CONFLUX 2006

September 14 - 17, 2006 . Brooklyn




Conflux is the annual NYC festival for contemporary psychogeography where international artists, technologists, urban adventurers and the public put investigations of everyday city life into practice on the streets. At Conflux, the city becomes a playground, a nomadic laboratory and a space for the development of creative communities.

Currently in its third year, Conflux will take place September 14 - 17th in Brooklyn. Over 80 artists from across the US and countries including Canada, UK, Spain, Germany, Finland, Sweden and Australia will come to Williamsburg to present projects including experimental walking, biking, boat and public-transport tours; street games and tech workshops; mobile broadcasts, performances and temporary installations.

The Seeds of the New

A Discussion with Chris Carlsson, author of Critical Mass: Bicyclings Defiant Celebration Friday, September 1st - 7pm - $5 to $10 suggested donation

Bluestockings Books, Café, and Activism Center - 172 Allen St. Lower East Side, NYC

Beneath the visible madness and barbarism of life at the dawn of the 21st century, an invisible social transformation is underway. As capitalism continues its inexorable push to corral every square inch of the globe into its logic of money and markets, while simultaneously seeking to colonize the very essence of biological life and dominate our very thoughts - new practices are emerging that are redefining politics. In myriad behaviors, people are appropriating their time and technological know-how from the market and in small "invisible" ways, are making life better right now - but also setting the foundation, technically and socially, for a genuine movement of liberation from market life. Outlaw bicycling, urban permaculture, biofuels, free software, even the Burning Man festival are windows into these new social dynamics. Chris Carlsson, author of Critical Mass: Bicycling's Defiant Celebration, among other books. He is one of the original founders and participants in Processed World magazine, as well as the Critical Mass bicycling movement in San Francisco. His talk is based on a new book that he is currently writing.

Will Parrish writes:

"Think Outside the Bomb" Conference
New York City, Nov. 4–5, 2006

From November 4–5, 2006, young people from throughout the Northeast will converge at PACE University to organize for a nuclear-free world.

The Think Outside the Bomb Conference is being sponsored by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Abolition 2000 NY Metro, with support from Educators for Social Responsibility (ESR) Metropolitan Area.

The conference will focus on nuclear disarmament, nuclear energy, and the hazards of the nuclear fuel cycle — as well as the connections between these issues.

Think Outside the Bomb Conference

Jessica Thrift writes:

First-Ever Festival for Gender Equality
Brooklyn, NY, Ausust 27, 2006

Brooklyn to Host First-Ever Festival for Gender Equality!
Connect! Create! Educate!
(August 27, 2006 * 11am – 4pm)

In a world where boys are still made fun of for wanting to jump double-dutch and girls are still kicked off the basketball courts because they might “break a nail” while playing, Girls for Gender Equity is proud to organize the first New York City Festival for Gender Equality on August 27th 11am – 4pm. Open to all New Yorkers, it will be held at Von King Park in Brooklyn, NY and feature entertainment by musicians, spoken word artists, and theater performers; workshops and other fun activities for children and adults; free food and giveaways; and appearances from local politicians. Over 50 community organizations will participate including Brooklyn Children's Museum, Forest Hills Community House, Global Action Project, Loisaida, New York Police Department, Planned Parenthood, Schomburg Center, Street Harassment Project, and Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls.

The Gender Equality Festival is a free public event for education, networking, resource sharing, community interaction, arts and recreation. Workshops on a wide variety of topics – responding to street harassment, media literacy, HIV/AIDS, communicating with your child, youth leadership, yoga, health care access, democratic education and more – will be offered throughout the day to children and adults. The Grand Street Campus girls’ soccer team will lead a mother-daughter soccer clinic, where girls and their sisters, mothers, cousins, friends, aunts and grandmothers are all invited to learn basic skills and then show them off in a short game.

ABC No Rio CELEBRATION - Friday July 21

To all ABC No Rio supporters and patrons; past &
present volunteers and participating artists,
activists, musicians, performers, poets, and writers;
neighbors and fellow-travellers:

On June 29 we at long last acquired title to our
building at 156 Rivington Street!!!

We couldn't have done it without you!!!

Please join us for an Open House and Celebratory
Gathering to mark this momentous occasion!!!

FRIDAY JULY 21

8:00pm to midnight-ish

(drink cheap beer, eat free snacks, listen to tunes
and testimonials, grin wildly while hanging-out with
your favorite ABC No Rio characters as they tell you
"believe it - it's true!")

ABC No Rio, 156 Rivington St, LES

F/J/M/Z to Delancey / Essex

ABC No Rio Celebration

New York City, July 21, 2006

To all ABC No Rio supporters and patrons; past &
present volunteers and participating artists,
activists, musicians, performers, poets, and writers;
neighbors and fellow-travellers:

On June 29 we at long last acquired title to our
building at 156 Rivington Street!!!

We couldn't have done it without you!!!

Please join us for an Open House and Celebratory
Gathering to mark this momentous occasion!!!

FRIDAY JULY 21
8:00pm to midnight-ish

(drink cheap beer, eat free snacks, listen to tunes
and testimonials, grin wildly while hanging-out with
your favorite ABC No Rio characters as they tell you
"believe it — it's true!")

ABC No Rio, 156 Rivington St, LES

F/J/M/Z to Delancey / Essex

www.abcnorio.org

New York Metro Anarchist Alliance

Fourth General Assembly, July 22, 2006

You know it's really summer when school is out, the World Cup is over, the bulls
of Pamploma have run (they scored big this year), and anarchists can celebrate the
Fourth of July — the Fourth General Assembly of NYMAA — The New York Metro Alliance
of Anarchists — that is!

There may not be any fireworks, but hopefully our agenda
and hot new format will get you fired up. What better way to beat the heat and show
off your svelte summer physique than spending an afternoon with a crew of really
cool people!

Metropolis in Motion announces

an open-air dance and participatory movement event to bring attention to the antiquated & restrictive NYC cabaret laws

date: july 22nd

time: 2-4 pm

location: 79th & fth (at the corner of Mayor Bloomberg's house)

cost: free

contact e-mail: info@metropolisinmotion.org

www.metropolisinmotion.org

Why we're doing this:

In 1926, New York City sought to limit interaction among the races and control "public lewdness" by clamping down on the jazz scenes found in Harlem and West 52nd Street (and later in the bohemian Greenwich Village). To this end, the City established Cabaret Laws that limited dancing to specially licensed public spaces serving food or drink where three or more persons congregated, and stipulated that only musicians "of good character" could be licensed to play. Over the years, musicians won the right to forgo licensing, but laws regulating dancing remain on the books. As part of his "Quality of Life" campaign, Mayor Rudolph Guiliani used the laws to crack down on bars and clubs without a license that allowed people to dance. Venues were fined, or worse, padlocked and closed forever. The laws continue to be enforced under Mayor Bloomberg, while his Administration gives lip service to repeal or reform. According to the Department of Consumer Affairs, there are currently only 244 actively legal places to dance in New York City, including strip joints and clubs.

Why are these laws still on the books? Some people say it's to enforce a vague notion of the "quality of life." Other people know it's to keep property values high, club owners with cabaret licenses rich, and ordinary people, otherwise known as the citizens of New York, "in line." And we don't mean a kick line."

Opposing Antisemitism in the Movement:
A Workshop for Activists

New York City, July 23, 2006

When: Sunday, July 23, 6:30 p.m.

Where: Bluestockings, 172 Allen Street, between Stanton and Rivington Streets, Manhattan (directions below).

Antiauthoritarians and social justice activists often think they're immune from racism and prejudice. But many Jewish activists' experience shows that forms of antisemitism are alive and well in the social justice movement. This not only drives away many Jewish activists, but profoundly affects our work as a movement.

This workshop brings together two longtime activists who have studied how the left responds to antisemitism for an evening of instruction and experience-sharing that will help us understand and combat its effects in the activist community.

Visual Resistance writes:

If They Come For You In The Morning

A Benefit Art Auction for Daniel McGowan

New York City, July 27-28, 2006

On Thursday, July 27 and Friday, July 28, Visual Resistance will present “If they come for you in the morning,” a benefit gallery show featuring over 60 renowned and emerging artists at ABC No Rio in New York’s Lower East Side.

The show will feature some of the most respected and prolific street artists working today, including the Barnstormer’s David Ellis, Swoon, Borf, Chris Stain, Arofish, Kelly Burns, GoreB, Josh MacPhee, and MOMO, as well as veterans of the landmark political comics journal World War 3 Illustrated, including Eric Drooker, Seth Tobocman, Peter Kuper, Nicole Schulman, and Christopher Cardinale, as well as dozens of other participating artists.

All proceeds from the show will benefit the legal fund of local environmental and social justice activist Daniel McGowan, who currently faces life plus 335 years in prison on federal charges of arson, property destruction, and conspiracy. Daniel was arrested during Operation Backfire, a multi-state sweep of environmental activists who have now been charged with virtually every unsolved earth and animal liberation case in the Northwest. Daniel has pled not guilty to all charges.

The show will be run as a minimum-bid auction, with artwork priced as low as $5. Selected work will also be available for purchase online here. The show is free to the public.

Visual Resistance is a Brooklyn-based street art collective that uses art to transform public space and is active in local activist campaigns around urban development, freedom of speech, and political repression. Since 2004, Visual Resistance has curated international poster campaigns, created memorial installations for city bicyclists killed by cars, and participated in the 2006 Whitney Biennial.

ABC No Rio is a community center for art and activism founded in 1980 by artists committed to political and social engagement.

When: Thursday and Friday, July 27–28th from 5 to 10 pm.

Where: ABC No Rio at 156 Rivington Street between Clinton and Suffolk Streets. F / JMZ trains to Delancy-Essex

Participating artists include: Arofish, Borf, Kelly Burns, Celso, Christopher Cardinale, Dark Clouds, Eric Drooker, Elbow Toe, David Ellis, GoreB, Infinity, Klutch, Peter Kuper, Josh MacPhee, Colin Matthes, Magmo, MOMO, RB827, Cristy Road, Nicole Schulman, Chris Stain, Swoon, Seth Tobocman, and dozens more.

Contact: Ryan Nuckel

visual.resistance@gmail.com

(347) 218-2536

Web address: http://visualresistance.org/mcgowan

Download high-resolution images: here