January 18-20, 2008
Mess Hall
6932 N. Glenwood Ave.
Chicago

What we know of our past • What we demand of our future
A three day gathering to talk about socially-engaged, political, and critical artwork, its international iterations, history, and future

This weekend we come together to look at and talk about the intersections between art and activism. We want to take this time to address a range of concerns, to look at past strategies of creative resistance and build on them, to address our frustrations and anxieties about what we do, to play and laugh together, share food, and discuss the possibilities for going forward.

These three days are organized by the Library of Radiant Optimism (Brett Bloom + Bonnie Fortune), YNKB (Kirsten Dufour-Andersen + Finn Thybo Andersen) and Mess Hall. This is part of an ongoing series that asks how we can have optimism in our politics and work in the face of neoliberal globalization, war, economic, environmental, and other global crises. Our activities have included a poster show in Copenhagen and Chicago, and an upcoming discussion-based event similar to this one in Copenhagen.

October 19th and 20th, 2007
Franke Institute, University of 1100 E 57th St
Chicago

Anxiety, Urgency, Outrage, Hope . . . A Conference on Political Feeling

This conference engages understanding, curating, and fomenting public feeling —feelings about politics, publicness, belonging, and attachments among intimates and strangers. It asks about the orchestration of public emotion in times of crisis; about the making of crisis itself. It asks about the political feelings that bind and repulse us; that cultivate, disintegrate and confuse political solidarities and sensibilities; that shape the politics of desire, depression, optimism, and grief; that infuse public life with sentimentality— from community and nationality to the planet, from loved ones to strangers.

The conference brings together a wide range of scholarly writing, visual art, and film on affect, emotion, political agency, and political/aesthetic imaginaries in what we hope will be a sustained and animated workshop environment.

Speakers include: Fred Moten, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Lisa Duggan, Jose Estaban Muñoz, Tavia Nyong’o, Lily Cho, Rebecca Zorach, Debbie Gould, Feel Tank Chicago, Beatriz Santiago Muñoz, Ann Cvetkovich, Carel Rowe, Katie Stewart, Neville Hoad, Mary Patten, Ann Reynolds, Jeffrey Skoller and Sam Baker. Bonnie Fortune and Brett Bloom will also curate a space to visit, The Library of Radiant Optimism.

Sponsored by: Center for Gender Studies; Lesbian and Gay Studies Project of the Center for Gender Studies; Franke Institute; Department of Visual Arts; Feel Tank Chicago.

June 21 – July 15, 2007
Mess Hall
6932 N. Glenwood Ave.
Chicago

Two-In-One Poster Show – Posters of Radiant Optimism and Ungdomshuset

Posters of Radiant Optimism

There was an enormous groundswell of optimistic and visionary activities in the late 1960s and early 1970s. To document certain aspects of it, we began The Library of Radiant Optimism for Let’s Re-make the World. It is a collection of how-to books from this time period written and sometimes self-published by people who were working towards cultural change through art, design, health care, farming, and societal organization. The massive countercultural movement produced in the face of international political and social turmoil is inspiring. We find ourselves in a similar global environment of unprecedented crises, unrest, and we are wondering how we can make visible and cohesive current resistant activities.

This poster show evolved out of discussions around The Library and its books with artists, Kirsten Dufour and Finn Thybo Andersen. We wanted to ask questions about the potential to add to the optimistic histories of past activisms with our own movements. We seek a discussion about the place of optimism in the face of war, environmental, devastation, and global capitalism. We asked people to make posters about their own work or to create optimistic plans for going along together.

– YNKB and The Library of Radiant Optimism for Let’s Re-make the World

Finn Thybo Andersen, Brett Bloom and Bonnie Fortune, Center for Tactical Magic, Michel Chevalier, Thorbjørn Reuter Christiansen, Copenhagen Free University, Peter Conlin and Kirsten Forkert, Kirsten Dufour, Ryan Griffis and Sara Ross, Haugaard & Kilsmark, In the Field, Nicolas Lampert, Learning Site, Runo Lagomarsino, Sarah Lewison, Markaktiv, Dylan Mirra, Network of Casual Art, New Social Art School, Mogens Otto Nielsen, Oda Projesi, Parfyme, Nis Rømer, Samaras Project, Section 8, YNKB

The poster show was presented at YNKB in Copenhagen, December 2006. The posters can be seen at: http://www.ynkb.dk/eng/posters2-kopi.shtml

Ungdomshuset

Ungdomshuset was an important autonomous political, music, and cultural center at 69 Jagtvej in Copenhagen's Nørrebro (Northern Bridge) neighborhood. It was built in 1897 as the Folkets Hus (People’s House) a home for the burgeoning labor movement in Copenhagen. In 1910, The Second International Socialist group held an International Women's conference at the house, during which Clara Zetkin launched the idea of an International Women's Day. In 1978, the house was sold to the municipality of Copenhagen. Then in 1982 it was traded for two squatted buildings and given the name of Ungdomshuset. From 1982 to 2007, the building was inhabited by the Ungeren, slang for the young people who organized concerts, ran free vegetarian kitchens, and did many other things there. In 1999, the city of Copenhagen put the building up for sale, ultimately selling it in December of 2000 to Faderhuset (The Father’s House), a right-wing fundamentalist Christian organization. The Ungeren continued to maintain and run Ungdomshuset until March 1, 2007 when after months of demonstrations, attended by activists from around the world, they were violently evicted by the Copenhagen police, starting with a military police raid on the house. The battles continued until March 5, 2007 when the house was illegally demolished, violating multiple Danish laws and safety regulations. The story of the struggle made international news.

This show of ephemera, posters, t-shirts and other items from the culture of Ungdomshuset is a celebration of those who fought to keep the house, those who mourn its loss, and those who remain in jail for standing up for their beliefs.

This exhibition was organized by Malene Nielsen, Henrik Busk, Bonnie Fortune, and Brett Bloom.