common places

I think this small video can be a good place to start an initial, quick report of BLW’s week of public meetings in Millennium Park, July 1-5, our contribution to the Pathogeographies exhibition (see HERE for more details). There is, from the beginning, a sense that the overwhelming imperative for positivity exposes us to something damaging, to a kind of suffering. As people who are visibly struggling with the performance of exceptional enjoyment, we receive some helpful advice: click HERE to watch the video, and pls be patient…

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BLW is participating in the Pathogeographies exhibition at the University of Illinois at Chicago Gallery:
– a respeaking performance on Saturday , June 30 at 2PM
– a series of interventions in public space over the next week
– we conclude with a final presentation on July 7th.

“A Meeting is a Question Between”
BLW invite you to five public meetings in Millenium Park, Chicago, to investigate this site as a theater of (pre-emptive) warfare. We will use different forms of research, including theoretical discussion, re-enactment and body work to reflect upon and intervene into the site.

“I looked in the water of the monument fountain and I saw green.,.”

When?
July 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 – at noon sharp
Where?
Meet in front of the Exelon Visitors Information Center in Millennium Park and depart from there.
What if?
If you arrive late, please SMS (813)789-0122 and we will reply with our exact location

BLW is: Rozalinda Borcila, Sarah Lewison, Julie Wyman

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Here are a few images from the public hearing at the ICA, instigated by BLW (Rozalinda Borcila, Sarah Lewison and Julie Wyman) and Think Tank that has yet to be named (represented by Lena Helen and Meredith Warner). project description and more details about the investigation can be found HERE. Below is a summary of Assessment as to the Perpetration of Harm:

– Language is deceiving the public about civic and other plans.
– Language conceals the reality of the kinds of lives people are really living and the intent of activities people are engaged in.
– Language refers to civic engagement, but works to disable participatory democracy, or to work against civic education, or to actively create stupidity.
– Language facilitates diversions of funding or diversions of property from places it is needed.
– Language is pre-empting the possibility of alternative futures by “putting words in people’s mouths.”

Click HERE for testimony submitted in absentia by Jeremy Beaudry of Think Tank that has Yet to be named
Click HERE for more on the hearing from the website of Think Tank that has yet to be named

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Public Hearing
Saturday March 10, 2007
3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Institute of Contemporary Art – 118 South 36th Street in Philadelphia, PA.

The Coalition of Inquiry into the State of the Future (herein referred to as “The Coalition”) alleges that
language used in certain documents of public and journalistic record, and written with the
intention of informing a general public as to the nature of certain subjects (below), bears a spurious
and suspicious relationship to the truth.

The Coalition further alleges such language has the potential of causing harm through false
representation, through the perpetration of an illusion of participatory democracy, and through other
forms of harm to be assessed. The subjects allegedly misrepresented by said language include but are not
restricted to the following:

I) The nature and demographics of the city of Philadelphia

II) The transparent and participatory nature of certain institutions and current and future initiatives associated with the city of Philadelphia

III) The condition for artists and cultural workers in the city of Philadelphia.

IV) The condition and status of working people and/or residents of the city of Philadelphia.

V) The nature of democracy and democratic process

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The Center for Getting Ugly invites you to participate in a skill-sharing workshop in calisthenics for collaboration. This is an invitation to share your experiences and ideas with others rather than an organized presentation.

Sunday September 3, 2006
6-8 pm workshop, followed by dinner (under $7.)
Studio 27
689 Bryant Street (ring bell) between 4th and 5th
between Leavenworth and Hyde
RSVP: limited to 12. Please RSVP to sarah lewison at sacamixta@gmail.com or call: 610-220-8634
Cost: Free (a small donation to the space is gratefully accepted)
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