Friday 14 January 2011

Chicago Boys | at Art Against Cuts Direct Weekend


Chicago Boys: while we were singing, they were dreaming...
Open rehearsal and study session on the neoliberalisation of Education
at Arts Against Cuts Direct Weekend.

Saturday 15 January 3-5 pm
Sunday 16 January 3-5 pm
Camberwell College of Art, Wilson Road Building (off Peckham Rd)
Free, all are welcome.

Chicago Boys: while we were singing, they were dreaming is a 1970s cover band and neo-liberalism study group.
Drawing from the analyses of Naomi Klein, David Harvey, global lay researchers (on skype), youtube videos and band members' personal experiences, the group explores the 1970s as a stage set for the introduction of neoliberal policies around the world. The band's performances and discussions have been situated in cafes on London's Edgware Road and more recently on the Gdansk Shipyard in Poland. At the Arts Against Cuts Direct Weekend, Chicago Boys host two open rehearsals playing music from Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Bangladesh and Poland in the 1970s and inviting students, artists and activists to contribute to a global analysis of the neoliberalisation of education.


ARTS AGAINST CUTS // DIRECT WEEKEND THIS SATURDAY AND SUNDAY
[Jan 15th and 16th]

Camberwell College of Art, Wilson Road Building (off Peckham Rd)
Following on from the fantastic Long Weekend at Goldsmiths in December, the Turner Prize and National Gallery teach-ins, the Book Block and the many occupations at arts schools and universities across London, this Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th Arts Against Cuts has organised another weekend of action, planning, imagining, working and thinking together.

The event is open to all and free of charge.
Don't worry if you have not been involved before, over the two days we will get informed and prepare for upcoming demonstrations and occupations.
The schedule below has been drawn from proposals sent in.
There will be free space for anyone who wishes to put forward ideas on the days, organised spontaneity.
SATURDAY
Saturday Creche all day
10 – 11 Breakfast (BYO)
11 – 12 Open Meeting
12 – 5 Parallel Spaces and Open Spaces Including…
The Art of Direct Action, John Jordan talk and Workshop.
*Posters and Graffitti in 1968 Atelier populaire oui, Aterlier bougeois non, talk and print making workshop, Warren Carter Jess Baines, Jo Robinson
*Making a Radical Education Workbook: Radical Education Forum and Ultra-red
What shall we do with our cultural institutions? Precarious Workers Brigade
Paid Not Played Choir & Political Music Collective music and lyric workshop
*Chicago Boys: While we were singing, they were dreaming.
1970s cover band and neoliberalism study group: live music and interactive workshop on globalisation and education
* Alter/ate Mobile Slogan Factory/ Counterproductions and CGTV
* Screen printing and Banner Making all day
5.00 CLOSING MEETING
SUNDAY
10 – 11 Breakfast (BYO)
11 – 12 Open Meeting
12 – 5 Parallel Spaces and Open Spaces Including…
* Object Sabotage with Evan Calder Williams, & Mute
* Mapping and Connecting with Trade Unions
* Video Box – 1-minute videos and Communist Gallery
* Book Block workshop
*Chicago Boys: While we were singing, they were dreaming.
1970s cover band and neoliberalism study group: live music and interactive workshop on globalisation and education
* Debt and Slavery, David Graeber
* Theatre of the Dead/ Dual Power – Planning for the 29th
* Fact Sheet Workshop and Free School
* EMA working group – Planning for 18th and 19th
* International Student Discussion/ Chelsea Project
5.00 CLOSING MEETING

After party. Location TBC
Arts Against Cuts was initiated across London Art Schools last Autumn. We want to reclaim the public, critical space that universities and art schools should be, transforming those buildings into art schools for the future, bringing together art students, artists, cultural workers and those fighting the cuts from across the UK to share in defiance against the relentless marketization of our education and our lives. We will share knowledge and skills; we will collaborate across disciplines, ages and backgrounds; we will turn our imagination and desires into tools of disobedience. We will make sure that all the knowledge, ideas,tools and projects which emerge from the event will be disseminated and put into action in streets and public spaces across the country and be shared by all those in the anti-cuts movements. The Direct Weekend will be a feast of non stop workshops and presentations, slide shows and films, how-to sessions and skill shares, and a free space for spontaneous creation of events, actions and expressions. Its not important what art is but what it does, and right now it has the potential to turn the crisis of cuts into an opportunity for change.