Announcement: March 28, Earth: RECLAIM THE STARS

Last May, Arthur published the Endarkenment Manifesto, Peter Lamborn Wilson’s “half-serious proposal for a political movement to uphold and propagate the ideals of Green Hermeticism.” So naturally we’re pleased to hear of the WWF’s new Earth Hour campaign…

World Wildlife Fund is asking individuals, businesses, governments and organizations around the world to turn off their lights for one hour – Earth Hour – March 28, 2009, 8:30 pm local time—to make a global statement of concern about climate change and to demonstrate commitment to finding solutions.

Lights out means a lot less light pollution, which means many of us will get to experience real darkness, and see the stars, for the first time in ages from our own homes. In other words, we’ll get to experience the night as it has been routinely experienced by homo sapiens for 99 percent of the time that they’ve been roaming the planet. Should be a real (cosmic) eye opener: the heavens, unveiled.

Continuing on the theme: how ’bout, say, a day without driving?

Reclaim the stars, reclaim the streets…

GAME OVER CONTINUE? – Giant Robot SF, Friday Mar. 27

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There’s an art opening at Giant Robot SF (618 Shrader Street) tonite from 6:30 – 10pm.  Video game inspired artwork by APAK, Matt Furie, Jeremyville, Kaz Strzepek, Albert Reyes and dozens more.  The show runs through April 15th.  And coolest of all, in store playable video games by ARTXGAME Collective.  The following artists collaborated to make four unique video games incorporating comic style artwork:

Hellen Jo and Derek Yu (pictured above)
Saelee Oh and Anna Anthropy
Souther Salazar and Petri Purho
Deth P. Sun and Jonatan “Cactus” Soderstrom

(via Hellen Jo)

March 28: A Day of Peace, Love, and Chaos

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For the past three years I’ve been blessed to travel to the San Carlos Apache Reservation in Arizona to partake in an inspiring and heartfelt expression of skateboard/punk/diy love. The event is the Apache Skate Blast, organized by artist and father Doug Miles, and centers around a skate contest and concert that takes place on family land in the heart of the Reservation.

This year marks the fourth anniversary of the Skate Blast, and as Doug says, “This is going to be special… # “4” is a very sacred number to Apaches.” If you are anywhere near Arizona (or not, people come from across the country) I strongly suggest you come out for the day and see what it’s all about. A lot of young skaters coming up, good music (JFA has headlined every year), and immersion in a community that just keeps getting stronger and stronger. It’s truly a beautiful thing.

You can see more flyers and get info at myspace.com/apacheskateblast

See you there, warriors

Friday, Mar 27, 7-9pm: Gabrielle Bell and Ariel Schrag at Desert Island

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From Desert Island:

Gabrielle told me that she and Ariel used to sell their wares together on the street in the old days! Awesome. Glad they’ll be visiting together for this signing.

Gabrielle Bell + Ariel Schrag
book release party, signing, and slide show
friday, March 27th from 7 to 9 pm
at Desert Island, 540 Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn NY

The making of a global village at Factor e Farm, Part 1

Recently my friend Molly pared down her belongings, stored what she couldn’t carry with her, and left Brooklyn for the fields of rural Missouri to help in the construction of Factor e Farm. The goal of the young farmer scientists who run Factor e farm is to create a replicable, modern, independent off-the-grid farming community or “global village.” So far they are constructing buildings with clay bricks made of the local soil, planting orchards and perennial vegetables, farming local fish, collecting rain water to drink, generating their own electricity from waste vegetable oil and solar power, and working towards creating a “Global Village Construction Set” that would list all the tools necessary to replicate their system once it is totally self sufficient.

The mind-blowing thing about this project is that anybody who wants to start a similar community can do so virtually for free on the outskirts of many cities in the United States. Right now, arable land is cheap. Hell, I heard that in North Dakota they are giving away land to anybody who wants it. I say to all those who are actually taking up this opportunity, all the power to you. The idea is, if you can generate the money to create the system, you will reap the benefits forever. This quote from Factor e farm pretty much sums up their vision:

We are after the creation of new society, one which has learned from the past and moves forward with ancient wisdom and modern technology.

I will be following the progress of this project as Molly sends updates from the farm. You can follow her blog posts here. Learn more about their cost-effective farming methods and plans for the future of the farm in this video:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtfV5ZdexgE&feature=player_embedded

Today's Autonomedia Jubilee Saint: KARL MANNHEIM

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MARCH 27 — KARL MANNHEIM
Lukacsian theorist of the sociology of knowledge.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Mannheim

HOLIDAYS FOR MARCH 27
Ancient Rome: LIBERALIA, the Festival of the Vegetation God, Liber Pater, which in the third century B.C. exploded into the wild nocturnal orgies of the Bacchanalia, later suppressed by the state.
Egypt: SMELL THE BREEZES DAY. In the morning, smell a cut onion, get dressed up and head for a picnic in the country.
LAZY MOOCHER’S DAY. Mason City, Iowa: ROSA’S CANTINA DAY.

    ALSO ON THIS DAY:
    30 — Rebel leader Jesus condemned to death by crucifixion, rules Pontius Pilate.
    1513 — Ponce de Leon sights Florida coastline, looking for a fountain of youth.
    1893 — Lukácsian social theorist Karl Mannheim born, Budapest, Hungary.
    1924 — Legendary jazz vocalist Sarah Vaughn born.
    1968 — Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, first man in space, dies.

    All info courtesy The 2009 Autonomedia Calendar of Jubilee Saints: Radical Heroes for the New Millennium by James Koehnline and the Autonomedia Collective

    PODSNAPPERS by Al Columbia

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    From Pim & Francie #6. Al Columbia has the rare gift to suggest an entire story, an entire world with just a single image. He is currently compiling and re-contextualizing hundreds of these images and story fragments from his archives to be published by Fantagraphics Books in THE LAND OF BROKEN HEARTS Volume One – Pim & France (THE GOLDEN BEAR DAYS).

    ((ed. note — interesting coincidence with the big numbers post earlier today. but really, isn’t everything coincident? isn’t everything happening at exactly the same time? maybe now it’s just more apparent with the scope of the internet.))

    March 28th – Vertical Gardens Opening at Exit Art (N.Y.)

    Above: A living wall in Paris by Patrick Blanc (left), and “Vertical Garden (Weeds)” by Naomi Reis

    Date & Time: Opening Saturday, March 28th, 6-8PM (Closing May 23rd, 2009)
    Venue: Exit Art (Go here for map & hours)
    Location: 475 Tenth Ave. at 36th St / New York, NY 10018
    Price: $5 suggested donation

    A “living wall,” a part of a building made entirely of vegetation, is not a fantasy. Just look at these pictures and see for yourself. In cities where arable land is scarce, it makes perfect sense to build vertically oriented “sky farms” for cultivating both food and oxygen, two things all humans need to live. So what’s stopping us? This ingenious method of farming is not only practical; it provides us with a dream-like vision of the future, where cities of glass and metal could possibly be infused with green patches of living, organic architecture.

    One of the original plans for a World Trade Center memorial included a glass building with certain floors dedicated to tree nurseries. As the trees matured, the idea was to distribute the trees throughout Manhattan in memory of those who died. Unfortunately, some people were not thrilled with the idea of Manhattan regressing to the forest it once was…but hey, if they’re doing it in Paris, why not New York? Read on:

    NEW YORK – A project of SEA (Social Environmental Aesthetics), Vertical Gardens is an exhibition of architectural models, renderings, drawings, photographs and ephemera that depict or imagine a vertical farm, urban garden or green roof. It features over 20 projects, both imaginary and real, by artists and architects that envision solutions for building greener urban environments. The highlight of this exhibition is an eight-foot high living green wall by Edmundo Ortega and Dianne Rohrer.
    Continue reading →