The idea of a temporary autonomous zone is something I find very interesting. Creating a temporary space that eludes formal structures of control: is an idea that sounds simple but in reality is very complex.

The historical example of the fly by night sites that pirates used to transport goods and rest is very interesting and puts the concept into a larger historical past. These small societies that excised outside the normative government control and exist only for short periods of time.

I find this aspect of time to be one of the most interesting concept brought up in the article. What is time and how to these events as well of our own lives fit in to the Historical timeline that has been fed to us.

Overall it brings you back to the now and living in the moment and for the moment. By creating these zones you disrupt thee normative concept of time and space. You are interacting with the world around you in a new and exciting way.

It reminds me of the parking meter parties that Streets are for the People. They put money in the meter and than use the parking space for multiple things. They’ve held lunches and croquet games. They fill parking spaces with sod and invite people to join them. Than as quickly as they appear they leave, leaving an empty space behind.



Example of Parking Meter Party

When, I was 18 , a friend of mine found out that he had contracted the HIV virus. At 22 his life changed forever and so did mine. At the time I was shocked. HIV and AIDs was something that happened to other people, people who didn't know better. It really brought the issue home: this wasn't an issue that was happening somewhere else, it was happening here.

I'd always taken precautions with myself and it came as a surprise that my friends weren't. It became something that I talked about, I never wanted another friend coming to tell me they had contracted HIV again. I became extremely interested in things related to HIV and AIDs specially in North America.

This article was interesting for me because it showed the ways that some people dealt with the AIDs crisis through art and also tried to help others and spread awareness about the issue. This is the first article of the last couple weeks that I felt did a great job at giving examples of works. gran Fury is really interesting to me because of the way they use the media to their advantage and the innovative techniques they used to get media attention.

I also find the decline of AIDs activism very interesting. I know growing up I didn't see a lot of ads or information related to AIDs with in the media. It's really a shame that so much was done in the eighties and early nineties and now very little is out there. I think in the west we like to believe that HIV and AIDs is no longer an issue that effect us, it's something that's happening elsewhere. It feels like the media does little to help dispel this believe, choosing to report for the most part on AIDs in places like Africa. Although HIV and AIDs is a big problem in those countries it's also important to be educated about the issues at home so that another pandemic doesn't occur. I think more emphasis needs to be placed on testing , very few of my friends have ever been tested , which could lead to a ticking time bomb.

Growing up their was always cameras around my house. My dad studied communications in school and than took a job at Canon cameras. From a very early age I became accustomed to having cameras, projectors and even editing equipment around. As children my brother and I would make little TV shows to show our parents and their friends. This ease of use seems to be one of the reasons that video as become such a force with-in activist art.

It's hard for me to imagine a word with-out the handi-cam and homemade video. Jesse Drew's description of the early days of video art is of great interest to me. The collective ideals of video are something that I know a little bit about. Having worked on a few small films, itbecomes evident that the amount of work that goes into them is too much for one person. I think this is one of the reasons that video art is such asocial activity.

Overall I found this article a little boring. I feel that he likes to name video artists but doesn't mention many particular projects they have worked on. It feels like he keeps dropping names. If I'd never heard of them I'd have been lost and in some instances I was.

It's the first paragraph and I already have a problem with the article. The sentence " an increased social permissiveness allowed more obviously violent and pornographic imagery to leak into the dominant culture through media " I don't believe this statement or believe that more sexualized or violent media necessarily makes for a more violent society. Violence has always been a part of society, weather or not it was reported on or not, it's not as if all of a sudden because these images were on TV that we became a more violent society. I also take an issue with the use of the word "pornographic" as it's a word that has never had a clear definition. Also there is porn that is made to degrade women and there is porn that is meant to empower women. It's not as if all pornographic images are negative. I also take issue with the fact that they follow this statement with one about snuff films. It links the previous statement about violence and sex in the media with snuff films. which I really don't think is the case at all. Snuff films have never been part of main stream media and for good reason.

After the first paragraph the article dos get a lot better in my eyes. It offers a lot of good tips for people who want to disseminate the media and get their messages out there. I wish they went more in-depth about there own projects as a lot of them sound really interesting but they really don't give all that in-depth of a description of many of them.

It be interesting to see their take on the Internet and the use of the Internet to disseminate feminist issues. With sites like you-tube and facebook being so popular it's easy to reach a large group of people. The problem is coming up with a viral video or campaign that people want to pass on to friends and talk about. We've all seen the Dove the real beauty campaign ads because of this. It'd be nice to see these means used for something other than commercial gains.

The Vietnam War was unlike any war that came before it. It was the first war that was broadcasted into everyone home due to the popularity of the television .The way it was fought both in the battlefield and at home changed the way we view war and the anti-war movement. This was a different war for the soldiers, who would come home scared. A different war for women, who had to make the choice between declaring he war “men’s business or standing up against it. It was different for people of color who bore the brunt of the combat. In this article Lippard points out these and other differences all of which led to the art of the Vietnam War.

An anti-war sentiment was not felt by the entire art world. Many thought that the art world should stay out of the conflict and that art should be untouched by the social conflicts of the time. Even those against the war debated weather or not those opinions should be expressed with in their art.

This debate was fueled by the norms of the time period. As is pointed out the art scene of the time focused mostly on Pop and minimal art, stuff that isn’t all that political in nature. These artists didn’t know how to deal with political subjects or thought that addressing these issues was old fashioned. It was also fueled by the lack of gallery space being devoted to this type of art, and the reluctance of galleries to present anti-war imagery.

I think that this article for a very interesting read in light of the events occurring in the world since Sept 11. The US is once again engaged in a war that is changing the way we view combat situations. The Iraq war is the first war of my generation and lately it is being compared more and more to the Vietnam War. Appearing as if the United States hasn’t learned from past mistakes.

Just like Vietnam their has been and continues to be support for the anti-war movement from the arts community. Although there are still many struggles artists face when creating anti-war art, it feels as if some of the restrictions felt by artist of the Vietnam War have been removed.


Artists still run the risk of being labeled us anti-American and having their work protested against, but the public opinion of the war has started shift. As more people join the anti-war movement it’s only enviable that anti-war art will become more accepted by the masses.

Pieces like the fake ipod ads that state iRaq instead of iPod, have become very popular symbols of the anti-war movement. Graffti artist like Banksy have created public works that are meant to remind the public that the US is at war and bring it into their everyday lives. An example of which being him setting p a fake Gutamano prisoner up at Disney world.



Banksy in Disney Land


iRaq Ads