The Moving Crew at Bemis Underground

bemisUNDERGROUND: The Moving Crew (Land Grant Flag-State Construct)

Event Time: June 23^rd, 2007-July 21^st, 2007

Additional Info

WHAT: A site-specific, interactive installation, curated by Lydia Diemer

WHEN: June 23 – July 21, 2007

OPENING NIGHT: Saturday, June 23^rd, 2007, 7:00 – 10:00 p.m.

WHO: Lydia Diemer, Jeremy Chen, Maggie Booth, Katherine Parker, David Bendernagel, Neva Sills, Nadija Mustapic, Heather Foster, Lee Running, Daniel Luchman, Matt Stults, Christina McClelland, Daniel Maw, Ryan Standfest, Kim Ambriz, Adam Wolpa, Aurora De Armendi, and more

WHERE: The bemisUNDERGROUND, lower level of the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, 724 S. 12^th Street

 

Omaha, NE-

Calling all landowners, pleasure cruisers, refugees, conquistadors, settlers, and nomads!  New realms available now!  Stake claim!  Pursue vocations! Speculate!

 

Territory has opened in the bemisUNDERGROUND.  Millions of idle inches, finely timbered and watered, the most fertile in the continent, and if reports are true, cardboard resources in lavish abundance, all awaiting the subduing hand of civilization.  The Moving Crew has already begun development, establishing a town site, port, newspaper, general store, and saloon.  Now is the time to secure a home on the finest land ever offered by The Moving Crew.  Considering the unprecedented rush already in this direction, in this direction, you are advised to set at once.

 

The entire tract has been surveyed by The Moving Crew and recorded.  The boundaries of this land will be clearly given by our Superintendent of Locations when you arrive at the bemisUNDERGROUND during opening hours, June 23^rd, 7:00 – 10:00 p.m.  The Moving Crew insures territory immigrants the lowest of prices in outfitting them (local currencies provided, bartering optional).  Most trips abroad are trouble free, however you should take sensible precautions and ensure that you are adequately prepared.  Passports available upon entrance (for a nominal fee)!  Sectional maps GRATIS!  This tide will continue until every vestige of the public domain is taken (each Saturday, noon – 5:00 p.m. or by July 21^st, 2007, whichever comes first).

 

About the Artist:

The Moving Crew is an amorphous art collective working to enlarge and enliven the public sphere.  An ever expanding and contracting group of civil servants, students, former elementary school teachers, and crisis line volunteers form The Moving Crew's ranks, a collection of bodies and art objects, as well as a gathering of ideas, thoughts and relationships.  Cultural animation drives our projects; we investigate the implications of a society in motion, its people migrating through space and time, simultaneously rooted and displaced, forever wandering and on the way home.  By examining both humorous and serious issues on local and global scales, The Moving Crew hopes to engage the public in playful, interactive art activities that loosely surround ideas of community, movement and transformation with a sensibility of profound absurdity. Through the use of inexpensive or found objects and materials, The Moving Crew invites people into a new space where the normal rules of the world do not quite apply and where the public is welcome to collaborate.

 

For more info:

bemisUNDERGROUND Phone: 402.408.2397

www.bemisunderground.org

If you would rather not receive these types of announcements, please reply to this email saying so.  Thanks.

When can people install?

hey all!
things are fast approaching. i hope to catch all of you in person, via email or phone.

but... PLEASE POST when you are available to install... when you plan to be at bemis in omaha... we can better figure out housing. we will need to crash in the gallery unless some other leads pan out. if anyone has some leads please let me know. i do have a friend who has kindly offered us some occasional showers at her apt 2 blocks from bemis. there is also a ymca in omaha for swim/showers. glamorous art star life!

i am wondering if the June 16th-17th isn't a great critical mass weekend for installation. of course much of the initial mapping and construction will have been started (SO PEOPLE WHO WANT IN ON THIS BE THERE JUNE 9-10 (or june 9-23). but if june 16-17 works we can even all chip in on a cheap motel if necessary.

THINGS TO DO:
1) let me know your availability in omaha. give me dates you WILL be there.
2) COLLECT stuff for bemis. see list on this blog.
3) let me know what you need transported to omaha. i am arranging a truck and need to know what size we need ASAP! expect me to contact you on this.
4) ask me questions. as we get closer there will be lots of questions. due to my hectic summer i have not stayed in touch with everyone as much as i'd like. i'm sorry. ask me, ask each other. remember, we need each others' superhero powers to make this happen.

my email is chenjerem@gmail.com. katherine is keeping track of movingcrew@gmail.com also so that is another source.

THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING! THIS IS GOING TO ROCK BECAUSE WE ALL MAKE IT ROCK!

Bemis Planning Notes 4/29/07

BEMIS PLANNING MEETING NOTES 4/29/07
SPACES, PEOPLE, ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

SHANTYTOWN
David Bendernagel, Maggie Booth, Heather Foster, others
possible others: Olga Balema?, Daniel Luchman?,

CAVE/TUNNEL/FENCE FOR ILLEGAL ENTRY…SHANTYTOWN
David Bendernagel, Maggie Booth, Heather Foster

FRONTIER
Lydia Diemer,
possible others:

SALOON
Lydia Diemer

MAKING AREA (IN SALOON IN FRONTIER AREA)
templates for boats, carts, suitcases, backpacks, paddles, ladders, wheelbarrows, skis?

TRAVEL AGENCY
Daniel Luchman?

REAL ESTATE
Daniel Luchman?

PASSPORT OFFICE
Jeremy Chen
I will need 4-5 people to work on making passports opening night
Hope to enlist

BOAT
David Bendernagel, Lydia Diemer

SUBDIVISION
Katherine Parker

ATRIUM
Printing… Lee Running

LIBRARY
Amy Hutchinson????? no response yet…

CHECKPOINTS
6 gates Eric…





OTHER: STILL NEEDED…
trash heap… shantytown, atrium
market… atrium, shantytown

WINDOWS…

LIGHTS
gels, etc

SIGNS
to help navigate space
paths painted on floor…

SOUND…
need

IMPROV
Patrick Keyes. he will also contact some others
Christina McClelland will contact some others

ZINES, OTHER PRINTED MATTER
Matt Stultz
Jessica White?
Christina McClelland?

DOCUMENTERS
digital SLR camera… Lee Running
digital videocam… who?

MAP/GUIDEBOOK TO NAVIGATE SPACE

ALTERNATIVE CURRENCY
Ryan Standfest and Jason Moore? Chen has contacted

UTILITY PLAYERS NEEDED...
FOR CONSTRUCTION...
to work on areas as needed. to help in times of need

FOR ACTIVATING SPACES OPENING NIGHT...

Legality of Using People's faces

I was concerned about the legality of using people's faces (for real time digital projection, for instance) and so I contacted two former classmates at the UI law school and a friend from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (a nonprofit legal group specializing in these issues). I am attaching their responses in "Comments" as I get them, in case anyone else is interested. Keep in mind: this is NOT legal advice, it's just thoughts from people who happen to be lawyers or involved in Intellectual Property law. They're not responsible if they're wrong.

Bottom Line: 2 out of 3 --> (probably) we can do whatever we want in the context of the art show, without prior approval, as long as we're not publicizing our information as fact/news. If someone wants us to take their image down, we probably should.

My EFF contact, in particular, thought we shouldn't worry about this AT ALL.

Internet extension of space

Also: it probably wouldn't be too difficult to create an interactive online extension of the show space, providing a way for people coming into the show to continue their experience once they've left. For instance, it would be trivially easy to set up a system that would take a whole bunch of digital photos taken at the passport office and automatically produce a bunch of web pages with passport information and randomly chosen fictional nationalities, family trees, etc. For instance, we could create a "founding fathers and mothers" descendant line--everyone randomly connected to other people at the show in a family tree that goes back to the Moving crew, someone fictional or even M.L.K. You might walk in and find a whole new life--part of a great Moving Crew family with brothers, parents and estranged step-children. This sort of thing is very easy to do with computers, but has other significant costs:

1) extra time for each passport (taking the photo with digital camera, getting permission to put the photos online, etc) and 2) extra time if we want to include any information about what the person did while they were at the show, or even provide them with a paper form of the generated information. Printing is expensive, noisy and time consuming.

Alternatively: if we had a projector handy, we could send the photos we take OR photos volunteered from people viewing a website directly into something like the auto-collages I've been making. What you'd get is a projection of a paper town with people's photos on top of pre-made paper cutout bodies. Then the people in the show would be looking at themselves (or online participants) in an illustration of the space. The biggest technical difficulty here would probably be physical: how do we get the images in a non-irritating/time consuming way, how do we display them (do we really have an extra digital projector). On the plus side, audiences might be more likely to interact if they can see themselves already interacting on the screen.

It's worth thinking about. My jobs will keep me in Iowa City for most of the show, but this might be an interesting way I could contribute to the show as it happened. Please let me know if you have any ideas. matt.stults@gmail.com

For the projector

For a SLIGHTLY better view
It occurred to me last night that I've got some movies/interactive applications that might be useful for the show. Over the last year I've been making auto-trash-collage movies (I'm writing programs to move images of trash around based on my drawings). Anyway, I've got a bunch of pigeon trash movies and have been working with automated flocking algorithms to produce real-time, decision making pigeon flocks. They'd probably fit pretty well with the shanty-town, city feel if we've got a projector. Unfortunately, they're made for large screen projection, so they're not too terribly pretty small and online, but I'm attaching a scaled down version of what I'm talking about. I've also got lots of other city-type animations of people, cars, umbrellas, etc, but the pigeons are probably the best fit.

Please keep in mind what you see online is just a movie. The actual pigeons have a mind of their own and, provided the appropriate input (which is probably impossible given the conditions of the show) would be able to interact with an audience. But, even as a movie it might work.

That's genuine trash, by the way.

Please let me know if you're interested.

ALSO: someone gave me what they think is a broken digital projector. If anyone knows about digital projectors (and has a bulb we could try in it) I'd be happy to use it in the show. Email: matt.stults@gmail.com

Tijuana dump and gleaners

Here's an interesting slide show I found on "The World" about a dump in Tijuana and the gleaners that make/made a living off of it.


http://www.theworld.org/images/slideshows/dump/index.html

Map and Plans

The Moving Crew at Bemis Underground
Please see attached map and corresponding details below. Based on meetings and Jeremy/Lydia’s visits to the space a sort of walk-through has formed, divided into areas, subject to suggestions, alterations, and erasures. Of course nothing is completely set and at certain points there are gaps or only lists of ideas, so please comment, express concern, stake a claim on a project, add/subtract. Please know that lighting, sound, and border check points will be considered throughout the space/experience as well as the following, growing list of themes.

THEMES:
Shifts in scale, Forced Perspective, Illusion, façade, Tourism, Allegiance/citizenship, boundaries/borders/territory, Audience participation, Active, Kingdoms/Realms, Satellite zones, Community Involvement, Visibility/hidden/missing, Peepholes, Periscopes

SPACE:
Atrium: gigantic space with three, two-story, floor to ceiling shafts of space and lots of light from street-level windows, an ideal space for flags and the suspension of sculptures, propaganda, enticing imagery visible from the exterior of BU. In between these vaulted sections are two areas with lower ceilings and no windows.
1 Main entrance into atrium, staircase and wheelchair accessible elevator
(1) Wall directly across from the entrance, ideal for projections/propaganda video or slide projector with timer/voiceover
2 Sets of street-level windows/light shafts w/ a small ledge for working (stencils, cutouts, Lee/Neva…)
3 Blank wall, two stories high – The Moving Crew brand/Jeremy’s boat/Flags
4 Another light shaft with a second story window into the Bemis library (adult zone)
5 A possible window for dioramas or activities (unused office space)
6 An area at the base of relatively useless stairs: market/junk yard/tarps/tires/rocks, the area beneath the stairs may be an interesting spot, Landfill for salvaging materials in Frontier Town, David Dunlap-heat buster/breeze
7 Cave/Tunnel/secondary, coyote entrance, secret
8 4 windows – views between atrium and interior gallery
A Main entrance into the BU gallery, beginning of the waiting room, low ceiling, light, cubicle walls
B Desk/office/reception space/computer available, Uniforms
Passport office: waiting room, turnstile, chairs, drop ceiling, lighting, cubicle walls
C Passport photo location, small nook ideal for a backdrop
Passport: pamphlets, maps, enter and exit, location for guides, fee?
Random headshots or unique polaroids?
D Checkpoints (left—for previous passport holders/black market, right—nascent entrance, first stamp, guidance onto boat/rowing/transport)
E Possible boat or point of transport, rowing or a container/boat with passing vistas, travel to the realm, cruise, one to enter and ride on, others to surround—a harbor, port, riverboats (small and large), the sea
Crossings-boats/rocks, Islands-Riverboat casinos (Lydia)
Container ships-ships on wheels, miniature, people living inside/squatters (Neva)
Shadows Scenes (lit cylinders, Jeremy’s lantern)
Dirt rowing, flour sacks
F Frontier/prairie outpost/participant construction—
Barter, scavenge, build-your-own, carts/trolleys/peditaxi rides, flag station, property/land grants/territory, Outpost/general store
People make stuff-participants, make and stay, make and take, Build the frontier, Land available for development
Templates (boats, hats, carts, wagons, small and large, carriers, garb)
Flag station (fabric, glue guns, needle/thread, scissors, table, chairs)
Interior bike rides, drawn carts (Jeremy’s bike-drawn peditaxi)
G Directly out of the tunnel into shanty town shifting to markets/businesses/tiny and large environments, pods, shifts in sound and lighting
Kingdom: hierarchies, shantytown, downtown, castle, murals, graffiti
Katherine’s miniature sushi grass
Igloo made of ice
Market-incorporate dock outside, food carts
Embassies, Fences, Wall of Dioramas
Videos/projections
Riverboats/Container ships
Pods (Lydia)
Sound, lighting (sprinklers)
Bridge, archeological dig below (Jeremy), Steps/temples, Ruins
Minimal and Labyrinthine
Reconstruction vs. pristine newness
Painting: floors, beams
H Continuation of kingdom environs (all of G)
Shifts between viewing and participation, active/passive, fantasy/reality
Sensory systems/Uniforms and interactions (Lygia Clark)
I Store front/underground passport office in back (cramped niche for photos)
Lair-dark side (Maggie/David)
J Saloon/general store—open space for mingling, keg of beer, sound, swinging doors, casino?? Floaters? projector, doors, openness, mingling, breathing roomCurrency-wooden coins, credit cards
K Businesses/spaces leading to the travel agency, exit, checkpoints,
View-masters, guides, Lines, seating, Travel posters
L Another possible location for the travel agency—connected to the passport office, another route through the space, View-masters at the Travel Agency, entrance/exit area, posters, brochure boxes
M Space leading to the exit
N Space just before the exit (brochures, tour guides, mingling)
O Stairwell out of BU gallery, this area must be manned (leads to the grown-up/off limits residencies upstairs)—the freight elevator is no longer an option
OUTSIDE: What will it look like?
Listen only line (dial a song)—Bemis Underground phone line, Parades
Strike, minutemen, affiliate, Street cart/BU loading dock, Airstream, Cots/sleepover

PAPER AND GUIDES: Signage, pamphlets, and (living, breathing, acting) guides will be utterly important to viewer experience/participation. Here are some plans thus far:
Also, a list or pamphlet for the objects/projects within the show is part of the BU deal (although this is an alternative space and our project has very little to do with the salon of objects and sales typical in some galleries--Jeremy Stern (BU curator) claims patrons of the space frequently need guidance). This is something we need to ponder--signage is another alternative, leading the audience through, a path, the proposed maps and manuals.

Improve actors (Patrick, Doug Hayko)—scenarios, roles
Guided (actors) or self-guided tours (signs, pamphlets)
Booklet to guide (Matt Stults, Josh Doster, Jessica White…)
Buttons, T-shirts
Postcards (DIY miniature boats)
Signage and pamphlets- maps and guides, about The Moving Crew, greater Omaha, destinations, satellite sites
Paint floors-end, after installation, cobblestone, arrows, direction
Sound to direct, define space
Passports:
2000 Passport ~ $3000
$1500 passport camera
Polaroid film
Stamps (self-service)/Checkpoints
Black Market/DIY: Available photos of other people (slides from Jeremy’s find at Calvin)—off days type/generalized passports, prefab with “categorical” photos or make your own instructions
Die Cut
Mini Grant Publication (see below)

Considerations:
1. Construction schedule- should the space grow and transition, hidden or accessible during evolving installation, transporting stuff during the month?
2. Outreach-to who?
3. Audience-Saturdays, large groups, activities
4. Mini grants: Publication--Cultural experience, animate rural, medium, large towns, Omaha/Iowa, border state, strengthen stance for an Iowa Arts Council Grant,
Ideas: link Iowa artists w/ artists overseas, other regions, Website/Blog
OR Interactive guidebook, publication to distribute, inserts for clarification, Council Bluffs, Carter Lake, Sioux City
5. Possible interns/actors, ideas and guidance
6. Press release: story, myth, frame, the illusion of realism – radio, fake, yet honest
7. Listen only line (dial a song)
8. Documentation: video, photo, sound: photographer, camera, tripod
9. Uniforms: The Moving Crew look
10. Bemis connection – bags, bags, bags, soil
11. Average Event size—300 people, aim for large numbers on open Saturdays, events
12. Workshop ideas-open for community involvement
13. Outreach to the community
14. Locations nearby—zoo, river
15. Cots/sleepover
16. Storage space, construction beforehand

SUPPLIES:
Tyvek w/o logo
Floor paint, ladders, extension cords, lights, turnstile, cardboard, stencils, tape, cubicle walls, Tarps, gels, chairs, projectors, curtains, canvas, fabric
Stamps-self-service (put in booklet)
Images-Omaha
Button Making-buttons, images
Cardboard sources in Omaha (Bemis has some, bike stores…)
“special” cardboard collect and store
Styrofoam, plastic, wall paint
Railroad ties, Rope
Scaffolding (rental)

PARTNERS: (choose your cohorts):
Omaha:
Jenny Hansen’s Mom (Omaha radio station)
Wanda Ewing
Jody Boyer (Council Bluffs)
Maggie’s family
Spark Candy
Nicole Timmins-Bormann
Al Holen (??)

Mr. Brooke Bench
Park Manager
402-444-5962
BBench@ci.omaha.ne.us

High Bikes for parades (bike shops)
Gondola rentals, Missouri River, inlet
Omaha: zoo, river, downtown market district, area resources

Elsewhere:
Cece Cole
Josh Haringa
Lee Running
Brandon Buckner
Wolpa
Josh Doster (travel brochure, zine)
Christina McClelland (zines)
Olga Balema
Dan Christianson
Dunlap
Josh Anderson
Jordan Acker Anderson
Eric
Jessica White/zine
Fereshta Toosi

Check out:
Floating Neutrinos www.floatingneutrinos.com
Murals at Mr. C’s in Omaha
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter_Lake,_Iowahttp://www.cityofcarterlake.com/history.html
http://www.studio-orta.com/news.php
www.mucca-pazza.org
http://www.elementalchile.cl/chilean architecture firm doing public housing - interesting websitewith models (look for iquique under housing - that's a project oftheir's that's been running and successful).
http://takebacktheland.blogspot.com/blogspot for miami shantytown
http://www.three-walls.org/past_residencies.php?id=46shanty-bazaar-batering
Narrated slide show of ICRAPT and Moving Crew events:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ea-f8LJR70A 'trailer' made for a presentation at the Bemis earlier this year:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSKJbeKY8vQ

SUPPLIES NEEDED/WISHLIST

Possible Materials. Let's start a list of stuff we'll need for Bemis. Please add to this list by posting.

cardboard... lots of it
tarps, plastic sheeting
styrofoam... lots of it
tyvek (9' rolls of white should be ordered...)
boxcutters, x-actos, scissors staple guns
rope, string, wire (high gauge, low gauge), fishing line, yarn
glue guns, glue, staplers, tape (duct, electrical, masking, clear packing, etc)
housepaint (colors, white, grey), paint brushes, rollers, paint trays
spray paint
ladders
chairs
book shelf
projectors- overhead, slide, digital
laptops, cameras (digital, polaroid, video, etc)
TV monitors, cords
powerstrips, extension cords
inkjet printer/copier
gels for lights
spotlights, floodlights
tape recorders, boomboxes...
polaroid film
computer/photocopy paper
silicone release paper
grommets and grommet maker
buttons and button machine
screens for printing?
fabric
jumpsuits? costumes?
clear labels
clipboards, pencils, pens
wood (2 x 4's, etc)
wood pallets?
misc. tools: hammers, screwdrivers, cordless drills, saws: jigsaw, miter?
screws, nails
saw horses, plywood (for tables?)
paper punch? paper cutter? vinyl cutting mats?
measuring tape
fake $? wooden money?
signs, signage, dry erase boards, chalkboards
bricks, cement block
block ice
cardboard boat template (and small paper boat template?)
coffee pot, coffee
beer, wine, etc.

Antarctic Village

http://www.studio-orta.com/news.php

The creation of the ‘Antarctic Village’, the film and the expedition logbook to be published on their return, are a bid by the artists to amend Article 13 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights to include a human beings inherent right to freedom of movement – Article 13.3. ‘Antarctic Village’ symbolizes a place that welcomes all and reflects on the millions of people exiled from their native lands by ecological disasters, economic ruin, war and political intimidation. Professor Lucy Orta, speaking from the University of the Arts: “We wanted to communicate the fact that Antarctica is first and foremost the most important World natural reserve and that the Antarctic Treaty signed in 1959 established freedom of scientific investigation, environmental protection, and also banned all military activity on this sixth continent. This was the first Arms Control agreement established during the Cold War. Antarctica is our new Utopia, the ideal metaphor for our idea that people should have a right to move freely and circulate beyond state borders to a new lands, in peace and towards a new Hope. 'Antarctic Village' encapsualtes the conceptual motto of the 1st End of the World Biennale as an art without frontiers joining the North and South Poles: “Pondering, at the end of the world that another world is possible”."

Goin' to Shantytown

Check this stuff out! Lee Running passed this info onto me for the
Moving Crew so I'm posting it here. Really interesting stuff. Lines up
with the Istanbul proposal as well. I'm sure Cesco knows of other
stuff like this too.

http://www.elementalchile.cl/
chilean architecture firm doing public housing - interesting website
with models (look for iquique under housing - that's a project of
their's that's been running and successful).

http://takebacktheland.blogspot.com/
blogspot for miami shantytown

http://www.three-walls.org/past_residencies.php?id=46
shanty-bazaar-batering

testing

I have made the blog private again.

You can publish posts from email by emailing them to:

movingcrew.blog@blogger.com

xox

Meeting Agenda 3/3/07

Hometown

Short meditation on the hometown. Image provided by myself, Cat Park. Click on the Title (above) to journey to to Laren Leland's California Hometown.

Prop-a-Ganda

Images from the Boat Parade of '06.

To Submit

Thinking of all of our work prior to Passport Home and how we may have this documentation in paper/photo form:

http://adminsymposium.blogspot.com/

Posted by: ThreeWalls
Deadline: 03/01/07

We are looking for submissions in any style and of any length that pose questions, reveal ideas, or illustrate the process of Arts Administration. This can include ephemera from meetings such as receipts, napkin drawings or notes. The submission can take the form of an outline for an academic paper, correspondences, or simply questions. Please feel free to submit creative and untraditional materials. This Sketchbook will illustrate what ideas and projects look like while they are forming. We are publishing this sketchbook with the hope that arts administrators of all kinds can pick it up, flip through its pages and become inspired. This communal collection of “sketches” will pass ideas for exhibitions, organizational structures, or academic projects between colleagues and strangers in an effort to connect people and expand thinking on arts administration.

Testing 2

Going Public to see if it'll send an update...

Email Notification of Posts

So I'm giving this a shot. If you sign up with "weblogs.com" they should notify you at your email everytime something posts...so this is a test...

show to apply to

Get those thinking caps on. This is right up our alley. Note emphasis on experimental and sizable honorarium. Yeehaw:

http://www.chicagoartistsresource.org/?q=node/19863
http://www.uic.edu/aa/college/gallery400/05_info.htm

This is rather logistical (please disregard the jumpiness, I must recap):

I've heard from: Katherine, Maggie, David, me, Jeremy (possibly) that March 3/4th might work. Should we set a specific time and day? Jeremy/Neva-maybe you should clarify what works best for you.

Neva--we'd love to see you--any Iowa City-bound carpools around? Plus, I think we should go ahead with the "At The Edge" exhibit proposal. Would you like to spearhead the writing/details--since you are our shiny-token Chicago artist? I'd be happy to have some conversations/revisions etc. via email or the phone. I think we should jump on any collaborative ops we find (sending several out is often more opportunistic than sending one or two, especially as the ball is rolling and the DVDs are crisp and fresh and the proposals are written in a current Moving Crew sensibility).

Here are some details from the BEMIS UNDERGROUND:
We will receive one keg of beer-gratis-for the opening reception (thanks to a local brewery).

The show (Nolan) prior to The Moving Crew will end June 2nd with a week of breakdown following. Thus we can enter the space and begin around June 11th or so-officially our slot is June 15th until July 21st, but we have a week before and after to work. Our press release must be planned, fine-tuned and completed very soon (hopefully in March for full coverage and hype, international journals and such). During our meeting I'd like to decide upon the opening date. Some discussion has already ensued regarding opening later than June 15th, giving us an extra week to develop the space, live in it, gather the troops. Other discussions have touched on the nature of schedules--births and moves to Seattle. So please, each of us, begin to gather specific information about June and July and our potential engagement with the BU space.

A trip is being planned to visit the Bemis Underground in March (probably during Jeremy's spring break March 19th-25th). Anyone is welcome to come along--keep me posted if you are interested--I'll let everyone know when ASAP. Part of the visit will involve a discussion with Jeremy Stern, the Bemis Underground curator, about details of the space (flag poles, sleeping in the space, sticking a trailer somewhere, the dock, the river, Carter Lake, local vigilantes and regulations).

Distant?: We need to create some sort of list for the objects/projects within the show (although this is an alternative space and our project has very little to do with the salon of objects and sales-- Mr. Stern claims patrons of the space frequently need guidance). This is something we need to ponder--signage is another alternative, leading the audience through, a path, the proposed maps and manuals.

More...

Carter Lake, Iowa

In preparation for BU in Omaha, I found out about Carter Lake, Iowa. Check this out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter_Lake,_Iowa

http://www.cityofcarterlake.com/history.html

Perhaps a project could form with this interesting local example of borders and boundaries when we are in Omaha.

I carried a watermelon

I have come to terms (finally!) with the term "American Imperialism". It is a strange reality that I live somehow in the past/in history (saying things like "America isn't the only imperialist country"...is taking a historical view instead of looking around TODAY and now...So I respectfully take back my earlier comment.

An Invitation to Participate

Greetings, Dweller of another Realm,

We, the Moving Crew, an artists group with members around the world, will construct a kingdom between June 15th and July 15th at the Bemis Underground, an art center in Omaha, Nebraska.

Forests, ports, shacks, gates, steppes, factories, a castle, and maybe a slum will materialize. Visitors to our realm will be issued passports, a guidebook, and a map, and they will explore our lands as their wills and whims direct them. Organized tours, migrations, illegal border crossings, all things are possible here. We will have outposts in the greater Omaha area, diplomatic missions and tourist bureaus to entreat and entice visitors to our domain.

The Moving Crew does not, however, exist in isolation. You, the rest of the world, are with us also. We therefore invite you to represent yourselves, you people rooted to your native soil, you people migrating through space and time, you people inhabiting your own kingdoms, fiefdoms, hovels, borroughs, districts, cantons, and lands. And so we, the Moving Crew, do hereby invite you to send to us a symbolic representation of your land in the form of a flag.

**If you so wish, we would also welcome tourist brochures, posters, ethnographic profiles, videos, advertisements, photographs of native costume and customs, official animals, gems, and flowers, and any other promotional materials you might find useful to educate the public about your kingdom. If any lands be so inclined, we invite you to send ambassadorial delegations, who may choose to travel on land, by sea, or air, on human-powered vehicles or through teleporters, to visit for a day or a week.**

We invite you to send us a flag to display outside the Bemis Underground, or inside the foyer area.

flag (flăg)n.

1. A piece of cloth, usually rectangular, of distinctive color and design, used as a symbol, standard, signal, or emblem.

2. National or other allegiance, as symbolized by a flag: ships of the same flag.

3. A ship carrying the flag of an admiral; a flagship.

4. A marking device, such as a gummed strip of paper, attached to an object to attract attention or ease identification; a tab.

5. The masthead of a newspaper.

6. Music. A cross stroke that halves the value of a note to which it is added.

7. A distinctively shaped or marked tail, as of a dog or deer.

8. Computer Science. A variable or memory location that stores true-or-false, yes-or-no information.

Technical specifications are minimal. Your flag can be any size or shape, and you can represent your realm using the materials, colors, and/or symbols that you think best. We ask that your flag has between two and four holes through which we can thread wire, rope or a snap-clip (see diagram if you need guidance). You can reinforce the holes with extra layers of whatever material you use to make your flag, or you can use grommets, such as are found on tarpaulins. If your flag is too delicate to hang outside, please note this when you send the flag. Otherwise, we will assume it is sturdy enough to be run up a flagpole outside and to withstand rain or wind.

All the flags will become part of our traveling exhibition and will continue to be displayed at all future Moving Crew events, in the USA, Europe, and Parts As Yet Unknown. We will make an online Gallery of Flags, so you can see your flag flying proudly in Omaha, and we will keep you updated whenever it flies in a new location.

Please RSVP stating your intent to send a flag by March 15th. All correspondence may be directed to the Master of Flags at movingcrew@gmail.com. (We'll send you the address for shipment upon receiving your statement of intent). We ask that you kindly send your flags to us no later than May 20th (postmark date).

Please include with your flag:

Name of sender, address of sender, any moniker you have for your realm, any other information or material that you deem pertinent about your realm.