Improbable Monument

Monument Interaction, The Naked Man

Background:

"Let’s celebrate the Naked Man in the courtyard between HSS and Business buildings at San Francisco State University. This monument as of today has an obscure meaning, there is no plaque telling its history, what it commemorates or represents.
To us this naked man emerging from ferns in a very lush courtyard is an opportunity to celebrate a new emerging consciousness. He represents a new man who is not scared of nature, one who does not need to cover himself up in the face of the elements. Similarly to Adam before the apple episode this statue has its genitals uncovered, to us it means that he is not ashamed of his own nature and that he actually wants to partake in natural simplicity. For us it is also an opportunity to rectify the course of history and to modify a culture that tells us we should be ashamed of our nature and of our genitals. Furthermore we draw a parallel between the fact that this statue usually goes unnoticed and the fact that Nature is always there and providing us (humans) with wisdom and new knowledge, yet no one seems to pay her any attention.
Finally this celebration is an opportunity to expose the subject of environmental collapse to the student body and to the important role of our consciousness in environmental rejuvenation."


Action:

Invitation:

Who: You!
What: Celebration of the Naked Man
When: Date TBA
Where: The Courtyard between the HSS and Business building
Why: To rectify the course of history and to erase the part of history that tells us we should be ashamed of our nature and of our genitals.

Program:

I. Introduction
II. Speaker- Virginie
III. Lei-ing of the statue
IV. Closing Comments and Questions
V. Celebration with music, dancing, and refreshments


Audience:

Most obviously we wish for the whole world to be the audience to this monument of re-birth. In combination with introducing this new monument and new meaning to men and women of our current society, it is also a hope that it can be shared with the young and new generations of our society. Therefore, we hope our audience is a good mixture of young and mature.
In the monuments current location, in between the HSS and Business buildings, it is our aim to show the straight-laced, business and science society our natural and humanistic heritage. Being concerned with human matters and creations, while still important, makes us all forget that we are a natural creation as humans. We don't just survive around nature or even amongst nature, we are a part of nature.
Our most important audience however, is not those who commute to work or carry a briefcase, it is their children and their childrens' children that gives hope to this new monument. We wish to show the youth that nature is not something that we control or grows around us, it is our home and our family. With the re-birth of this monument we hope that there is no fear of our natural bodies and our humanistic qualities. No longer will there be a separation between Nature and Humans and future generations will grow and create societies with Nature in mind.

Ideas for my improbable monument

A monument to the Earth.
- For its ability to recycle and regenerate
. A hole in the ground. People would come and add one thing they would have thrown away (anything but organic material). Then everyone would have to realize/remember that we manufacture many un-natural materials that take years if not centuries to degrade.
. A square of dirt left unattended. Over the years people would see what is the natural restoration process. For example today I visited a friend that I visit very frequently. She has a barrel of dirt on her front stoop (very unattended) and I always think how bare and full of weed this thing is. But today a "weed" flowered into gorgeous and numerous bright pink blossoms!
- A monument to the re-unification of humanhood with the rest of the planet.
It could be a small forest inhabited by many wild creatures (a mini-Eden) in which one enters to commune. At its center, a meadow allows the visitor to experience oneness with nature, either in silence or in communion with others through ceremonies and rituals.

Nonsenso, a fake ad

This is a fake ad against Monsanto, makers of genetically modified seeds, genetically modified bovine growth hormone (rBGH), highly toxic chemicals and now leader in agricultural biotechnology.
The text sounds a bit immature but I wanted to represent this company's true voice. The scientists experimenting with the genetic make up of rats and potatoes, or fish and tomatoes are completely irresponsible. I would go as far as saying that they are psychopaths.
Yes there is an issue of large population in the world and the question: "Can there be enough food on earth for an estimated nine billion people?" is definitely important. However the question "Is there a future for our planet if we keep tweaking its natural state?" is primordial! In the ad I write "We have been afraid of Her for more than 5000 years. She provides for us but we are just not sure for how long." I truly believe that our global human consciousness has been separated from nature from the over-development of our Neocortex, the "organ" that allowed for self-consciousness and language ( read Roberto Villoldo's The Four Winds ). We gained foresight and the ability to fear the future and we lost the ability to trust the fact that nature provides. I think our fear of the future comes from the accumulated memory of pain stored in our global consciousness.
But now we can evolve again!
We made amazing advances in term of comfort, hygiene and life expectency but we have greatly regressed when it comes to listen to the intuitive self and other living beings. We need to re-balance the feminine and the masculine, trust ourselves and transcend the pain and the fear of death.
We tried to be masters of the earth but it is obviously not working, we should get back to being Her stewards (here I think of indigenous cultures).

culture jamming. Mark Dery

Culture Jamming: Hacking, Slashing and Sniping in the Empire of Signs by Mark Dery

Marc Dery wrote what is to me a very comprehensive guide to culture jamming. First he describes the problem with culture: "The effects of television are most deleterious in the realms of journalism and politics" because television is an outlet for corporate interest. Everything there, is manipulated and private, there is no transparency but there is not even content and "because this whole notion of freedom of the press becomes a contradiction when the people who own the media are the same people who need to be reported on."
He starts his article with a critic of TV but really addresses advertisement, which might have been so well developed because of TV.
Then he explains jamming. He surveys many different types of jamming. To me one sentence stood out: "Culture jamming,[...], is directed against an ever more intrusive, instrumental technoculture whose operant mode is the manufacture of consent through the manipulation of symbols." From a member of Negativland collage band who first used the term culture jamming.
Ideally Cluture Jamming "directs the public viewer to a consideration of the original corporate strategy"

Interventionists... here they come.

The Biotic Cooking Brigade

"What do Bill Gates, Milton Freidman, William F. Buckley, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, Sylvester Stallone, Canadian Premier Jean Chretien, Swedish King Carl Gustaf, Ronald McDonald, Timothy Leary, Eldridge Cleaver, Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling, World Trade Organization Director Renato Ruggiero and Andy Warhol have in common?
They've all been pied by the Biotic Baking Brigade or its cohorts around the world. The fine art of landing a freshly-baked delicacy in the face of the reactionary, pompous, and otherwise deserving has a long and venerable tradition. As a way of highlighting a particular cause, gaining often spectacular media attention, or merely bringing the lofty down a crust or two, there is nothing quite so fine as a cream pie.

This anthology cooks up an intoxicating mélanges of history, analysis, tactics, and recipes for this most edible of the political direct action techniques.
Tips from experienced pie-ers on the best ways to slip into a shareholders meeting unobserved—ammunition in hand—and on blending deliciously tried and tested recipes of delectable vegan pastries (perfect for launching, or dining upon). Generously sprinkled with some of the punchiest, wittiest communiqués explaining just why those responsible for environmental destruction might be in line for their just desserts and the theory behind why pie-ing—why now.
"The BBB is a movement that actually moves—a network of political pranksters who literally practice in-your-face politics. They target assorted greedheads, hitting them right in the smacker...with pies! But it is worthy work. The BBB's pies are the Boston Tea Party of our modern day, sending a serious message to the corporate oligarchy." —Jim Hightower
"It's an assault on public officials. It's an assault on government. It should not be condoned." —Michael Yaki, San Francisco Supervisor
"Is well placed humor one of the best protest tactics there is? The proof is in the pudding! Or should I say—pie cream." —Jello Biafra". Exerpt from the AK press ordering page of the book titled Pie Any Mean Necessary.

YOMANGO

MANGO is a popular brand in europe, yo mango is spanish slang for "I steal" and YOMANGO is a movement that considers shoplifting as a social commentary. One of their intervention was to steal clothes and to have a fashion show with those back at the store.
At the bottom of all of their website's pages is a notice:

"ATENCIÓN, ADVERTENCIA: Si te fijas con atención y miras los contenidos de esta página verás que YOMANGO no va de robar, ni es apología de ningún delito y ni siquiera trata de mangar nada, YOMANGO visibiliza una realidad muy concreta: la gente manga, e intenta entender porqué. Algunas hipótesis ya han empezado a aparcer: la precariedad en la que la mayoría de las personas hoy nos encontramos sería una de ella, otra sin duda, son las políticas abusivas de las multinacionales que gobiernan el mercado y el mundo, por eso desde YOMANGO decimos: YOMANGO NO ES ROBO, LA PROPIEDAD ES EL ROBO."

ATTENTION, CAUTION: If you pay close attention to the content of this page you will see that YOMANGO is not going to steal, nor does it apologize for any offence and it is not even looking for things to steal. Yomango is making something very concrete visible: people steal and we try to understand why.
Few hypothesis emerged and one stood up: the precarity in which the majority of people we meet is, is caused without doubt, by the abusive politic of the multinationals governing the market and the world. Therefore YOMANGO says YOMANGO IS NOT STEALING, PROPERTY IS STEALING.

Chance Operation

The Recipe :
- cooking randomly: (after Rirkrit Tiravanija)
go to your grocery store. photograph the outside.
go to isle 3. halfway down the isle on the right side, pick a food item.
(if isle is not food items, go to the next isle up that is food, 4 then 5...)
do the same on isle 6.
if your grocery store is teeny, (under 6 isles) get something 5 feet down the 1st isle and 2 feet down the second.
go to the produce section. starting at the very left of the produce, pick the 2nd, and 6th items in the middle-height section, and the 8th thing over high up.

photograph each item in its spot in the store, and all together on your kitchen table.

make a meal that includes all of the random ingredients, photograph it and share it with your friends.


I shared it on a very new blog that I created for me and some friends to share recipes.
I randomly got kamut pasta, watermelon spiced seeds, savoy cabbage, sunchokes and daikon.
So I sautéed sunchoke and cabbage in butter, served over the pasta with grated parmesan followed by grated daikon served in yoghurt with coarse salt and pepper. I used the watermelon seeds as a garnish for the daikon side dish. It was yummy