How to Swap Meet; The Body as Billboard;
While surveying the net for images we found this. The title reads:
Mr. Robin's Grade 6 French Class Make a Human Peace Sign
okay, a bit cheesey and too hippy but nonetheless a few thoughts came to mind: "design for aerial views" and "the body as typography"
The Body as Billboard;
how is this for a banner? Get out your sewing kit cause we're going totally analogue:
(who would have imagined that this silk banner would have recently been up for auction at Christies... That is the ultimate Debordian twist..... yesterday's cause is tomorrow's commodity)
or how about this one:
As a quote across a womans breast, "votes for women" sure beats "Ms. Florida"
The Body as Billboard;
Next to pointing, perhaps the simplest form of tactical media. An image of Mordechai Vanunu who, unable to speak to the press, wrote of his ordeal on the palm of his hand. It reads, "Vanunu was hijacked in Rome 30.9.86". He was kidnapped by the Israeli secret police in 1986 after exposing Israel's nuclear weapons program in an article in the Sunday Times. After it was published, he was followed by the secret police to Rome where he was kidnapped and finally extradited to Israel. He spent ten years in solitary confinement and remains imprisoned for simply verifying a "public secret".
information from on Israel's stance on nuclear weapons taken from the bbc website:
"Israel is now the only state with nuclear weapons that does not admit to having such weapons. It has always refused to allow international inspection of the Dimona facility, and is among the few states that have refused to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
Israel maintains what is known as a policy of 'nuclear ambiguity', saying that it will not be the first country to introduce them to the Middle East."
Female Representation; How to Swap Meet; T-shirts; The Body as Billboard;
Carla,
Great to see the stickers on the site. Post more! One of the interesting things about that sticker project was that there was no singular image representing the vagina. In the end you made a kind of portrait of gestures circumscribing the form.
We are also considering bringing our Geuzennaam* T-shirts to the Swap Meet so your stickers will have some company in relation to the topic of female representation.
*Geuzennaam: a Dutch term for a negative or derogatory name appropriated and reclaimed as a positive label of empowerment.
1/250 negative names to call a woman (and the inventory is still growing)
*one more time in Dutch... Geuzennaam: zelfgekozen erenaam die oorspronkelijk als scheld- of spotnaam werd gebruikt.
for more info see Easy Iron on Geuzennaam on our DIY Page
Female Representation; T-shirts; The Body as Billboard;
Searching for two images to post in the Body-as-billboard-section, one recent (very pregnant Femke Halsema* in white T-shirt reading: Baas in Eigen Buik) and one from the 60's (very pregnant Dolle Mina lifting up her shirt to reveal the same text written on her belly) I found none of the above, but did come across this recent work by Willem Velthoven:
"I had an Abortion is an installation consisting of vests on wire coat-hangers which bear the text I had an abortion in all European languages. They symbolise the abundance of abortions and the shame connected with abortion, legal or illegal. In addition to these undergarments, in the autumn a line of cheerful T-shirts will be brought out, which openly present the same text. The wire coat-hanger (not the knitting needle), is the most frequently used - and very dangerous - instrument for the inducement of an improvised abortion."
I wondered how this kind of work functions in relation to "empowering women to make conscious, well informed decisions about family planning", which is the mission of Women on Waves, initiators of the show. Or is all fair in love and war?
*leader of the Dutch Green Party, using the pro-abortion classic "Baas in Eigen Buik" (master of our own belly) protesting the fact that the Dutch government is planning to cut birthcontrol pills from general health insurance.
How to Swap Meet; The Body as Billboard;
Featured at Swap Meet; The Body as Billboard;
The Body as Billboard;
" ser artista em portugal é uma acto de fé" was a performance I made in August in the famous Eiffel Bridge - D.Luís - Oporto. To portray the situation of artist in Portugal, that keep on working without any help from the government, local govermente or instituitions, without places to show or distribute their wotk.
Every summer, the kids from the river banks go to this brigde and jump from 12 meters to the green dirty waters of Douro river, in exchange os small money from tourists.
Inspired on these small male bodies jumping into the water, and although doing it several times, always crossing themselves many times as it is the first jump ever. I decided to do the same, perform this jump into the river as many artists do, everyday of their lives, jumping faithfully into the void, keeping on producing. I did the same leap of faith, blesses myself and hope for the best...
This work will be available as postcards in tourists spots in Porto.
The Body as Billboard;
Carla,
Your leap of faith reminded me of other gestures from the past.
Chris Burden, Transfixed, 1974
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