Loosely Assembled

Here is an interesting study about the positive benefits of caffeine on the liver, even reducing the risk of cirrhosis by up to 80% (if you drink 4 cups of coffee per day). The study was huge, following more than 125,000 people for an average of 14 years.

- related post - musical choo choo

The driver of the art work Shared Propulsion Car was arrested by Toronto Police on October 25 on Queen Street West in Toronto. The revolutionary vehicle is an art work create by the just-announced winner of the 2007 Sobey Art Award Michel de Broin. It was made of a Buick Regal 1986 body stripped of its engine, suspension, transmission and electrical system and propels by the will to power of its passenger. The vehicle retains the illusion of the mass-produced luxury automobile, but is now reduced to a shell with a top speed of 15km per hour. This unique car needs no petrol, produce no toxic emission and is not responsible for the innocents people killed for petrol in the Middle East. Furthermore, in this individualist society, this convivial car was proposed as a good solution to bring people together and take over the street. Dean Baldwin an experience driver, took the steering wheel and with his fellows Elaine, Dave and Dan drove the car carefully on the street. The reaction of the public was enthusiasm, solidarity and sympathy. They drove 9 blocks (from Lisgar to Strachan) before being pulled over by the police.

The driver and passengers were left to wait for 30 minutes in the car while we suspect the cops tried to determine which exact law was broken. They settled on “operating an unsafe vehicle” and a tow-truck was called.

We believe there is noting in the law against this car, the problem is only in the perceptions: police can’t accept a car to be modified and to be moving without petrol. They gave the driver an order to appear before a judge on the 21 of November. The problem for the court will be to argue that the Shared Propulsion Car can be dangerous while we all know that the danger remains in the use of petrol car. It is rather the other car that are obviously dangerous. We believe the court is taking a big risk of bringing our car to spotlight. It is always striking when art become politic and win its right publicly. Our Plan is to tow the car to the courthouse, win our cause and then be able to drive the car freely on the street of Toronto.

watch the video

coming off the back of a bike

read the details about the floating ecopolis for ecological refugees

Just got this from my pal Sam

Dear Friends,

Red76 and Psych(A)P are about to launch the first in a series of events under the moniker of No War U.S.O.; a continuing effort to create convivial get-togethers which are explicitly anti-war, and serve to create an atmosphere welcoming to returning vets and those who just don’t quite know how to publicly display their individual dissent for the current war in Iraq.

No War U.S.O., through its jovial public manifestation of dissent, as well as through its ability to raise funds for veterans groups and anti-war causes, aims to take the spirit of friendship, fun, and conviviality that the U.S.O. traditionally elicits, and flip it on its head as a overtly anti-war statement.

Below please find info concerning No War U.S.O.’s first event. We’d love for you to join us. It should be bunches of fun, and an easy way to voice your opposition to the war, and voice your support for soldiers and returning vets.

100% of the nights proceeds go to support the anti-war organization Iraq Veterans Against the War (www.ivaw.org), along with that organizations collaboration, with Red76, on the counter-recruitment strategy, Befriend a Recruiter (www.befriendarecruiter.org).

We’d love for you to join us, but as well, PLEASE DISPERSE THIS E.MAIL FAR AND WIDE. The more people that attend this event the more wonderful actions the IVAW can engage in, such as their stunningly successful Winter Soldier campaign which occurred earlier this year in Washington, D.C. (www.ivaw.org/wintersoldier).

Hope to see you there, and again, please help spread the word!!! (If you have any questions please feel free to write me and I will answer as best I can).

Thanks,
Sam
_____

btw, the event is at Rotture

I say, “Put a bunch of these things *facing* each other and create a huge artificial valley.”

Apparently in a new Old Town location (4th and couch), i’ll check it out later today and post a pic.

The Center for Religious Experimentalism was formed, as an initiative of New Ideas for a New Era, to give voice to emerging and obscure religious formats and practices. The Center should be considered a platform for beta testing new ideas about religious expression, ideological delivery mechanisms, artistically oriented evangelism or community introspection practices.

The Center will eventually be able to provide a physical space to be used as a Religious Laboratory, offering short term residencies for the development and presentation of new and exciting experiences.

In the interim, The Center will be a virtual space, primarily focused on encouraging, and showcasing video and audio work that fits within the scope of Religious Experimentalism. We’d love to hear from you!

A few guidelines for consideration are as follows:
* The experience must embody, or exude an air of, sincerity.
* The experience should encourage introspection, individually, or communally
* The experience should be exemplary in nature instead of evangelical (attendees should not be pressured towards conversion)

A few very loose examples of the diversity of experiences we are interested in hosting are:
* An Extreme Optimism Dance Party
* Atheist Chanting
* Subsonic sound waves coupled with meditation
* Sermons against sermons
* Partaking of ….

New INTHECONVERSATION : :

: : Art Leisure Instead of Art Work: Randall Szott of LeisureArts and Dilettante Ventures talks to intheconversation about collections, cooking, and infra-institutional activity. : : Randall Szott and Pamela Fraser are starting an exhibition and event series in their home called He Said, She Said.

: : Field Test: Hideous Beast’s investigative restaging of N55’s iconic SHOP. Exploring reenactment as a form of critical theory, Josh Ippel and Charlie Roderick’s report back from their field testing of N55’s SHOP at the Open Engagement Conference. : : Hideous Beast is currently conducting a new Field Test at XPACE in Toronto.

: : Service-Works: Josh Greene funds his own series of artist grants with nights of waiting tables. Intheconversation presents a selection of four Service-Works grant projects by Helena Keeffe, Jenny Zhang, Amanda Herman, and Stuart Keeler with stories about the nights Josh Greene spent earning the money to fund them. : : Josh Greene’s Some Parts Might Be Greater Than the Whole: A Social Studies Initiative is on view now at the Arizona State University Art Museum.

INTHECONVERSATION presents texts and documents about experiential, participatory and social artworks. Your comments are welcome.

: : http://intheconversation.com