6 posts tagged “mess hall”
Last Sunday, June 28, 2009, a general gathering of Mess Hall keyholders happened, for brunch, naturally. The 'keyholders' are simply that. People who have a key to the storefront space we call Mess Hall. Beyond the literal, the keyholders are the people who manage and, with the help of the endless numbers of participant friends, activate the space. We make distinctions between ourselves as to who is active and who is not. Some of the keyholders are truly emeritus, at least in the sense of no longer carrying a key. At least one is actively involved but lives in a different state. Many of the keyholders are collaborators in other combinations outside of Mess Hall. But as well, at this point, with at least twenty-two keyholders in the present and past, quite a few of the keyholders do not know each other.
There were sixteen who made the meeting. Early history was shared by those of the original cohort. Current thoughts about recent episodes of keyholder discussions were related by the currently active. In response to the ongoing and central question of economy and the role of money, every single person had a mind to speak. Exchanging views and experiences with keyholders from other periods was a great way for me to review what I think Mess Hall can be. Of course, simply getting acquainted with other keyholders was awfully nice. As an exercise in creating a culture of Mess Hall, the event was totally worth it.
There was some off-hand mention of having a gathering like this more frequently than once in five years. That would be nice, but, then again, I'm not really sure there is any practicality to meeting up any more frequently than three years. It takes time for there to be a whole lot of new Mess Hall experiences to talk about.
The discussions could have gone on but we had to scoot; another group had use of the space at 4 pm. That was a good Mess Hall problem to have–keyholders having to make way for the place to be used. Too many darkened windows in the past. The current frequency of usage is impressive and inspiring.
While straightening up the space I grabbed Marc Fischer for a quick video interview about the Temporary Services venture Half Letter Press. Watch it here.
Marc Fischer on the Half Letter Press from Dan S Wang on Vimeo.
Hope some of you can make it out to this event. I will be there at night. Looking forward to seeing friends and collaborators, meeting new people, and visiting with keyholders, current and past. Matthias the radical poet activist is gonna be working the grills!
MESS HALL SUMMER PARTY
What happens when you launch acts of generosity into the world? How can they form the basis for growing circles of reciprocity and trust? Almost 6 years ago, the founders of Mess Hall, receiving the offer of a $1-a-month storefront, committed the space to this and subsequently many other experiments in culture, conviviality and exchange. The originary gift arose from property owner Al Goldberg’s desire to further incubate the arts community of Rogers Park. Given this opportunity, we make space and time available to projects not likely to pass the test of marketability or even authorized fundability. Come celebrate generosity with us at the best summer party ever!
SATURDAY JUNE 27, Mess Hall, 6932 N. Glenwood
4:00 pm - ?DON’T MISS IT!! Come celebrate generosity with us at the best summer party ever!
Savor the flavor of Bobby Seale BBQ recipes! http://www.bobbyqueseale.com/
Pick up a copy of the book Let’s Re-Make the World: http://letsremake.info/blog/2009/04/a-new-book-project/
Bring kids and plastic bottles with caps to make Lava Bottles. Eat! Drink!
Toss into and grab from The Swap: bring stuff to give away/take stuff home with you.
FREE FAMILY PORTRAITS! ETRATOS LIBRES DE LA FAMILIA! 무료초상화들! libérer les portraits de famille! freien Family Porträts! RETRATOS DE FAMILIA! GRATUITOS WOLNY RODZINA PORTRETY! ...teach us how to write “free family portraits” in other languages!
ReFab Happening from noon to 5:00DETAILS BELOW…
Featuring culinary & political recipes of Bobby Seale, as found in Barbeque’n with Bobby.
Here’s an excerpt:DECLARATION: BARBEQUE BILL OF RIGHTS
WHEN IN THE COURSE OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT it becomes necessary for us, the citizens of the earth, to creatively improve the culinary art of barbe-que’n in our opposition to the overly commercialized bondage of “cue-be-rab” (barbecuing backwards); and to assume, within the realm of palatable biological reactions to which the laws of nature and nature’s God entitle us, a decent respect for all the billions of human taste buds and savory barbeque desires; we the people declare a basic barbeque bill of rights which impels us to help halt, eradicate, and ultimately stamp out “cue-be-rab!” As the commercialized backwards “bottle-back” recipe methods pursue and invariably evince a design to reduce our backyard-picnics into burnt, half done, bland, badly seasoned, improperly pit-qued entrees, then it is the right of we the barbeque lovers of the world, to alter the cue-be-rab phenomenon and creatively change our recipe process for a more righteous saucy, down-home, wood-smoking, delectable, baste-marinating, barbeque’n methodology.THE BASIC “RIGHTS” OF HICKORY SMOKE PIT BOBBY-QUE’N
CERTAIN “RIGHTS” ARE ABSOLUTELY BASIC to pit-smoking. You’ll see them repeatedly in the recipes that follow, but here they are in summary form. If you follow these basic steps, your barbequed meats will always come out tasting qued down to the bone.
1. Preparing Baste-Marinades: Always use recipe amounts of hickory liquid smoke.
2. Marinating Meat Entrees: 30-minute hot marinade, or 4 hours at room temperature or overnight in refrigerator.
3. Baste-Soaking Hickory Wood Chips: Spread out over white-ash-hot charcoals for smoke-flavor barbequing.
4. Sear Seasoning: Browning and sealing in any coated meat seasonings before pit-basting.
5. Constant Basting: Baste meat entrees with blended hickory flavored marinade (do not use sugar content sauces).
6. Cover Top Pit: Keep down after each basting method and adding more baste-soaked hickory wood chips as needed.
7. Glaze on Barbeque Sauces: Only after meat entree is mostly cooked and/or doneFrom the intro of the book: Let’s Re-Make The World
This book is a collection of documentation and writing around exhibitions and seminars that took place over several years and one ocean. It represents collaboration between the organizers, Ydre Nørrebro Kultur Bureau (YNKB) and The Library of Radiant Optimism for Let’s Re-make the World (Brett Bloom + Bonnie Fortune), and the participants at those exhibitions and seminars. It represents ideas bubbling up and then fading or conversely, gaining traction and sustainability among a dispersed group of practitioners. It represents a beginning. The book will serve not as a definitive guide to a movement, but as a compendium of ideas for social change, cultural work, organizational strategies, and poetic gestures that have been brought up at the four events catalogued here. Those events are:The Radiantly Optimistic Poster Show, YNKB, Copenhagen, Denmark, December 16, 2006 – February 15, 2007.
The Radiantly Optimistic Poster Show II + Ungdomshuset Poster Show (co-organized with Malene Nielsen), Mess Hall, Chicago, IL, June 2007.
What We Know of Our Past. What We Demand of Our Future: A three-day gathering to talk about socially-engaged, political, and critical artwork, its international
iterations, history, and future, Mess Hall, January 18-20, 2008.
Let’s Re-make the World III: For 3 days YNKB was transformed into a seminar installation with, a kitchen (Folkekøkken) serving free food, a dining room, a hotspot, and
a seminar space with a “democratic wall” constantly collecting statements from the participants. Six invited international speakers from England, Germany, and the
United States, presented and discussed critical art projects for social change, followed by statements from the participants and the Sunday workshop worked out a joint
statement. Havblik Audio and Peter Dacke played experimental music closing long days of discussion, YNKB, February 22-24, 2008.Start with a ReFab Happening, noon-5:00: What is ReFab?
ReFab uses the talents of book artists and new media artists to repurpose objects that otherwise might just go to the landfill. Here’s how it Works: Part exquisite corpse, part homage to Henry Ford, ReFab is a collaborative art workshop that seeks to repurpose unwanted items and give them new life. YOU bring an unwanted item to Mess Hall, anything from a gum wrapper to a broken television set – no object is too insignificant or too unwieldy – and place it on a conveyor belt. WE will then work on it in an assembly line of sorts, each of us will use a set amount of time to manipulate the object provided. The objects may be painted, burned, encased in wire, printed on, exorcised, pierced, decoupaged, filled with candy, anthropomorphized, photographed, gift wrapped, played like a musical instrument, written about and/or dipped in wax. The item will be documented as it undergoes its transformation, and before-and-after pictures will be displayed on the ReFab website.
Last Sunday I got to deliver a rough but fresh report on my doings in Vienna to a small audience at Madison's Project Lodge. This coming Monday I get to do it again–a little less fresh, but probably a little more coherent–in Chicago at Mess Hall. So come join if you want to know more about what I've been blogging about, mostly, for the past few weeks.
7 PM
Monday, June 15, 2009
Mess Hall
6932 North Glenwood
Chicago
Morse stop on the Red Line
There I'll have the time to give the overview, hit the high points, the deficiencies, and the odd and ends I've not had the time to relate here. For example, saying something about the Kunsthistorisches Museum, or maybe commenting what I saw of the Asian Village weekend-long project, with its performances by artists like Daito Manabe.
Back in the run up to the Iraq War in late 2002, and then after Bush ordered the attack in March of 2003, I worked with a grassroots neighborhood antiwar group called the Hyde Park Committee Against War & Racism. This group had been working at a local level since the week following September 11, 2001. I and about a dozen or more others started attending meetings regularly beginning in late 2002, driven to action and togetherness by the dismay and outrage over the impending war. Together with others in the group who were somehow art-identified, one of the ways I contributed was to help make signs and posters. It seemed entirely reasonable to expect that the artists take on this responsibility. In grassroots activist groups, all competencies are made available to the needs of the group. But what we, the art people in the group, didn't do then was seriously critique and evaluate of our creations, or, for that matter anybody else's, apart from the casual gripes or plaudits when seeing a political graphic that somehow catches attention.
HPCAWR is for all practical purposes history. There is a Yahoo Groups mailing list but not much else. Nonetheless, some of us who first met and worked together then continue to find ways to occasionally share work and ideas. One of my comrades from that time is Amy Partridge, and it was with her that Laurie Jo Reynolds and I kicked off the evening's discussion last Saturday night at Mess Hall. For Amy and I, it was what we didn't do earlier: make time to focus on the operations of political graphics. In the sense of this event capping a process of creation we had begun back then, and that we always were aware of as an exercise in modeling a form of activism, it was a nice way to close a circle.
Of course, it is six years later, and the political situation is very different. The issues in our minds and hearts are more dispersed, and range across many specific causes. Our starting point for the evening was the Just Seeds Ten Years of Critical Resistance portfolio, a suite of prints all addressing prison-related issues. From there we turned attentions to graphics created for the Tamms Year Ten campaign, also on display. The twenty or so people who joined us contributed many useful and sometimes brilliant insights. We went for a solid two hours, with a nice break for pizza and socializing in between two sessions of focused conversation.
When Aaron Hughes and a crew of vets from IVAW dropped in for the second half the circle was completed in another way. The question of political graphics in relation to the Iraq War resurfaced.
Tamms Year Ten activity continues, and will until that place is shut down. Here is their news update, reposted. I'm helping with an event at Mess Hall this Saturday. See #5 below!
1. NEW ENDORSER2. TAMMS SUPERMAX REFORM BILL3. SURVEY TO REP. JULIE HAMOS4. FACEBOOK PLEA5. POLITICAL ART CRITIQUE AND DISCUSSION--Saturday, February 76. PRISONER LETTER-WRITING and WORK PARTY--Sunday, February 87. OVERVIEW OF FEBRUARY EVENTS--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--1. NEW ENDORSER--llinoisVictims.orgTamms Year Ten is honored to add IllinoisVictims.org to our list of endorsers. Thanks so much to Jennifer Bishop Jenkins, who is the National Program Director for Victims and Survivors for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Her tremendous advocacy on behalf of victims, and her work for the human rights of prisoners and against the death penalty, has inspired all of us.--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--2. TAMMS SUPERMAX REFORM BILL--this weekAs you all know, our bill had 22 co-sponsors in the Illinois House of Representatives last session, and we had 2 legislative roundtable discussions about it, but we ran out of time in the last session to get it to the floor for a vote. Now, we are amending it and getting ready to send it back out. Thank you to our bill sponsor Rep. Julie Hamos (D-Evanston) for her commitment to this issue and for so much hard work. Rep. Hamos is an amazing elected official--we are so impressed--and she is running for Attorney General in 2010!--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--3. SURVEY TO REP. JULIE HAMOS--fill it outOur bill sponsor, Rep. Julie Hamos, wants to hear from you before she goes to Governor Quinn with a list of urgent priorities. If you care about the prisoners at Tamms and in the rest of Illinois, please fill out her survey. It will take you one minute, and you can give Rep. Julie Hamos and Governor Quinn a mandate from the people to overhaul our criminal justice system and reform, convert, or close Tamms supermax. You could also mention new trials for Burge tortured, opportunities for programming and rehabilitation to current Illinois prisoners, fair and speedy reviews for C# prisoners, and abolition of the death penalty.Or, go to www.JulieHamos.org and look under the tab that says "Get Involved."--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--4. FACEBOOK PLEA--join and spread the networkHey, we are initiating a push to make a much bigger presence on Facebook. If you are a popular Facebook figure, this could be the perfect TY10 job for you. Please lend us your friends and connections--we need everyone to join us in this super drive so we can reach our goal of 2860 friends by March 9. If anyone can help to build our presence on the facebook site (adding content, video, photos), please let us know. This will help us get people to events AND eventually raise some money. We are working on becoming a CAUSE, and then all our new friends can donate to the CAUSE! This is one step in figuring out how to cover the cost of a Lobby Day trip, and the many other expenses incurred by a frugal but very active campaign. We have about 77 friends--let's see how far we can get in just a couple days if you join right now and invite your friends!Go to http://www.facebook.com and join the group Tamms Year Ten--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--5. POLITICAL ART CRITIQUE AND DISCUSSION--Saturday, February 7 at 6:30pm at Mess HallPoster Critique + Discussion of Visual Strategies for Resisting the Prison Industrial Complex with Dan S. Wang & Laurie Jo ReynoldsTamms Year Ten is hosting an open discussion of the prints in the Justseeds poster portfolio--each which critiques the "prison industrial complex." Let's talk about which images are effective for you--and use this as a basis for considering the visual and rhetorical strategies in the movement. We want to learn from the decisions made by these artists, and then we want to work with you to consider the very real representational problems we face as a movement!How do we depict the experience of long-term isolation? Or communicate the experience of long-term incarceration?What visual language will help us to imagine the abolition of prisons? To urge rehabilitation over punishment?Can commonly used motifs—fists through prison bars / broken chains / doves / barbed wire / slave ships / prison stripes—still work? Are new metaphors required?We'll be talking about prison-related issues, but we hope that this event will be of interest to all artist-activists bedeviled and/or charmed by the problem of producing movement art which translates our political passions into visual form, renders visible the (often unacknowledged) problems of the present, and/or serves as an irresistible invitation to join us in our efforts to get free. We also invite you to bring other anti-prison movement ephemera (t-shirts, posters, stickers) for discussion!--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--6. PRISONER LETTER-WRITING and WORK PARTY--Sunday, February 8 at 2pm at People's Law OfficeAt this work meeting, you can respond to letters OR fulfill satisfying work tasks OR meet in sub-committees. It is all happening at the same time at the same place. Brief meeting at the beginning and then we will find a task for you. But, it is social too, so feel free to bring food and beverage. Work party + potluck= workluck. No, you don't need to stay the whole time!--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--7. OVERVIEW OF FEBRUARY EVENTSSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 6:30pm-9pm (critique starts at 7pm--come early to see the posters)Poster Critique + Discussion of Visual Strategies for Resisting the Prison Industrial Complex with Dan S. Wang & Laurie Jo ReynoldsMess Hall, 6932 North Glenwood Ave, Chicago IL 60608(on the red line, near the Morse stop)Tamms Year Ten is hosting an open discussion of the prints in the Justseeds poster portfolio--each which critiques the "prison industrial complex." Let's talk about which images are effective for you--and use this as a basis for considering the visual and rhetorical strategies in the movement. Feel free to bring and/or enjoy food and drink.SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2pm-5pmTamms Year Ten Campaign letter-writing to prisoners and "workluck"People's Law1180 N. Milwaukee, Chicago IL 60622(at the Ashland/Division/Milwaukee intersection, on the blue line, near the Division stop, and near 90/94)Come respond to letters to current Tamms prisoners OR help with one of our work projects.SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 7pmThe Chicago Unlympic Games: Emotional Games: "Torture Breaks My Heart"No Coast1500 W 17th Street, Chicago IL, 60608(in Pilsen, a block east of Ashland)InCUBATE and person-in-residence Anne Elizabeth Moore, on behalf of the Unlympic Organizing Committee, present this special event "Torture Breaks My Heart" sponsored by Tamms Year Ten and the Campaign to End the Death Penalty featuring motivational speeches and solitary confinement games. We are highlighting the human rights abuses in Illinois as we consider the Olympic Games coming to our town. Competitors and spectators will be offered the opportunity to send Valentines to prisoners and legislators.FRIDAY to SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 13-15Screenings and discussions of the San Francisco 8 featuring "Legacy of Torture: The War against the Black Liberation Movement"Eight former Black community activists – Black Panthers and others – were arrested January 23, 2007 in California, New York, and Florida on charges related to the 1971 killing of a San Francisco police officer. Similar charges were thrown out after it was revealed that police used torture to extract confessions when some of these same men were arrested in New Orleans in 1973. From February 13 to 15, several activities in Chicago will feature their case. One of the accused, Francisco Torres; one of the attorneys, Soffiyah Elijah; and a member of the support team, Claude Marks, will bring the documentary Legacy of Torture and talk about the case in the context of the FBI’s infamous COINTELPRO program.Friday February 13* 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Hull House* 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. DePaul University, Student Center/main building, 2250 N. Sheffield Ave.Saturday February 14* 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Center for Inner City Studies, 700 E. Oakwood Blvd., sponsored by Black People Against Police Torture, co-sponsored by the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, with Cliff Kelley as moderator* 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. Batey Urbano, 2620 W. Division, sponsored by National Boricua Human Rights Network and Tamms Year Ten: 6:00 to 7:00 SF8 presentation, to be introduced by one brief speaker from each of the two sponsors; 7:00 to 9:00 Crime Against Humanity play followed by Q&A to include SF8 speakers.Sunday February 15* 12:00 noon Mess Hall, 6932 N. Glenwood, brunch* 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., Trinity United Church of Christ, 400 W. 95th St.WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 6:30-8:00pm“Space Ghost” (26 min, 2007) by Laurie Jo Reynolds + release party for Stateville Speaks Loyola EditionCrown Center Auditorium, Loyola University, Lakeshore CampusHow could an avant-garde video comparing the lives of astronauts and prisoners address the condition of long-term incarceration? Come find out. Also, learn about current prison conditions in Illinois, and hear from Loyola students about producing the January edition of Stateville Speaks, a publication written in collaboration with Illinois prisoners._________________________________
I love watching video of letterpress, even the boring ones. But check out this fabulous trailer for the documentary about my favorite badass/smartass printer, Amos Paul Kennedy. I've known Amos for a while now, having met him first back in Milwaukee probably a decade ago. He brought his posters to Mess Hall for a weekend show back in 2004. That was great fun. I wonder when the full doc will be done.
