GROUP SHOW

Friday
November 7th, 7-9PM
Works by all thirteen artists.

3 Rituals

Dear Friends,

I would like to invite you to a series of events taking place around the presidential election next week. I will be hosting three rituals in the West Bank Shop on Cedar and Riverside (http://westbankshop.blogspot.com). I hope you will come and add your energy to the effort.

The first ritual will take place on Monday, November 3rd from 1 to 7pm and is titled “Ritual for the Protection of Barak Obama.” This ritual will focus energy to protect Barak Obama from slander or bodily harm. You can join me in sending an energetic cocoon to surround the man who may be our president. The second ritual will take place on Election Day, from 1 to 7pm, and will be titled, “Ritual Against Voter Suppression and Fraud.” This ritual will focus energy on the process of voting as a whole. Our democracy depends on everyone having a voice, and every vote must be counted. If there are forces at work on Election Day attempting to sabotage the process, they will have to fight against the power of our ritual.

Finally, by Wednesday there will be a man elected to be our next president. I believe that man will be a good man but one who must face unfathomable pressures and powerful, persuasive people. On Wednesday the 5th from dawn until noon, I will be leading a Ritual for the President Elect of the United States of America. The ritual is intended open the ears and heart of our next President, and to send a sincere message to the winner of the election: “Mr. President Elect, listen to the people, and your own heart, and you will do the right thing.”

All three rituals will consist of simple repeated actions that I will perform, but I will also ask people coming by to perform with me. The more people who participate; the stronger our intention will be. With each act our intentions to protect a man, have a free and fair election, and have a president in our future who listens to our voices, will be solidified and amplified. We will send our voice, our energy, our power, into the universe and be a force of good. Please vote, and if you want to do a little more this election, please come by.

Sincerely,
Travis Freeman

Monday, November 3rd: 1-7pm - Ritual for the Protection of Barak Obama
Tuesday, November 4th: 1-7pm - Ritual Against Voter Suppression and Fraud
Wednesday, November 5th: Dawn to Noon Ritual - for the President Elect of the United State of America.

West Bank Shop, 404 Riverside Ave. S.

monday, october 27th

live video jockeying and improvised music performance october 27th at 8pm

Teach Me Your

Language

All swords are/were control stick Game BASH

Mom's and dad's come and go
Under and identifiable tasks stretching along the un-dieing and being.
GAMES.
VIDEO GAMES.

Saturday 7PM unto When

Come if you like to play video games.

Art or Tra TBD

Payin' the rent!

The group, partially.

Cleaning shop

projection potentiality

For RELEASE

WEST BANK SHOP: A 50-day project & 13 artists.

Process, Practice & Collaboration, 10 October – 30 November 2008

→ First open: Friday, 10 October
→ Weekly hours: Open Daily, Hours Vary
→ Address: 404 Cedar Avenue South, Minneapolis MN 55454
→ Contact: westbankshop@gmail.com


As a group we have questions about both the nature (philosophical) and the possibilities (everyday significance) of Art within our lives and within the lives of the communities we work in. We also have questions regarding the common understanding of what comprises an artistic practice, of its cultural necessity, and its necessary environment of support. Taking things into our own hands, this collective project is conceived of as a kind of workshop in which we will explore these open-ended queries. The outcome will most likely reveal itself with only more questions, due to both failures and successes. Both are welcome.

Taking its name from the already existing sign on the storefront that we will inhabit, West Bank Shop brings together a core group of 13 artists: Beth Jeffries Barnes, T.J. Barnes, Rebekah Champ, Adrian Freeman, Travis Freeman, Katinka Galanos, Jason Gaspar, Lauren Herzak-Bauman, Sam Hoolihan, Lisa McGrath, Peter McLarnan, Peter Haakon Thompson, and Brennan Vance.

It is our hope that our group will grow in numbers as we begin to work both individually and collaboratively, overlapping projects in this space, in the Cedar Riverside neighborhood. We conceive our project as an engaged, fluid, critical, and playful endeavor. A project that is open and experimental, collaborative and process-based, conceptual and social. Ultimately West Bank Shop is a place for us to try out new ways of thinking, new processes, to take chances, to work with others, and to invite others in. It will be an experiment in creating a public forum. Everyone is welcome.

We are 13 artists, working in almost every way you can think of: circumambulation, ceramics, drawing, meditation, situations, installation, painting, physical training, slide shows, sculpture, performance, printmaking, sound, music, language, survival, confessions, readings, lectures, video, film, photography, talking, writing, dancing, projection, workshops, video games, storytelling… For this project we hope to withhold any common or typical conception of these practices, choosing to work between process, propositions, statements, conversations, situations, invitations, and collaborations. Bringing diverse ways of working and thinking to the table, we seek to push our own limits and those of the passers-by. This will help us to refocus our ideas of process and exchange with each other, the surrounding community and the public-at-large.

A few semi-relevant art historical references: Allan Kaprow's Happenings, Claes Oldenburg's The Store, and Black Mountain College (list of participants too long to name here).

Launch...

...and sail away!