L.M. BOGAD, RICARDO MIRANDA ZUNIGA & ANDREW BOYD
Fantastic Politics: Art as Political Campaign
Date: Saturday 9.19
Start Time: 2:00pm
Location: Einstein auditorium, Barney building
Conventionally art is symbolic and politics are applied, but can art transgress the symbolic via the guise of political campaign? Or reversely can the absurdity of politics be made transparent through artistic intervention? The panel will present a series of works that creatively intervene upon politics through diverse forms of tactical engagement that surpass the representative tradition of political art by direct action in public spheres.
L.M. Bogad will present his escapades through the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army as well as case studies from his book Electoral Guerrilla Theatre: Radical Ridicule and Social Movements, is an international study of performance artists who run for public office as a prank.
Ricardo Miranda Zuniga will present VOTEMOS.US, an initiative that questions how the 2008 United States Presidential Election would differ if all residents of the United States could vote. Currently only citizens registered to vote may participate in the election for the next President. However within the borders of the United States reside nearly 40 million non-citizen residents, permanent residents, most legal, some undocumented, but all are active members of the U.S. economy and society. And we feel that the majority of these residents would eagerly vote if given the opportunity.
Andrew Boyd will sort through his adventures with the Billionaires for Bush (as well as a few other pranks), with an eye towards how satire can serve as a Trojan Horse for dangerous ideas.
L.M. Bogad (Associate Professor, University of California at Davis) is an author, performer, and activist. His book Electoral Guerrilla Theatre: Radical Ridicule and Social Movements, is an international study of performance artists who run for public office as a prank. Bogad works on the intersection between art and activism, and on the role of humor and imagination in organizing social movements.
Ricardo Miranda Zúñiga approaches art as a social practice that seeks to establish dialogue in public spaces. Having been born of immigrant parents and grown up between Nicaragua and San Francisco, a strong awareness of inequality and discrimination was established at an early age. Themes such as immigration, discrimination, gentrification and the effects of globalization extend from highly subjective experiences and observations into works that tactfully engage others through populist metaphors while maintaining critical perspectives. Ricardo has established a socially investigative creative practice that utilizes whatever media possible to present content in a manner that may generate interaction and discussion by others.
Andrew Boyd is an author, humorist, and a 25-year veteran of creative campaigns for social change. As “Phil T. Rich,” he led the decade-long satirical media campaign “Billionaires for Bush.” He’s written two books of political humor, “Daily Afflictions” and “Life’s Little Deconstruction Book,” both from W. W. Norton, and one how-to creative action manual, “The Activist Cookbook.” His writing has appeared in The Nation, Village Voice, Marie Claire, Salon.com, Sun Magazine, and elsewhere. He’s a founding partner of Agit-Pop Communications, a “subvertising” agency cranking out flash animation and on-line video for environmental & social justice campaigns. A little while back he co-produced “Stop the Clash of Civilizations,” which was awarded YouTube’s Best Political Video of 2007 – woo-hoo. He lives in New York with his wee laptop.
www.andrewboyd.com
www.agit-pop.com
www.billionariesforbush.com
