#J18: Teach, Organize, Resist

ART: Poised between Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and the presidential inauguration, #J18 is an opportunity to affirm the role of critical thinking and academic knowledge in challenging Trumpism. Educators and students across the United States and around the world—at universities, colleges, high schools, and research organizations—are organizing a day-long program of workshops and demonstrations that speaks to the many issues and themes related to this national and indeed global moment. Alumni, students and faculty of the Art School at CalArts have come forward with a rich array of events. The majority of these will take place in F200, from 10 am until evening. A separate program will occur in the IM classroom, C108, beginning at 9 am.

Events in F200

10 am

Yair Agmon: A Skype conversation with the Palestinian collective, Active Stills

“I am coming back from a research and filming trip in Palestine/Israel where I investigated the role of the photographic archive in establishing national myths and narratives. ActiveStills, one of the subjects of the film, is a collective of photographers who employ their cameras to promote political and social agendas by sharing both their position and their archives with the communities they work with. Thus combining a form of social activism with a form of social documentary. I would like to present both their approach to working with a community as well as their work as resistance to dominant or prevailing narratives of oppression.”

10:30 am

Dorit Cypis: a workshop on identity, difference and leadership

We know that conflict is human and necessary for democracy and change, but how do we engage with conflict other than avoidance, denial, accommodation or attack? Fascinated with human difference I aim to turn notions of identity inside out, question who is the individual, what is the collective, and how can conflict be generative? We will look at Occupy as a platform of resistance and explore tools of conflict engagement I have developed between my roles as artist and mediator.

1 pm

Ashley Hunt, Kean O’Brien, Dont Rhine

A three hour workshop and conversation that introduces the work of the Tenants Union through Dont Rhine (has been visiting faculty in P&M and founding member of Ultra-red, the sound art group you might know), a rapid response network that Kean is building with some East LA organizations to respond to ICE/immigration raids, and a civil disobedience training with an NLG lawyer they’ve done an amazing recent training with, who can cover histories, meanings, tactics, rights and precautions of CD right now, which includes rights to people’s own footage, cameras, etc. The amazing part would be how organically this all can be articulated *in relation to* the students’ practices as artists (the cameras and image rights, renters’ rights as artists, understanding how many artists are understanding organizing as a facet of their practice, etc), so that while it helps connect them to and protect them within the work they want to take on outside their school and artwork, it will also address in very practical ways their current questions about what it means to make art and what’s urgent about art in these kinds of times. I think it would be a hybrid sort of presentation and workshop that we can structure very dynamically, our students would be very responsive to them.

Scott Benzel: Inaugural Rupture; Knot of Mirrors; and Atavistic Liaison

Three short presentations with discussions Inaugural Rupture explores the dérive, Breton's Arcanum 17, The Yippies' Levitation of the Pentagon and Wall Street Action, the actions of the Women's International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell (WITCH), and other works of 'late Romantic Anticapitalism' as models of resistance; Knot of Mirrors looks at disinformation, mirror, and gold and their positions within the Trump signifying regime; Atavistic Liaison examines DJT and his cohort in the context of Noys' Malign Velocities and Williams' and Srnicek's Manifesto for an Accelerationist Politics.

5 pm

Bridget Rosalia Driessen and Beth Fiedorek: Painting in Resistance

We propose a focus group geared at how painting operates in a world that needs intervention. Students are invited to collect and submit examples of painters that shape how they understand painting in a violently fraught political climate. We will then meet as a group to think together about how we can forge visual languages that resist white supremacy, misogyny, xenophobia, militarism, and oligarchic rule. All insights are welcome! Interested students are encouraged to submit up to three images of paintings/artists to elizabethfiedorek@alum.calarts.edu or bridgetdriessen@alum.calarts.edu by Jan 18 for inclusion in our discussion.

6 pm

Audrey Chan and Clara Lopez Menendez: CalArts Resistance Reader

This semester we will begin as an artistic community to build an online reader comprised of texts and media rooted in multi-front political resistance and advocacy to serve as a resource during the Trump administration and beyond. We'll need your help to solicit contributions, update and maintain the website, develop curricula, and more.

7 pm

Jack Taylor: Cryptoparty

With the impending administration looming in sight, effective modes of private and protected communication will be of paramount importance in terms of resistant activity. No form of civil disobedience or reformative rhetoric is functional in the event of communicative breakdown. We will be going over various encrypting technologies, as well as the philosophical and poetic underpinnings to digital privacy, as an introduction to precautions and techniques of digital security. Bring thoughts, devices, and friends.

Events in C108

The Center for Integrated Media presents a series of screenings and a micro-salon for Teach! Organize! Resist!

9 am

Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace

Director: Adam Curtis, Runtime: 180 minutes

12–1 pm

Micro-salon/Potluck Lunch 'Eat Trump'

“a frozen moment when everyone sees what is on the end of every fork” - William Burroughs A student-led open discussion. Topics may include: the 2016 campaign and election, immigration/migration, student debt, health care, race relations, fake news, politics in the age of social media, reactionary politics, dissent, resistance, community building and any other topic the group is interested in pursuing. Students can bring orange food to share…

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