Not An Alternative

Monday, June 19, 7:30pm - Not An Alternative Arts Collective presentation

Not An Alternative Arts Collective presentation at 16 Beaver

Jason Jones, a member of Not An Alternative Arts Collective, will provide a short presentation that will translate examples of theatrical intervention as they are applied in practical form to their own work as a prop production company. The presentation will address two main challenges that the collective seeks to engage in their work.

1. As every organizer on the left is well aware we live in climate of media black-outs. Non-lethal tools, including censorship, are used systematically by state and corporate agencies to contain and smother forms of dissent that do not fit into the pre-designed spaces allotted for the expression of “free speech”. Against these limitations organizers are coming up with new ways to insert their messages into the public consciousness. Using theater, for example, to make interventions on highly recognized symbols, stories and events is an effective strategy employed more and more often today. With the success of The Yes Men, Greene Dragon, and Reverend Billy’s theatrical interventions, it has become evident that the left wing organizers’ recent shift has opened up new pathways making it possible to convey messages through obstacles otherwise blocked. Most significantly the move toward the use of theatrical intervention as a technique jumps over the “independent” vs “mainstream” binary by effectively incorporating both as vehicles used to convey messages.

2. Likely the single largest problem facing the left has been its inability to build cohesion as a complex and inevitably contradictory collective body. As campaigns develop, more often than not, some organizers will find that their issue has been ignored and set aside by other organizers who have different issue-oriented goals. (For example the left has often found itself split on issues that divide along labor vs. environmental fault-lines.) Not An Alternative’s work attempts to directly addresses this problem by offering a culturally focused organizing strategy that avoids getting caught up in the distinctions between one issue vs. another. The logic that is inherent in the culturally focused organizing strategy is not tied to any one issue more than any other. It is rather a logic that treats the contradictory nature of different issues as though they were part of a common battlefield. A focus on theatrical processes treats symbols, stories and events as vehicles whose meanings are available for hijacking. The aim of culturally focused organizing is to shift the meaning of symbols, stories and events associated with a campaign. When this strategy works it effectively means shifting the perception of the battlefield itself.

Bio:

Not An Alternative Arts Collective functions as a public relations, prop construction and cultural production company whose mission is to assist community groups in the preparatory stages of their mobilizations. The collective is based in Williamsburg Brooklyn and also runs The Change You Want To See Gallery and Convergence Stage.

Jason Jones is a founding member of Not An Alternative and a practicing artist based in New York.

DIRECTIONS

16 Beaver Group

16 Beaver Street Fifth Floor

New York,

NY 10004

212.480.2093