What is The UnConventional Gathering Place?

During the RNC, Intermedia Arts, a lead partner in The UnConvention, will become The UnConventional Gathering Place. Our building will be transformed into a round-the-clock gathering place for artists, educators, alternative journalists and the general public to interact around issues related to participatory democracy. It will also be the hub for UnConvention partners to convene throughout the convention days to interact with visiting artists, journalists, activists who have come to witness the political conventions. Our goal is to create a safe, respectful and positive experience for our communities as we anticipate the flow of nominees, journalists, politicians, protesters, and curious crowds into our cities.

The UnConventional Gathering Place will be on exhibit through November 7.

Opening Night Reception

August 31 (7pm to midnight)
7PM Doors Open.
8PM Theater Presentation of The UnConvention Steering Committee. Performance by Nonsense Company/Prince Myshkin.
9:30PM To Midnight Interactive Politaoke
Admission: $4 (with Intermedia Arts membership sign-up); $6 (Intermedia Arts members); $8 (non-members). Additional $2 for Theater performance (Seating is limited. Purchase tickets now!)

Main Gallery

August 31 to November 7

Landing In America

By John Obrien (Minneapolis, MN)

A multi-media installation reflecting on the compelling experiences with or related challenges to our basic liberties. It looks at the personal perspectives of those for whom America has served as a refuge from the kind of political exclusion, violence, rage and oppression we fear the most.

My Yard Our Message

Conceived by Scott Sayre
Organized by Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN) and Robischon Gallery (Denver, CO)
By you! (Global)

View selections from My Yard Our Message entries submitted through the Walker Art Center and Robischon Gallery , a project conceived by Scott Sayre and produced by the Walker Art Center and mnartists.org in collaboration with The UnConvention.

New Stations, Minneapolis 2008

By James Case Leal (New York, New York)

Rather than aiming to send people home to watch television in isolation, New Stations creates centers that embody a physical site for both sending and receiving messages together. Part of an ongoing multi-site project series that represents a reinvention of the television medium, this new multi-media installation will celebrate these movements serving not only the geography of the local neighborhood, but also this specific time (i.e. the occurence of the Republican National Convention.) It will provide an opportunity for members of the community to invert the media power relationship by putting themselves on the air and celebrating our collective voice.

Political Science 101

A Crash Course in Civil Discourse on Political Blogs
By Fang-Yu Lin (Brooklyn, New York)

Are the Political Blogs legitimate? Where does it stand in the tradition of civil discourse as a medium? What is the role that the political bloggers play in this suddenly proliferative forums? A study of blogs as a political medium and an appraisal of its traits and uses, this net art installation scans and monitors hundreds of political blogs for keywords and trends in real-time. The “learnings” are presented using textbook style charts and graphs projected through a hacked slide projector in a simulated classroom setting.

Sandy Agustin Gallery

August 31 to November 7

Peace Puppets

Conceived by Christopher D. Lutter-Gardella/Puppet Farm Arts (Minneapolis, MN)
Created by Residents of Croixdale/Bayport Senior Living and You!

See and listen to the stories of peaceful civic engagement as 102 people lay down on the frozen Lake Superior on the first day of the Iraq war. Along with this powerful peace message, a giant peace dove created with senior residents of Croixdale Bayport hovers over the gallery to remind us of the one important value we are all striving to reach - peace! The peace dove puppet will be on view through September 15,

Sign-up for workshops to create puppets based on a new collaborative puppet script co-written by two writers - based in L.A. and Lithuania - as part of Exchange Rate (an L.A. based international artist exchange program conceived and organized by L.A. artist Elana Mann).

I Approve This Message

Conceived by Walker Art Center. Created By you!

YouTube projections of entries will be available for viewing. This project, led by The Uptake and Walker Art Center, invited people to create a video in response to questions surrounding the scripted nature of presidential nominations and democracy in general.

Theater

August 31

Great Hymn of Thanksgiving

By Nonsense Company (Madison, WI)

This performance takes place at a dinner table, where the sounds of conversation have been replaced by fragments of news reports from Iraq, scraps from the Army prayer manual, invented Arab folk tales, and a recurring State of Emergency pointing everywhere and leading nowhere. The sounds of the table itself struggle to bring this “conversation” into a confrontation with material reality.
The piece is a trio between the functions of music, noise, and semantic meaning, wherein each function can mingle with the others, lose itself in reveries (under fields of motive force that assert themselves with varying degrees of insistence), or, when necessary, take a solo.

Politaoke

By you, the audience!
Conceived by Diana Arce (Berlin, Germany)

Now you too can deliver the great rhetoric filled speeches of today’s most important politicians. Why settle with hearing politicians when Politaoke allows you to become them. Politaoke, an audience participatory political karaoke bar, changes the face of politics and karaoke by allowing audience members to take on the role of political leaders. It provides the audience a platform to perform, mock, hear and see clearly what politicians say. It allows you the audience to decide how to interpret each politician’s words.

Roaming Public Art, Performances

Border Cruiser Video Sculpture

(August 31 to September 4)
By Steven Gagnon (Miami, FL)

A video installation made from a former police car and transformed into an electrically powered vehicle, this ArtCar will be parked outside and around various neighborhoods, equipped with interior video projections which call attention to the personal voices of “undocumented” immigrants.

Don’t You Feel It Too?

(Random sightings. Date and Time remains unknown)
Conceived by Marcus Young (A Bird in the Sky Primary School of Behavioral Art) (Twin Cities, MN)

Dancing where dancing doesn’t belong. Practiced in public and semi-public places, it is a simple and courageous act of self-embarrassment and joy. This action may (not) be at The UnConvention Reception…

One On One Film Festival

(August 31)
Conceived by Jane Powers (Minneapolis, MN)

Look for people in the crowd wearing a word on their hats! These are media artists strapped with laptops around their shoulders who will mix with the crowd for an opportunity to have a one-on-one artist/audience interaction with you. The media works explore social and political issues that make you pause, think, dialogue and hopefully participate in “PRO-activism” - taking action FOR what you want to happen in your community! The intention of the action is to use the film and novel presentation as a catalyst to create a space for social/political dialogue between media artists and visitors to The UnConventional Gathering Place. (ALSO at Peavey Plaza Sept. 1-2)

Spoken Word by Ripple Effect

(August 31)
By Substance/Ripple Effect (Twin Cities, MN)

Spoken word artists and rappers will be dispersed among the guests and break out in performance. Ripple Effect is an effort to fundraise for their various activities in response to the RNC. Ripple Effect is an event that seeks to provide a safe, peaceful space for activists and general public to come together outside of the Republican National Convention to engage in constructive progressive action through workshops, trainings, and more, all motivated by powerful musical performances (all nonpartisan).

Video Booth On Wheels

(Random sightings. Date and Time remains unknown)
Conceived by Karie Reardon (Minneapolis, MN)
Yet one more way to voice your opinion, sing a song, perform spoken word or just be heard! A video booth attached to bicycles will be parking around the Twin Cities, gathering your stories.

End The, End or The End

(August 31 to November 7)
By Vincent Ramos. Part of Exchange Rate (Los Angeles, CA)

This interactive poster was inspired by Chicago 10 Abbie Hoffman’s “Media Freaking,” a speech he gave at Lincoln Park, to the Yippies, during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 27, 1968. Hoffman states the following: “Take this, see, you use blank space as information. You carry a sign that says END THE. You don’t need the next word, you just carry a sign that says END, you know. That’s enough.” Ramos used Hoffman’s words as a point of departure to conjure up a political “design” strategy for the present. I am hoping that the “instructions” on the poster function as a starting point for others to enact/react in any form of social engagement that they see fit. If this engagement speaks of the current dire conditions we, as Americans, are immersed in at this moment then all the better. That this speech was given forty years ago this week makes Hoffman’s words all the more relevant today.

This interactive poster project is part of Exchange Rate (an L.A. based international artist exchange program conceived and organized by L.A. artist Elana Mann)