Category: art-activism

Tools for Action and Dancers withoutTänzer ohne Grenzen invites everyone to participate in the rehearsals and the Opening Performance “Signals, Resonating Revolutions” of the project “100 Jahre Revolution - Berlin 1918 / 19” from Kulturprojekte Berlin.

Tools for Action is pleased to announce the project “Signals, Resonating Revolutions” as part of the the official opening ceremony of the 100th anniversary of the German Revolution by Kulturprojekte Berlin.

In 1918|19 the first German democracy was proclaimed in Berlin and basic rights, like the right to assemble, freedom of opinion and votes for women were established. 2018 marks the centenary of the German Revolution 1918|19.

Tools for Action is asked to do the opening performance of the November Revolution 1918|19! For this occasion we developed red, inflatable light-sculptures: new tools for public assembly and creative resistance! Together with the organisation Tänzer ohne Grenzen e.V. (dancers without borders) we will be activating these new tools in a collective choreographic experiment together with hundreds of participants.

We are currently looking for participants, who want to test our new tools and rehearse with us.

general Rehearsal, Saturday, 3.11.2018 17:00 - 19:00 h
Meetingpoint: Exit of subway Tiergarten

Final opening performance:
Sunday, 11.11.2018 16:00 - 19:00 h
Meetingpoint: Podewil, entrance via Waisenstraße 26 (courtyard), U2 Klosterstraße

Impressions of first rehearsal, on the 27.10.2018 here.

Join the Light Bloc!
Join us for an experiment in resonating revolutions!

#resonatingrevolutions #toolsforaction #revolution100 #versammelteuch

Contact:

Artúr van Balen

[email protected]

More information:
https://www.facebook.com/toolsforaction/
https://100jahrerevolution.berlin/

TOOLS FOR ACTION in collaboration with Tänzer ohne Grenzen invites everyone to participate in the rehearsals and the Opening Performance “Signals, Resonating Revolutions” of the project “100 Jahre Revolution - Berlin 1918 / 19” from Kulturprojekte Berlin.

We are proud to present the exhibition Floating Utopias (26.04.20187 - 24.06.2018) and accompanying symposium Floating ideologies - Material Disobedience (19.05.2018).

With: Ahmet Öğüt, Ant Farm, Anna Hoetjes, Anika Schwarzlose, Artúr van Balen, Eventstructure Research Group, Franco Mazzucchelli, Graham Stevens, Huw Wahl, Marco Barotti and Plastique Fantastique, The Yes Men, Tomás Saraceno, Tools for Action, UFO
Ever since the first hot-air balloon ascended in 1783, inflatable objects have inspired the imagination of alternative worlds. In the nineteenth century, aerial towns colonized the skies and floating labs surveyed the world. Flying cameras popularized the view from above. Starting in the 1930s, gigantic floats attracted attention to socialist and capitalist mass parades. Along with the ideals of the generation of 1968, inflatable spaces and performances entered into architecture and tested new forms of coexistence.

‘Floating Utopias’ presents the broad range of pneumatic media in an exhibition and accompanying interventions in urban space. The project juxtaposes historical and contemporary works and raises questions as to their potential for artistic and activist practices. Until today, inflatable objects serve as tools for aesthetic and political interventions: artists and activists situate their works between surreality and functionality, fiction and fact. Inflatables invite us to be playful and disobedient, they forge communities and prompt participation, generate attention and agency.

The exhibition is realised within the democratic arts society neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst (nGbK) Berlin.

Artúr van Balen, Fabiola Bierhoff, Alexander Dunst, Anna Hoetjes, Jantien Roozenburg, Hannah Zindel

Exhibition design: Agustina Pascotto and Jazmin Lourdes Schenone in collaboration with Jantien Roozenburg

Symposium: Floating Ideologies – Material Disobedience

Dortmund, Germany, 2016
Coordinated with the Schauspiel Dortmund Theater
and Schools without Racism – Schools with Courage


The Mirror Barricade (Die Spiegel Barrikade) is a social sculpture consisting of silver reflective inflatable cubes that can be assembled within seconds into a barricade. The playful tools were built by citizens of Dortmund, who positioned themselves against xenophobia and the so-called “Day of German Future”, a neo-Nazi rally on the 4th of June 2016. The barricade was designed to enable Dortmunders to literally held up a mirror to the extreme-right marchers and make space for reflecting on the kind of society we want to live in.

The School Workshops

Every cube was made by a citizen of Dortmund during a public workshop. The main focus was to work with students at 14 local schools that were part of the network Schools without Racism — Schools with Courage. During daylong skillshare workshops, students worked together in teams to construct inflatable cubes and also took part in discussions about xenophobia.

The whole day was designed to encourage team building. From the very beginning when a truck of supplies from the theatre would arrive, all of the students, teachers and artists from Tools for Action would unload the truck together. We would begin by setting up six custom tables in the school gymnasium or the aula assembly hall, transforming it into a convivial factory for building barricades of the 21st century. The goal was to create a supportive, open and fun environment where students could feel safe to talk about issues of racism and discrimination. By building the cubes together, students built friendships for supporting each other to be courageous and take action to stand up for multiculturalism and inclusion.

Pupils of the Bert-Brecht Gymnasium do an action training with their self-made inflatable barricade. Foto Peter Bandermann

As a preamble to the fabrication workshop, students would first engage in a discussion about racism and xenophobia, convened by the local organization Respekt Buro. The discussion exercises were designed to bring to the surface the influence of neo-Nazi ideology on traditional German values. It also created space for students to talk about the internationally interconnected neo-Nazi scene in Dortmund, which focuses much of its recruitment on students just out of high school.

After the discussion and presentation about inflatables by Tools for Action, the fabrication workshop began. The entire class would gather together to watch a step by step of demonstration of how to measure and cut the pattern for the inflatable cube. Then the students would form into teams, each locating themselves at one table and using custom-crafted tools to make their cube pattern. The rest of the day would be an ebb and flow of the group coming together to watch a demonstration for the next step, then returning to their team’s table to work together on that step.

One by one the teams would finish their cubes and inflate them. As the silver forms would fill with air, so too would the hall fill with excitement and laughter. Students would bounce the inflatables high into the air in celebratio

n and then assemble all the cubes together to learn a series of choreographies dubbed the Barricade Ballet. These choreographies doubled as an action training in ways these playful tools could be used to intervene in the neo-Nazi march. “Double spaghetti” and “Pumpkin” where among the favorite code words for intervening with these inflatable sculptures as an artistic form of direct action.

The international network Schools without Racism, Schools with Courage (Schule ohne Rassismus – Schule mit Courage) began in Germany in 1995 during a period of increasing racist and extreme right-wing violence. This was the motivation to create a network in which young people have the opportunity take a stand against daily discrimination in their living environment. In this framework students can ask, “What kind of society do I want to live in?” and actively contribute to building a society where respect and multiculturalism are at its core.

The Action

On June 4th, when more than 500 neo-Nazis gathered in Dortmund, counter-demonstrators connected the cubes together to form a barricade, to literally hold up a mirror to the extreme-right marchers. The Mirror Barricade also protected counter demonstrators by functioning as a shield against neo-Nazi violence and police repression.

The inflatable barricades were located at two gathering points in the city: a playful, family-friendly demonstration at Wilhelmsplatz (the square in the district Dorstfeld, what the self-proclaimed neo-Nazis call their “national liberated zone”) and the barricade at BlockaDO, the more radical demonstration that promoted civil disobedience for blockading the neo-Nazi march. The BlockaDO demonstration was kettled in immediately by police, who had formed a cordon around the neo-Nazi march. The cubes became cushions and a protection barrier between impassioned protesters and police forces. The police response was to cut the inflatable works into pieces. Here the question arises about how to deal with neo-Nazi marches and which values are defended in our society.

https://vimeo.com/180476017

The Barricade of the 21st Century

Blown up within minutes from a formless piece of plastic, the inflatables are huge props for visibility. Stretching across roads and intersections, their glittering metallic surfaces and surreal weightless forms captivate the eyes of the public and media. They are more than just walls, though — when the cubes are thrown into the air, the street is transformed into a spontaneous playground. In the battle of the spectacle, the Mirror Barricade is a tactical tool for saying NO to xenophobia and racism, and YES to imagining what else might be possible.

The Mirror Barricade created an unpredictable, stunning, aesthetic image of togetherness in Dortmund — standing in solidarity against xenophobia and exclusion whilst in solidarity with refugees and inclusion.

Text by Katherine Ball with contributions from John Jordan. 

Ende Gelände is an annual mass action of civil disobedience calling for “here and no Further” for fossil fuel extraction. From 13-15 May 2016, 3,000 demonstrators gathered in the Lausitz region of Germany to blockade the Welzow Sud Lignite Coal Mine, owned by Vattenfall.

Inflatable barricades were set up to block roads leading to train tracks transporting coal supplies. Made of silver inflatable cubes, the barricades prevented police from accessing railways occupied by thousands of demonstrators.

From the rail lines and forests, demonstrators descended into the coal mine and climbed onto the digging machines — forcing the mine to shut down due to health and safety regulations restricting the machines from operating when unauthorized persons enter the mine.

For three days, demonstrators held the blockade of the mine and railways delivering coal to the nearby power plant, also owned by Vattenfall. By preventing coal from being delivered, one unit of the of the Schwarze Pumpe Power Plant had to be completely shut down and the other unit reduced its production by 2/3. Because of the lack of supplies, 1300 MW of the dirtiest power was prevented from entering the power grid.

600 demonstrators entered the power plant, attempting to shut it down completely due to health and safety regulations. Inside the plant, demonstrators were attacked by riot police and pepper sprayed. The demonstrators attempted to leave the plant, frantically jumping over fences, running along an exit road, and breaking through police lines. 130 people were kettled by the police, photographed for three hours, held until 4am in the cold and wind (the temperature dropped 4-6 degrees celsius at night), and finally arrested and brought to the local jail in Cottbus, Germany. Meanwhile, the coal railway and mine blockades continued. The cubes were played with inside the kettle, bringing fun and conviviality into a scenario intended to dehumanize. At one point, one cube escaped the kettle and the police refused to give it back. So demonstrators inflated another cube, chanting:  “We are inflatable, another cube is possible!” (a play on “We are unstoppable, another world is possible.” )

The Ende Gelände actions were part of a larger call to put an end to burning lignite coal in Germany. Lignite is the dirtiest form of coal. It emits far more CO2 than other fossil fuels. Lignite is the main reason why German CO2 emissions have started rising. In Germany, lignite burning is higher today than at any time since the 1990s. No other nation burns so much.

Photo credit: 350.org / Paul Levis Wagner
Photo credit: Fabien Melber
Photo credit: Kevin Buckland
Photo credit: Tools for Action / Katherine Ball
Photo credit: Tools for Action / Katherine Ball
Photo credit: Tools for Action / Katherine Ball
Photo credit: Reuben Neugebauer

Vattenfall, one of the big energy corporations in Germany, wants to sell the Welzow Sud Coal Mine and Schwartz Pump Power Plant, instead of shutting them down. A new investor on the other hand would reinvest large sums into lignite mining in the area. In order to avoid catastrophic climate change, this coal has to remain in the ground. One of the largest lignite mines in Germany, the Welzow Sud Lignite Coal Mine is where the climate is being negotiated — and where demonstrators are holding the line for climate justice.

In preparation of the Ende Gelände action,  a “training for trainers” occurred in March 2016, organized by 350.org, the Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination and Tools for Action. Representatives of climate activist groups from all over Europe learned how to organise for the action and make inflatable cubes. Every group representative then took home 2-3 rolls of silver insulation foil, tape, a fan and a battery — enough to make 11 to 16 cubes. Fifteen trainers went back to their respective countries (including Netherlands, UK, France, Denmark, and Sweden) to teach people to make inflatables. 60 cubes were made during these workshops and then brought to Germany.

At Ende Gelände all these inflatables came together for the first time. During the camp, a HQube was set up where people came to find out more about the cubes. 200 people were trained in a rolling programme of role playing trainings in the fields behind the camp in preparation for the actions

The inflatable barricade tactic creates a new visual language for direct action, where play, fun and beauty are pivotal. The technique was first developed by Tools for Action in Paris during the UN Climate Summit. The video below gives an impression of the training for trainers.

More information and instruction manuals here: www.toolsforaction.net/made-in-paris

The carbon bomb hovering above the Hudson river. Photo by Ellen Davidson

On Tuesday morning, a 30-foot carbon bomb blew up in the airspace over the Hudson River in front of West Point Military Academy.

An inflatable bomb pressurized with carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and oxygen contained in outer shell of silver radiant barrier foil, the carbon bomb was manufactured as part of a research program coordinated by the inflatable fabrication group Tools for Action. Lettering on the side of the bomb read, “US Military: Largest consumer of oil, largest emitter of CO2.”

Members of the Sea Change Flotilla in a paper boat on the Hudson river in front of West Point Military Academy. Photo by Ellen Davidson.

The carbon bomb was transported down the river by a flotilla of canoes midway through a two-week journey traversing the Hudson River down to New York for the upcoming climate mobilization. At West Point, the Sea Change Flotilla was joined by former military service members from Veterans For Peace, who plan to carry the carbon bomb in the Stop the Wars, Stop the Warming contingent at the Peoples Climate March on September 21.

“The primary culprit in all this heating the planet is not you or I because we don’t recycle quite enough. It is the US military, the biggest user of fossil fuels and the largest emitter of CO2 on the planet – not to mention its ongoing wars waged for resources and power – wars of destruction to people, life and the environment,” said US Army veteran Tarak Kauff.

Photo by Ellen Davidson

As the United Nations prepares to meet in New York on September 23 to discuss climate change, one subject that will not be on the negotiating table is the emissions of the US military. Although the US military is assumed to be the largest emitter of CO2, the military is not required to report their emissions to the UN. While the Pentagon refuses to release fuel usage data, it has been estimated that the US military is responsible for five percent of total global greenhouse emissions.

“In the dialogue around stopping climate change, too much emphasis is being put on ethical consumerism,” said Katherine Ball of Tools for Action. “Does it really matter if we try to fly less if the US Air Force continues to burn one-fourth of the world’s jet fuel? We have to address the systemic causes of climate change: the most eco-friendly thing you can do is be anti-war.”

Photo by Ellen Davidson

For decades, the US military has been fighting wars to secure oil resources. These wars have taken many forms: from the CIA-planned coup in Iran in 1953 in order to prevent the newly elected prime minister from nationalizing the nation’s oil, to the full-scale invasion of Iraq in 2003 in order to – among other things – up the production of Iraq’s vast oil fields.

In the process of fighting these oil wars, the US Department of Defense has consumed more energy and emitted more carbon than any other institution on Earth. In 2003, as the military prepared for the Iraq invasion, the Army estimated it would consume more gasoline in only three weeks than the Allied Forces used during the entirety of World War II. The Guardian estimates that throughout the entire Iraq War, the US military’s carbon footprint was between 250-600 million tons.

“Military interventions for oil are just the tip of the iceberg. The military is gearing up to fight ‘climate wars’ over resources destabilized by climate change: water, arable land, food. It is a vicious cycle: In fighting these climate wars, the military will release emissions, which will cause more climate change, which further destabilize resources and cause more climate wars, which will cause more emissions…” Artúr van Balen of Tools for Action said.

The US military itself has long warned of the reality of climate wars, “The projected impacts of climate change will be more than threat multipliers; they will serve as catalysts for instability and conflict,” explains the US Military Advisory Board Report National Security and the Accelerating Risks of Climate Change.

“We are actively integrating climate considerations across the full spectrum of our activities to ensure a ready and resilient force,” John Conger, the Pentagon’s Deputy under Secretary of Defense for Installations and Environment, said in a statement following the 2014 report. Global weapons manufacturers are also planning for these climate wars, predicting that there will be increased demand for their products as climate change accelerates.

Katherine Ball concluded: “Is military force the US government’s plan for dealing with climate change?”

At 6p.m. on Saturday the 16th of August on the paradise island of Vis in Croatia, the annual open water swimming event was expected to run as usual. Instead a giant inflatable rainbow carried by activists intervened in the closing section of the race to establish queer visibility in public space and sport, and to protest Croatia’s again increasing LGBTQ discrimination -recently coming in bottom (with Latvia) of the EU list of LGBTQ (2) friendly places. The focus on the ethics of sports is due to the fact that sports environments are very hostile to any minority involvement.

For sixteen years the swimming marathon on Vis has taken place over a 2,2 km distance. It is popular among local professionals as well as seasonal recreational swimmers. The biggest group in the past 3 years has been an informal team of LGBTQ swimmers and sport enthusiasts from Croatian clubs in Zagreb and Split. They have gained international attention due to the increasing brutality and homophobia that LGBTQs faced: in attacks on the first Split PRIDE in 2011 and the homophobic and sexist statements of Sport officials in Croatia that received global publicity. Only last week, the Croatian presidential candidate Mrs. Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic (National Democrats) said: “many gay people would not want to be regarded as homosexuals.” illustrating a return to Don’t Ask Don’t Tell style policy.

An 8 meter long inflatable rainbow flanked by shimmering silver clouds quickly inflated by an activist flashmob was waiting to meet the scores of swimmers close to the finish line of the 2.2km race. The symbolism referred to both the PRIDE movement and the long-held South Slavic superstition that passing under a rainbow changes an individual’s gender.

Tonka, a young coordinator in the recently opened LGBT center & group Rišpet in Split says:
’The Pop-up Rainbow was a fun and much appreciated experience that proves that activism can be stimulating and motivating and produce successful process based work.’

The major of Vis (National Democrats) insisted via the race organizers the rainbow protest not to take place - to suppress public display of LGBTQ groups (also organizing a big queer party on the night). However as he did not dare to make an official prohibition during the height of the tourist season, the intervention took place without official disturbances and with a colourful reaction from the public.

Artúr van Balen, Tools for Action: `The rainbow intervention was meant as a subtle provocation to challenge presuppositions about LGBTQ-people in the region of Dalmatia and Croatia in general. In a region where tradition and dogmatism sees homosexuality as something abnormal, we envisioned the inflatable pop-up rainbow as an eye catching surprise, a fatamorgana on the water that captures everyone’s´ imagination, regardless of their political views. The inflatable workshop was also meant as a support for queers in Croatia to be more open and confident in coming-out.´
 

Zeljko Blace, QueerSport : ‘The intervention highlighted the need for the public to be ‘loud and proud’ about sexual orientation and gender identity in public space - especially outside of the nexus of relations between Government, professionalized NGO activism and politricks of media PR. Most LGBTQ advocacy is within the Croatian capital of Zagreb and hugely normalized via the ”marriage equality” focus - highly diverted from the harsh LGBTQ realities on other levels and in rest of Croatia where more grass-root activism is much needed.’

Contact Details

QueerSport community works in social and cultural activism in sport & leisure
rainbow(at)qsport.info>.

Tools for Action creates inflatable intervention in cooperations with other art-, activist or community groups. info(at)toolsforaction.net

Notes to Editors

1. In the lead up to the intervention, two skill sharing workshops in inflatable making as engaged creative work were held in Zagreb and Split, with participants and contributors ranging from young DIY enthusiasts to expert engineers, from creative troublemakers to insightful critics, athletes, artists and activists. Initiators Artúr van Balen from Tools for Action and Zeljko Blace from QueerSport have previously been involved in a number of similar political, social and cultural projects in diverse contexts. Tools for Action’s work includes a 12 meter inflatable hammer that banged the fences of the United Nations climate change conference in Cancún, Mexico 2010, a 7 meter inflatable slipper that slapped patriarchy and supported women rights in India in 2013 and a 11 meter inflatable saw that protested corruption on the anti-Putin protests in 2013. QueerSport does annual QueerSport Weekends in Zagreb and critical sport laboratories in conjunction to EuroGames 2011 in Rotterdam - reflecting on insularity and normalization of a once progressive gay sport movement, Zagreb Pride 2013 - presenting possibilities and alternatives in sport activism in exhibition of “Another Sport is Possible?!.” in Zagreb and Rijeka in Croatia.

2. LGBTQ - Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex