Street Signs and Solar Ovens: Socialcraft

Has anyone seen this LA show??? Please fill me in!

I may just have to go out to LA to catch this show before it disappears. Dude, there is really *something* going down here on the West Coast regarding active social issue attention in the artworld again. "Street Signs And Solar Ovens: Socialcraft in Los Angeles" looks amazing and is attempting to bridge what are usually gaps between "socially conscious living" and high and low art (since it includes LA art stars like Evan Holloway and Sam Durant as well as activist collectives, etc.). Curated by the same folks who put out the Journal of Aesthetics and Protest, it looks totally rad! I especially like the new (to me) word "socialcraft".


Rick Guidice, Space Colonization Modules, 1975

And then to round up the West Coast roster, last night I went to the opening of the exhibition "How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later" curated by visiting Brit and general muckraker academic Will Bradley. I'm so happy my own school is hosting this exhibition. It was one of those nights were everyone was out in in full force: Ant Farm, Radical Software, Bonnie Sherk (founder of the urban oasis The Farm here in SF), and a few good friends were in the exhibition. Then we all went out for drinks at the local bar and had a blast!

Got to talk to legendary Ant Farm guy Chip Lord about what it's like to be having a "revival" of his videos and performances in the artworld 25 years later. Just what is it in the air that is making people look to the 60s and 70s for inspiration on how to "finish up" the business they started but left hanging? The idea of radical change got filtered into the hangover of the late 70s and gluttony of the 80s. Now all the neo-hippiness, open source information, and collectivity is coming back with a vengeance. What will happen this time around when it gets filtered through the generation that came AFTER Reagan and looks to the 60s and 70s for style--perhaps a reinterpreted substance? There seems to be a growing kinship but I hope it is effective and not just talk.


Bonnie Sherk, Crossroads Community (The Farm), 1974–81

Lastly, as part of the above show there was a piece called "c/o the Central Bank of Guatemala", which consisted of an actual Moniac a bizarre water pump device meant to demonstrate how economic systems work. Built by artist Michael Stevenson and calibrated to the economic conditions of Guatemala in 1953 (where it was last found), it is meant to be left unattended during the duration of the exhibition and fall apart, transforming into a state of ruin.