mark cooley
Since 2002
Works in United States of America

ARTBASE (5)
PORTFOLIO (4)
BIO
Mark Cooley is an interdisciplinary artist interested in exploring the intersections of art, activism and institutional critique in a variety of contexts. Subjects of particular interest are U.S. foreign policy, corporate culture, and the political economy of new technologies. Recently, Mark has focused his attention on food production and consumption and the ways in which artists may mediate in these processes.

http://www.flawedart.net


The New American Dictionary


The Boston-based performance group Institute for Infinitely Small Things has published a book called The New American Dictionary.

The dictionary highlights the terminology of fear, security and war that has permeated American English post 9-11. It includes 68 new terms i.e. Preparedness and Freedom Fries as well as terms that have recently been redefined i.e. Torture.

The dictionary also has an interactive dimension. 58 terms are left undefined for the reader to pencil in their own definition. Furthermore, readers are invited to submit their additions to the institute for a possible inclusion in the 2nd edition.

The New American Dictionary is available at several online stores.

www.newamericandictionary.com

READ ON »


exhaust emissions balloons


exhaust_emissions.jpg
a huge balloon, tied to a car�s vent-pipe, depicting the amount of exhaust emissions a car releases a day.

the "bursting earth" project is similar, but more dynamic. activists attach world globe balloons on exhaust pipes of cars in Berlin. the exhaust gas inflates the ballons. after the message becomes readable, there is a big "bang".

[link: frederiksamuel.com & adsoftheworld.com & 20to20.org]

READ ON »


WoW!


Aram Bartholl is a german artist renowned for making physical abstractions of the digital world, particularly game-worlds.

One of Aram's not-to-be-missed performances is inspired by the popular computer game World of Warcraft (WoW).

In WoW, the nickname of the player's avatar is constantly hovering above the head of the player so that the identity is visible for everyone else in the game.

Aram took this little feature out of cyberspace to see how it would look if people's names would float above their heads in the physical world too.

WoW has been performed at different locations around the world. Luckily, it is well-documented!


Getting coffee WoW style Workshop in Ghent Project Site

READ ON »


REALIZING THE IMPOSSIBLE: ART AGAINST AUTHORITY


reaimp.jpg

Aesthetics and Politics

REALIZING THE IMPOSSIBLE: ART AGAINST AUTHORITY by Josh MacPhee, Erik Reuland, editors :: There has always been a close relationship between aesthetics and politics in anti-authoritarian social movements. And those movements have in turn influenced many of the last century's most important art movements, including cubism, Dada, post-impressionism, abstract expressionism, surrealism, Fluxus, Situationism, and punk. Today, the movement against corporate globalization, with its creative acts of resistance, has brought anti-authoritarian politics into the forefront. This sprawling, inclusive collection explores this vibrant history, with topics ranging from turn-of-the-century French cartoonists to modern Indonesian printmaking, from people rolling giant balls of trash down Chicago streets to massive squatted urban villages and renegade playgrounds in Denmark, from stencil artists of Argentina to radical video collectives of the US and Mexico. Lots of illustrations, all b&w.;

READ ON »



Discussions (102) Opportunities (8) Events (39) Jobs (2)
EVENT

NEW - space hijackers - project RAAAAAA


Dates:
Sat Jul 10, 2004 00:00 - Mon Jul 12, 2004

London is a remarkably un-mountainous area, with the area around the Kings road remarkably flat in comparison to other slightly more hilly areas of the city. However it seems that the residents of Kensington & Chelsea have had something funny put in their water, where we see designer shops and residents parking areas, they see jungle terrain and mountains. This can be the only explanation for the ridiculous number of expensive 4x4 vehicles driving around in the area.

We decided that the only way of shocking them out of their petrol guzzling, pollution pumping, lethal weapons on wheels, was to show them what a real safari looks like."

http://www.spacehijackers.co.uk/html/projects/raaaa/raaaa.html


EVENT

The Kings Road & Sloane Square Lion Safari!


Dates:
Sat Jul 10, 2004 00:00 - Sat Jul 03, 2004

The Kings Road & Sloane Square Lion Safari!

West London home of 4x4 vehicles and curious people who shout Raaaaa! when
excited.

Join us on safari to London's animal wilderness. First however we must
camouflage ourselves as Lions and Tigers so as not to scare the beasts of
West London.

JULY 3rd - Outfit Making Day
JULY 10th - RAAAAAAAAAAA!

------------------------------------------------------------
SAT JULY 3rd OUTFIT MAKING DAY

First of all before the day go to all of your local charity shops and buy as
many fake leopard/tiger print 80's clothes as you can!

Then on Sat 3rd July we will be meeting up at Space Hijackers HQ in order to
make our outfits. Some material should be spare if you can't find anything,
but not much so bring as much as you can:

11am onwards
Space Hijackers HQ
BOXING CLUB BUZZER
Old Limehouse Town Hall
646 Commercial Rd
London
E14 7HA

DLR Limehouse
Bus 15, 115, D6, D3

After this there is a plan to head to Kew Gardens in the afternoon for a
MUTI corporation Globalisation Intercorporationism Picnic.

------------------------------------------------------------
SAT JULY 1Oth RAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Meeting up at Space Hijackers HQ again to put the finishing touches on our
outfits we will be traveling as a pack of Lions and Tigers via the tube to
the heart of Safari Land. Where we plan to lie by the 4x4's and SUV's, and
speak to the local lions (cleverly disguised as shoppers) in their local
dialect RAAAAAAAA!

------------------------------------------------------------

INTERNATIONAL AGENTS!

THIS PROJECT IS EASILY TRANSFERRABLE TO OTHER URBAN JUNGLE AREAS OF THE
WORLD WHICH SUFFER FROM AN OVERABUNDANCE OF 4X4 VEHICLES AND NO MOUNTAINS.

IF YOU HOLD A SAFARI IN YOUR LOCAL JUNGLE PLEASE CONTACT SH HQ SO THAT WE
CAN PUT YOUR REPORT ONLINE!

SH HQ

over and out.

_________________________


EVENT

Art is Still Not Terrorism, nor is it Mail Fraud or whatever other


Dates:
Fri Jul 02, 2004 00:00 - Fri Jul 02, 2004

ridiculous charge the US govt. has cooked up to save face.

Art is Still Not Terrorism, nor is it Mail Fraud or whatever other
ridiculous charge the US govt. has cooked up to save face.

Following the latest news on the indictment of Steve Kurtz from Critical Art
Ensemble (see www.caedefensefund.org), although the original bioterrorism
charges are now completely off the table, the trial still
promises to be financially and psychologically draining for the defendant.

Barry Schwabsky, Warren Neidich and Anjalika Sagar, with the Arts Catalyst
and Artsadmin invite you to join us in an unmissable gathering of artists,
academics and concerned individuals to help raise the legal costs of his
defence.

The benefit on July 9 19.00 at the Courtroom, Toynbee Studios, 28 Commercial
St, Aldgate, London, goes ahead, with speeches and messages from
celebrities, including defendant Steve Kurtz by video, DJ mixes by Kodwo
Eshun and music by si-cut.db among others, including surprise guests
(contact anjalisaga@blueyonder.co.uk before THIS Friday July 2 if you have a
short set to offer, zero-minimal tech backup!)

How much? Free, but bring your chequebook. We are suggesting a donation of
at least 24 pounds sterling.

The recent decision by the courts to throw away the charges of
Bioterrorism and replace them with mail fraud is a victory for all of us. It
shows that we can make a difference. Our benefit is as important to raise
money for the debts Steve has incurred and the court case he still needs to
defend.

Benefit Committee: Kathy Battista, Julien Dobbs-Higginson, Kodwo Eshun,
Charlie Gere, Jan Hietala, Janis Jefferies, Susan and Ben Keisler, Karen
Knorr, Kathy Kubicki, Warren Neidich, Sandra Percival, Anjalika Sagar, Marq
Smith, John Slyce, Barry Shwabsky, Mark Tribe, Paul Wombell, Karen Wright,
and Robert Zimmer.

We can accept cash or cheques only, no cards (payable to The Arts Catalyst),
either on the door or to The Arts Catalyst at the above address. If you are
unable to attend but would like to make a donation, please do so either
direct to the defence fund - www.caedefensefund.org - or by sending a cheque
to Arts Catalyst. The Arts Catalyst is a charitable arts organisation
(charity number: 1042433). Money donated will be transferred directly to the
CAE Defense fund.

Organisational help from:
www.artscatalyst.org
www.artsadmin.co.uk

light fare sponsored by Story Organic deli

rsvp to info@artscatalyst.org
if you are coming so we can calculate numbers. Don't forget your chequebook!

--
Lyndsey Housden
Artsadmin Trainee
Artsadmin
Toynbee Studios
28 Commercial Street
London
E1 6LS

T 020 7247 5102
F 020 7247 5103
E lyndsey@artsadmin.co.uk
Textphone: 020 7247 5182
www.artsadmin.co.uk

------ End of Forwarded Message


EVENT

"THE DIGESTIVE TRACT OF THE DISINFOTAINMENT INDUSTRY"


Dates:
Thu Jul 01, 2004 00:00 - Thu Jul 01, 2004

THE DIGESTIVE TRACT OF THE DISINFOTAINMENT INDUSTRY"
http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?at_code2468&no2250&rel_no=1
"If your calling is journalism, you enter the job market at the
same time that that the long and honorable history of American
journalism is traveling through the digestive tract of the
disinfotainment industry," declared writer Howard Rheingold in his
recent commencement speech at Stanford University. "But at the same
time, you arrive on the scene just at the moment something broader,
faster, and perhaps more democratic than the invention of
journalism is emerging. ... Young people in every part of the world
are using and inventing blogs, wikis, mobile messaging, desktop
video, digital music, online animation, social software. ... You
can -- you MUST -- innovate faster than your ability to innovate
can be enclosed by laws, regulations, and technological fences."
SOURCE: OhMyNews, June 18, 2004
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id87531201


EVENT

CAE - "BIOTERROR" CHARGES DOWNGRADED TO "MAIL FRAUD"


Dates:
Tue Jun 29, 2004 00:00 - Tue Jun 29, 2004

June 29, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: mailto:media@caedefensefund.org

"BIOTERROR" CHARGES DOWNGRADED TO "MAIL FRAUD" IN STEALTH INDICTMENT
U.S. Attorneys attempt to cast $256 technicality as health and safety
issue in "stealth" indictment

Professor Steve Kurtz was charged today by a federal grand jury in
Buffalo, New York--not with bioterrorism, as listed on the Joint
Terrorism Task Force's original search warrant and subpoenas, but with
"petty larceny," in the words of Kurtz attorney Paul Cambria. (See
http://www.caedefensefund.org/ for background.)

Also indicted was Robert Ferrell, head of the Department of Genetics at
the University of Pittsburgh's School of Public Health. The charges
concern technicalities of how Ferrell helped Kurtz to obtain $256
worth of harmless bacteria for one of Kurtz's art projects.

The laws under which the indictments were obtained--Title 18, United
States Code, sections 1341 and 1343, covering mail and wire fraud--are
normally used against those defrauding others of money or property, as
in telemarketing schemes.

This is a far cry from the bioterrorism charges originally sought by
the District Attorney. To make a "federal case" out of such minor
allegations, the District Attorney will have the burden of proving
criminal intent.

"There was very obviously no criminal intent," said Kurtz attorney
Cambria. "The intent was to educate and enlighten." Cambria suggested
that the pursuit of such a minor case at the federal level was
profoundly absurd. "If the University of Pittsburgh feels that there
was a contract breach, then their remedy is to sue Steve for $256 in a
civil court."

A STEALTH INDICTMENT

The U.S. District Attorney attempted to cast the issue as one of public
health and safety in a public press conference called without the
knowledge of either defendant's lawyers, thus eliminating the chance of
rebuttal. During the conference, parts of which were broadcast on local
Buffalo news channels, U.S. Attorney William Hochul and U.S. District
Attorney Michael Battle repeatedly alluded to "dangerous" and
"bio-hazardous material," even though the charges have nothing to do
with such issues, and scientists universally regard the materials in
question as safe.

At one point in the press conference, U.S. Attorney Hochul stated that
Serratia marcescens, one of the two bacteria ordered by Ferrell, "is in
fact a dangerous material in that it can cause pneumonia." Serratia
cannot cause pneumonia, only aggravate it in someone who already has
it, and very rarely at that. Furthermore, it would be hard to
characterize as a "dangerous material" something that high school
students routinely use in biology class experiments. (Easily trackable
by its bright red color, S. marcescens is commonly used to demonstrate
the many ways microbes can be destroyed--e.g. with household bleach.
The other bacterium, Bacillus globigii, is also used in experiments as
a stand-in for dangerous microbes--precisely because it is harmless.)

Many believe the attempt to cast the $256 technicality as a public
health and safety issue is a face-saving measure by the government,
which has already expended an enormous amount of time and money in
their fruitless pursuit of this case.

ONLY THE BEGINNING

Although the original bioterrorism charges are now completely off the
table, the trial still promises to be financially and psychologically
draining for the defendants.

The international support of the defendants by artists, scientists and
other citizens has been remarkable; it is crucial that this support
continue as the government extends this outrageous and wasteful
persecution into a grueling trial.

To donate to the defense fund, please visit
http://caedefensefund.org/donate.html. Updates on the case will be
posted at http://www.caedefensefund.org/. To receive more frequent
updates by email, please join
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CAE_Defense/.