welcome, double agent

http://soex.org/

Opening Reception
Friday, May 23, 2008
7:00 – 9:00 pm

Featuring work by Siemon Allen, April Banks, Mary Walling Blackburn, BLW, Melissa Day, the Journal of Aesthetics and Protest, Michael Light, Nathan Lynch, Alison Pebworth, the Renaming Bush Street Project, Jonathan Santos, Mark Tribe, and the Visible Collective.

Curated by Valerie Imus, a Southern Exposure Curatorial Committiee Member

Being an American has rarely been so depressing. Current US policy inspires a maelstrom of international bile. Presidential candidates deliver a rhetoric of hope and change which experience suggests is an attempt to co-opt the desire for radical transformation for an agenda that will do little to upset the demands of capital. In this milieu, artwork that contemplates what it means to live in this country at this moment must confront the historical processes that have brought us to this impasse. The artists in Hopeless and Otherwise address our contemporary conception of American identities within the context of our historic narratives and myths. They negotiate the current pervasive atmosphere of doom and powerlessness by venting their own rage or simply grappling with the feeling of being outsiders in this bizarre place we call home. Their explorations acknowledge the challenges and direness of our current situation, while persistently reframing and engaging alternative perspectives on being American.

Dear All,

It appears that the FBI, in the War against Terror, has focused its efforts on Vegan Potlucks.

See http://articles.citypages.com/2008-05-14/news/moles-wanted/

In the spirit of the times, I, too, will throw a Vegan Potluck.

On Friday, May 23rd. 5-8. Given that we have a grassy backyard, it will be, perhaps, more picnic than potluck.

Please feel free to bring another or say, throw your own vegan potluck.

The more vegan potlucks, the better.

Mary

FBI seeking informants in the Twin Cities
May 14, 2008

Following is a statement from a person known to EWOK! (Earth Warriors are OK!, formerly the Twin Cities Eco-Prisoner Support Committee). This person was approached by the local JTTF [Joint Terrorism Task Force] and offered the possibility of being a paid informant.

“They wanted me to crash vegan potluck parties and get into the inner circle of terrorists because supposedly terrorists are trusting and I’m “trusting, easy going,funny,” and a bunch of other flattery. Every time they said “vegan potluck” I chuckled, but their faces showed they weren’t kidding. They said “vegan potluck” half a dozen times. They really feared vegans and their violent conspiracies to blow up buildings in protest to the republican national convention. So after twenty minutes of bewildering suckups, they ask me if I’m in. They say there’s compensation if I assist in someone’s arrest. I say “ummmmmmm I’ll pass.” She says, “That was the fastest anyone has ever rejected me,” and then tried for ten more minutes to get me to change my mind before saying, “Really: think
about it. We could really use you.” http://www.midwestgreenscare.org/