The Impossible Project

I just love the name of this project. It feels very appropriate for this time we are in - war, economic crisis and at the same time a new administration. What are the opportunities here for creative people and entrepreneurs? Can we create some new paradigms [david aguirre] - perhaps more collaboration [therese perreault] instead of always re-inventing the wheel and sticking in our silos [monica spigelman]? In the spirit of collaboration I am crediting the folks who have inspired me about these concepts. Let's give more people credit.

here are some folks that are stepping out there and contributing to our Tucson creative scene.
TDAC (Tucson Digital Arts Community)
Maxed Art
TuScene
PLAY
NATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO HIRE ARTISTS TO WORK IN SCHOOLS & COMMUNITIES
Tucson Main Street
Community Storytelling Arts

What else and who else is out there? Step up and BE HEARD [IABC tagline]

Open Source Social Change

love this concept - The Power of Us: Re-Imagine Media
A collaborative competition is an interactive solicitation to identify and develop innovative, workable solutions to the world's most entrenched social problems. Competition entries are posted online and made available for anyone to view and collaborate with by providing new ideas, asking insightful questions, and providing connections to new resources.

Happy Chanukah and Buon Natale from Rome!

I have been a horrible blogger lately, probably because I've been focused on my burrito project blog. Since I am in Rome for the holidays and happen to have a computer and internet access I thought I would check in!

First of all, I love Rome! How come Europeans have figured it out and us Americans haven't? They have teeny, cute cars, use energy responsibly, and know how to enjoy life. I think I am more European than American. We haven't driven or ridden in a car in about five days and I don't miss it at all. The dollar is not very strong right now but there are ways to have a budget-conscious trip like buying food at a market and preparing it yourself. We are staying in an apartment that has a shared bathroom, kitchen and living room but we are the only ones here so we have it all to ourselves!

The neighborhood we are in is very diverse - there are tons of little shops run by Chinese and Bangladeshi immigrants. Prasenjit has spoken Bengali with some of the Bangladeshi produce vendors in the nearby Mercato Esquilino, a wonderful covered marketplace similar to Grand Central Market in Los Angeles.

Haven't downloaded any pics yet so I just stole a few from the web.
These menorahs are from today's LA Times.

Wishing everyone around the world peace and joy this holiday season.

Stuff

Here are a few things that have been on my mind lately:

Prop 8

Prop-erty Crime. There's been a rise in break-ins in our neighborhood so we're trying to organize some neighborhood walks. Anyone know of creative ways to address property crime in a community?

Obama - the human being, not the politician
photo by Preston Gannaway

Also,
- Auto industry bailout
- Downtown Tucson
- The Invisible City
- Email and web overload!!

What's been on your mind??
self portrait by Marcus during Open Studio Tour Nov 8 & 9 @ El Centro

Art in Odd Places

i went to an opening of the Micromentalists show at Lulubell's Toy Bodega last night and came across artist Eric Doeringer's "fakes" collection. i went to his website and found this awesome NYC happening - Art in Odd Places. Here are a few examples but there are lots more at the website.

NO DELIVERIES TODAY

Miryana Todorova and Hatuey Ramos-Fermín

A series of boxes painted in bright colors are continually loaded, unloaded and moved from one place to another on a cart. The normally mundane job takes center stage as the delivery moves at a high speed and with no clear destination. Pedestrians will be forced to interact with the "moving" process while the colorful delivery boxes continue to question: who sent them, to whom do they belong to?

Time/Location: Friday, October 3 (2pm-6pm); Sunday, October 26 (10am-2pm). 14th Street btwn Union Square and Seventh Avenue.

FREE BOOKS
Eric Doeringer

A box of books labeled "Free Books" is deposited at various 14th Street locations. A seeming act of generosity, the artist has removed the last few pages from each book. The alteration will only become apparent to the reader after he or she has nearly finished the book, converting the cast-off into a statement of art.

Time/Location: Ongoing throughout October. Four undisclosed locations on 14th Street.

Eric Doeringer is a Brooklyn-based artist. He has had solo exhibitions in New York at Apex Art, Soma NYC, as well as locations in LA, Miami, Toronto, Spain, Switzerland, and Prague.
www.ericdoeringer.com

LANDSCRAPERS

Aakash Nihalani

Brightly colored tape outlines rectangular shapes in the urban landscape. In a city made up of rectangular buildings, windows, and blocks the artist plays with a shape that is symbolic of New York City. In the attempt to draw attention to forgotten dimensions and overlooked layers, he creates reminders and portals with cubes that allow pedestrians to see the lines they are surrounded by in a new light.

Time/Location: Saturday, October 4, 11, 18, 25. (12-2pm). Bricks, sidewalks, crosswalks, windowsills, and other locations on 14th Street.

Aakash Nihalani is a Brooklyn-based artist and designer. His recent work explores the use of colored industrial tape as a medium for street art.
www.aakashnihalani.com

Invisible City

I have the honor of being one of the artists participating in The Invisible City project, a site-specific artist laboratory in Downtown Tucson. A collaboration between NEW ARTiculations Dance Theatre and Kore Press, the project brings dancers, writers, visual artists, and musicians together for 4 weeks to create work that investigates public space through process-based explorations and performance.

The first lab was Friday, October 17th. Our public space was the parking lot on the north side of Toole, just east of the 6th Avenue underpass. We explored, climbed, danced, jumped, wrote, and felt what it was like to inhabit the space. Click here to see images from Friday.

YOU, the public, are invited to take part in this project - either as participants or observers. The project will be taking place Fridays from 5 - 7 pm and Sundays from 2 - 6pm through Nov. 9th. Hope to see you come out and interact with the process!

Photo by Krista Niles. (I am second from the right, the blurry figure in red pants!)

Acts of Faith

Faith, religion, and spirituality are on my mind. We are in the midst of the Jewish High Holy Days and today my husband and I went to a Bengali Durga Puja, the annual celebration of the Hindu goddess Durga. I recently read the book, Acts of Faith by Eboo Patel, an Indian American Muslim who founded the Interfaith Youth Core, an organization that brings young people of different religious traditions together to do direct service.

I related to Eboo's experience as an activist college student searching for a way to connect his faith and religion to his desire to better the world. This was also my journey. Being heavily involved in student activism in college left me feeling that something was missing - where was the spirit and soul of what we were doing? Where we thinking about how we were treating our fellow students or just focused on "fighting the power"? Disillusionment led me to work for change on the inside - my personal growth - and within the non-profit world.

Marrying outside my religion has tested my faith and values. Do I really believe that all religions are equal? Can my husband and I celebrate and appreciate both of our religious and cultural backgrounds without resentment or fear? This includes our own religions. For a time, I avoided the Jewish community out of fear of my Judaism being questioned and of my husband feeling excluded. After reading With Roots in Heaven, about Rabbi Tirzah Firestone's return to Judaism, I realized that I want to be connected to a Jewish community - one that is inclusive and open-minded. These do exist, and I am grateful for that.

I struggle with the contradictions. Some Jews consider themselves "the chosen people" and believe that we are a "light to the nations" - an example for other religions. This seems condescending and exclusive. Yet at the same time we have a long history of standing up for the rights of all peoples. Many Jews have explored other spiritual traditions; Jewish Buddhists abound and Israelis are known to travel in droves to India after completing their mandatory military service.



I don't know what all of this means. I do know that my activism stems from my Judaism - the experience of being a Jew in a Christian country, the history of American Jews as union organizers and civil rights activists, and the concepts of tzedakah (justice), and tikkun olam (repairing the world). I also know that I believe we all come from the same source and that the path to peace has to come from acceptance and love.

Acts of Faith ends with Patel's thoughts on religious pluralism, which I believe can be applied to not just religion but ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, and all of the things that divide us as humans:

"I came to one conclusion. We have to save each other. It's the only way to save ourselves."

JewBu definition from www.urbandictionary.com