THE
PUBLIC
SCHOOL
TELIC ARTS EXCHANGE

yalda - yes.. it looks like an innocently fun music. (checked their website..) Now I know that I am very likely to be in Brighton at that time. If you fancy, we could meet up for coffee in a place where tables move and "do" other stuff, and chat about ideas regarding vagabond and public school.. I was/am attempting to consider doing one in these parts..

June 23rd, 6pm PST, 9pm EST

Updated contribution by Ben Neiditz on the subject of what he calls 'Vagatecture' and/or 'Sneaky Archtitecture'. We will explore the topic during our meeting June 23rd.

Vagatecture: Sneaky Architecture

I have been searching for what I have taken to calling sneaky architecture. Part of this search has been about learning to define what sneaky architecture is and also about trying to find examples of it in the world. The work I have done in preparation for this class marks the beginning of this search, and I hope that sharing my preliminary investigations with you all will open up some new directions for further looking.

Sneaky architecture (SA) is about challenging the control of space. It is about exploiting oversight in the administration and regulation of a given area in the interest of creating new possibilities for the use of that area. It is as much about moving through and acting in space as it is about building structures. SA can be a last resort, a forced action, as well as a playful experiment.

The following examples are meant to loosely suggest what SA might be, and to provoke discussion about what sorts of parameters we might want to come up with to make SA a more viable/useful concept/category.

I am ambivalent about including new advertising techniques and concept products within the category of SA but I didn't think I could dismiss them just because they were motivated by profit: they are still disruptive in a way that mirrors what I imagine SA to be.

Squatting: HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squatting"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squatting

HYPERLINK "http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/296641.php"http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/296641.php
Border Tunnels in Nogales, AZ: 47 discovered since 1995

HYPERLINK "http://subtopia.blogspot.com/2009/03/tunnelizing-migration-1-border-tunnel.html"http://subtopia.blogspot.com/2009/03/tunnelizing-migration-1-border-tunnel.html
More on border tunnels: “the tunnel is the prototypical space of imperial bypass.”

Hamas blowing up a section of border fence between Gaza and Egypt
HYPERLINK "http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/26/world/middleeast/26gaza.html?fta=y"http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/26/world/middleeast/26gaza.html?fta=y

Using boats to break the Israeli military blockade of Gaza
HYPERLINK "http://www.indymedia.org/or/2008/11/915512.shtml"http://www.indymedia.org/or/2008/11/915512.shtml

ParaSITE HYPERLINK "http://www.gizmag.com/go/4455/"http://www.gizmag.com/go/4455/
A heated shelter for the homeless that can be attached to any HVAC vent

Tent Cities in the US:
Gainsville tent city evicted after violence:
HYPERLINK "http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN10449570"http://www.gainesville.com/article/20090619/ARTICLES/906191012/1002?Title=Tent-City-homeless-in-limbo

St. Petersburg provides services to improve a tent city
HYPERLINK "http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN10449570"http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN10449570

In Detroit visibility of tent city is used as a protest tactic
HYPERLINK "http://www.detnews.com/article/20090615/BIZ/906150328/1001/BIZ"http://www.detnews.com/article/20090615/BIZ/906150328/1001/BIZ

Homelessness: Who is homeless?
HYPERLINK "http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/who.html"http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/who.html

People sneaking back into their foreclosed houses:

Gordon Matta Clark: Fake Estates and Anarchitecture
HYPERLINK "http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/09/arts/design/09kimm.html"http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/09/arts/design/09kimm.html
HYPERLINK "http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/events/oddlots.php"http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/events/oddlots.php
HYPERLINK "http://www.tate.org.uk/research/tateresearch/tatepapers/07spring/attlee.htm"http://www.tate.org.uk/research/tateresearch/tatepapers/07spring/attlee.htm

Marjetica Potrc: Urgent Architecture
HYPERLINK "http://www.potrc.org/"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjetica_Potrc
HYPERLINK "http://www.potrc.org/"http://www.potrc.org/

GMC Pad HYPERLINK "http://auto.howstuffworks.com/gmc-pad.htm"http://auto.howstuffworks.com/gmc-pad.htm
A concept car that is a “mobile urban loft” RV SUV

HYPERLINK "http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4153.shtml"http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4153.shtml
Some well placed graffiti by Banksy
HYPERLINK "http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/23/ecko-billboard-lets-your-mobile-handle-the-graffitiing/"
HYPERLINK "http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/23/ecko-billboard-lets-your-mobile-handle-the-graffitiing/"http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/23/ecko-billboard-lets-your-mobile-handle-the-graffitiing/
Ecko Unltd. Ad that thoroughly appropriates the transgression of graffiti

HYPERLINK "http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/29/business/media/29cooper.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin"http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/29/business/media/29cooper.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Mini Cooper ad that speaks to individual drivers

I think it is also relevant to think about the ways in which control over space is being stabilized and expanded. This article is about the increasing pervasiveness of border space:
HYPERLINK "http://subtopia.blogspot.com/2009/01/towards-nomadic-fortress-refugerefugee.html"http://subtopia.blogspot.com/2009/01/towards-nomadic-fortress-refugerefugee.html

i _may_ not make it to this class due to a faculty meeting that may very well go over (as usual) and awry (as usual) ... hell is other people, or i am justin hell. but, i do really hope to make it to the class. i need to breath again.

-robert

PS: thanks for a really great class tuesday. i had a lot of fun and thought my way through some things via the conversations ... thanks!

aharon - i will be guest speaking (or doing my best job at guest speaking) on june 16th! I am now in edinburgh -- are you based in brighton? i will be back in london in july and i was planning on going to brighton because my friend does this random dj night there that is called "20 jazz funk greats" sometimes which seems to me like itd be quite fun

yalda, you sound very enthusiastic about the subject. Not sure what you mean by vagabonding art.. 1st thing that came to mind was trubadors and news tellers that used to move from place to place taking stories with them as means of currency..
Will be good to learn more about your experience..
If you can stay up late, then my guess is that skype is one way to join in..
Also, if you are in London next week, I am based in Brighton, just down the road..

anyway, i just wish that i could talk to an audience about my experience - it has opened up a completely new chapter in my life. it's really amazing - just by meeting new people how you are exposed to different thought processes and could actually end up doing something meaningful - finding purpose.... anyway i was just grateful to stumble upon this class, maybe if you want to talk more you could email me at ymousavinia@gmail.com and i could tell you more about how this has been a life changing experience for me. i actually just got the idea the other day that i should try to start public schools in barcelona, london and berlin since i know a lot of people through either my vagabonding, friends of friends, etc etc - many artists among others. and many people i meet would really benefit from a public school like this.

like i said, i am currently vagabonding - i am in barcelona. will be in london next week among other place... i wish i could join! need a public school for vagabonds ;)

Hi,

Do you live in Los Angeles or Philadelphia? You can come to the Vagabond class on Tuesdays (only 5 meetings left): http://la.thepublicschool.org/class/99

We are having a joint class with the LA Public School and the Philadelphia Public School. Michael Bauer has organized it and made a reader available on a.aaaarg.org
At the class you can ask him more questions, or you may post a series of questions here.

For more on The Public School see http://la.thepublicschool.org/

Does this answer your question?

As ever, Robert

is there anyway that a current vagabond could be part of this conversation? i love that i just am seeing this right now, i am in need of resourceful information like this...

Introduction to Riding The Rails, by Errol Lincoln Uys. Additional Riding The Rails text is available by downloading Vagabondism reader.

http://web.me.com/michaelgeraldbauer/Vagabondism/Vagabondism_May_June_20...

Vagabondism Practical Component, Experiments in Creative Mobile Living Download

http://web.me.com/michaelgeraldbauer/Vagabondism/Vagabondism_May_June_20...

Class reader is now available for download:

http://a.aaaarg.org/text/3107/vagabondism-reader-2009

Because we will be coordinating with the group in Philadelphia, those meeting for the vagabondism class in Los Angeles should plan to be at The Public School by 6:00. After our first class on Tuesday, we will be showing the PBS American Experience documentary, Riding the Rails (1998, 72 min).
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rails/

Staying for this film is entirely optional.

Updated Class Outline

Classes (Subject to change)

May 26th
Introduction, Course Outline, etc.
Riding the rails text excerpt from reader
Riding The Rails documentary

June 2nd
Vagatecture: Mobile architecture , and architecture and mobility
Guest Ben Neiditz
Wetback: The Undocumented Documentary
The Long, Long Trailer fi lm

June 9th
Reading, Continental Drift through the Midwest Radical Cultural Corridor
Guest Mike Wolf
Vagabond film

June 16th
The animal and movement: earth's machinations and peripactic peoples,
reading TBA
Winged Migration documentary

June 23rd
Home Free Home: A History of Two Open-Door California Communes excerpt
Re-Visiting Father and The Source Family documentary

June 30th
Experiments for Creative Mobile Living Proposals
10 MPH documentary?
Resources

Readings for the class will be made available shortly. They will be posted on a.aaaarg
-Robert

I'm extremely intrigued by this class - Sean from Telic was a visiting artist at Cal Arts' Integrated Media program a few years ago during my first year there. I just got this email from them that had a mention of vagabonding so I just kept clicking away and here I am. I'm finishing my Film and Video thesis "The Travelogues" and obviously am extremely interested in this vagabonding class and its ideas. Please keep me infomed as to what is going on with it, and most importantly, if it's something I can be apart of (as I live in Los Angeles). Thanks! DustinSThompson@mac.com

Potluck: Tuesday April 7th 2009, 6-8pm EST

Hi again,

Tomorrow is part 2 of a conversation about the forthcoming class on "vagabondism", as part of a new chapter of The Public School in Philadelphia. See below for recap of last week:

Vagabondism @ Basekamp last week
A short list of conversation highlights

Relevant reads such as "A Call To Farms: Continental Drift Through The Midwest Radical Cultural Corridor". Potential problems when executing a long term, hands-on travel project. The ethics of studying vagabondism, questions of choice vs. necessity. Notions of reverse transience, fixed mobile spaces. Finding home in transience and maintaining balance on the move. Age and class, and who would potentially be attracted to this exploration. What it means to to be off the grid. The potential for role-playing and theater when approaching a travel project.

This Tuesday we can discuss the connection dates with The Public School in Los Angeles, course readings, conceivable experiments in movement, relevant creative work produced, personal experience.

--

See you all Then!

Join us every Tuesday night – in person, or on Skype, skypename: 'basekamp'
If you come to the potluck in person, be sure to bring a dish :)

CORRENCTION:

PLEASE JOIN US ON SKYPE TOMORROW, APRIL 7TH 6PM EST

For everyone interested in the Vagabodism class, we will have a Skype conversation discussing relevant material and class organization facilitated by Basekamp and myself, Michael G. Bauer. Join us on Skype, search username "BASEKAMP team" April 7th 2009, 6 PM EST. Thanks!

For everyone interested in the Vagabodism class, we will have a Skype conversation discussing relevant material and class organization facilitated by username "BASEKAMP team" April 6th 2009, 6 PM EST.

If you are interested in the "Vagabondism" class -- then you may want to check out the "Nomadism"class, which is on the Public School website.

Vagabondism
Transience as a viable and sustainable creative action, historical models and resources

Two groups, one in Los Angeles and one in Philadelphia each composed of approximately six participants will meet weekly or biweekly for six sessions exploring notions of vagabonding and transience. The class will take the form of conversations through conference calls between the two groups using Talkshoe.

There are two main goals set out for Vagabodism. One is to form a notable historical framework in which we highlight a few examples of vagabonding and/or transience during the last one hundred years. A few examples of transience may include looking at modern peripatetic peoples, transient teens during the Great Depression, or the open-land experiment known as Morningstar during the 1960's. The second goal is to highlight online resources and fellows peers' personal travel accounts to aid in the organization of a long-term travel trip with fellow class participants. This travel trip will serve as a hands-on execution of many of the ideas discussed during this gathering.

if you'd like to hear the exploratory conversation regarding this proposed class please click on the following link:
http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/19198

Of interest to vagabonds: How to Camp as a Lifestyle http://www.wikihow.com/Camp-As-a-Lifestyle

historical/philosophical element? from diogenes to basquiat?

Anyone interested in this class may want to check out "Class-sicles " on The Public School site -- which is on Felix Guattari's _Chaosophy: Texts and Interviews, 1972-1977_

If you are interested and have this text, then please check out the sections in the book to see if you would want to lead a class. Ideally there will be one class for each section: that is 5 classes, ideally.

For more on the book see

As ever, Robert

This sounds great! How many more people need to sign up before this becomes a class?

How many people do you want in the class?

i would too be interested in helping to organize the class. currently i live in philadelphia and would participate remotely.

a field element where class participants travel as part of the curriculum would be ideal.

Yeah! Hands on train hopping tutorial?

this all sounds great. how many people should be in the class? whatn should the limit be? also, "remote learning" is an interesting idea.
-robt

michaelgb -- would you be willling to teach, or co-teach this class on Friday, February 28th? Please let me know ASAP. Thanks, Robert -- robtsum@gmail.com

PS: maybe deleuze and guattari's writings can be incorporated? for example, their section on rhizomes and bwo in _a thousand plateaus_?

hi robert

on feb. 28th i'd be happy to come to the table with some resources and a proposal for a long term project. graham expressed interest in train hopping and that is what vollmann's read is about. ideally it would be great to get a small group together to read vollmann's book in the near future. as for deleuze and guttari by all means let's talk about it if it has a relevant intersection. is the material accessable on the internet? we can do a conference call via talkshoe btwn los angeles and philadelphia on the 28th if that sounds good.

1. history
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18939012
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leatherman_(vagabond)
Walden

2. practical application
http://wikitravel.org/en/Urban_backpacking

http://www.couchsurfing.com/

Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel
by Rolf Potts

http://www.amazon.com/Vagabonding-Uncommon-Guide-Long-Term-Travel/dp/081...

Riding Toward Everywhere by William T. Vollmann
http://www.amazon.com/Riding-Toward-Everywhere-William-Vollmann/dp/00612...

3. hypothetical long term travel project proposal in the form of a summer long group transient experience in 2010 or 2011.

So, would you be absolutely willing to have a "conversation" re: all this on next Friday: the 28th? It can be the beginnings of the class you want to do -- let me know. robtsum@gmail.com

hi yes let me know what time on the 28th and i'll post details on creating a conference call via talkshoe. all we need from the la end is a cell phone with a speakerphone. thanks!

mgb

I will get in contact with you if Adam or Sean from the Public School has not yet.
Please email me, which is easier: robtsum@gmail.com