bottles would be needed to complete the coverage.

In preparation of the event, I was added to the email list and was invited to make dome requests. 25 people got involved with the removing of labels, caps and necks of the bottles and applying the bottles to the dome over the course of two weeks. I asked some friends from the Midwives to stop by to see Plastic Fantastic at basekamp and they assisted me in shooting a performance of me reading Buckminster Fuller to them. One of the Midwives decided to act out on the video unbeknownst to me while I was reading. During the party, I covered someone in the plastic orbs like they were stuffed animals."

experimental performance process

riding the pdf wave, i took the license to be an asshole costuming from pdf out on first friday. only in hindsight did i realize i've not done too much of that real world stuff in costume. it was weird and awkward and fun and scary. i mean what is that pdf mentality doing out in public like that. visiting big a art sights like basekamp's hegemonic bar. oooh i was in over my head. they didn't serve any absinthe at the upper class bar and i couldn't afford to drink there as i was just some low brow piece of art. hmph. anyway absinthe used to just be a pdf thing, where people wait in long lines to trade something to try it, or so i heard since i didn't wait in that line that time. at this last pdf, i did wait, and i gave out more of those water bottles to drink for those waiting, and quentin did a survey on the bull horn about appropriate behavior for gifts (it was agreed by those in line that no you don't have to ask the giver if it's ok to shove the gift up your ass if you want to, but that's another story) and we all drank the wormwood tea made without any alcohol thanks to the lovely hosts from the big tea party. that made for a super dreamy afternoon. oh pdf i still have big giant hearts you.

ps go to the basekamp website to see what the hegemonic bar project was about. gift giving with a catch.

saturday an art day

so it's saturday and i woke up feeling stuck. i started the day by cleaning my floors in the main room of my apt and then practicing yoga at home. i've been getting up at 6.45am and practicing yoga at an open studio in the mornings for about three weeks now and my days have seen a great improvement. but today not so much. not sure why. this morning's practice led me to feel really inside my body, given this container, this place for my existence. i really felt inside myself. i love little yoga revelations / connections.

still feeling a bit stuck, i went about my day's plans. it's crazy i get burdened by decision making yet it's amazing that i can have so many options. but at the moment it all feels a little out of control with the contrasting priorities of money, time and labor of love, art. i just want to make art but i have to make money and it's frustrating just scraping by. so i went to the farmer's market then ran into a friend and he joined me for coffee, a nice distraction from my indecision.

once i got to my studio, i felt a bit better and engaged in my artist practice, shoot some video, read more of "do it" on video, and write. then i headed over to basekamp for a talk with ashley hunt and jenna loyd in conjunction with the exhibition an atlas and now i'm working on my resume. pretty rich day if you ask me. maybe i'm finally unstuck!

and on that note, here's an image of ashley's map. while jenna focused on the hope within the piece, i kept getting stuck on words like "social death". i learned some new concepts, like PIC - prison industrial complex, bare life/sovereign power (agamben) and the idea of ourselves as bodies in space, bodies as commodity and in terms of migration and migration policy. seems the body is a theme today. only the horrific part was learning that private prison companies will lobby the u.s. govt

to upgrade the level of punishment for a crime from say a misdemeanor to a felony to increase the number of bodies in prison because that increases revenue. this takes bottom line practice to a new fucking level. i think i'm going to join critical resistance.

ps it looks like basekamp is really back in action. they have an excellent book store set up. and new curators for the space. i suspect i'll be visiting more often this year.