Monday Night—11.17.03 --Journal of Aesthetics and Protest --
Marc Herbst

Contents:
1. About this Monday
2. Social Science fiction (a farce)
3. About J.A.P.
4. Link to J.A.P. online + availability

__________________________________________________
1. About this Monday

when: Monday at 7:00 pm
where: 16 beaver street, 5th floor
who: all are welcome

Those of us who were there, remember the amazing* evening with Marc and Robert Herbst (editors of L.A. based Journal of Aesthetics and Protest) last March at 16 beaver.

http://www.16beavergroup.org/friday032803.htm

Marc is back in New York, if you missed the last presentation ,do not miss this one! If you were last time there, the discussion will go further, towards the third issue + ...in Marc’s words…

"…It is not made up, it is what Robby, Christina and I have been thinking about for the last few months but that I have only worded in on one comic strip I have been drawing. Social Science fiction is a term I've been toying with and is just a toy.

This is all meant to be light. I will be showing slides of one piece of work I have done, and handing out xeroxed scetches…."

* astonishing, astounding, distinguished, fun, interesting and more

__________________________________________________
2. Social Science fiction (a farce)

Issue 3 of the Journal of Aesthetics and protest is being writen out 2 years since the PAtriot Act, 4 years since the famous WTO protests, 512 years since the colonization of the Americas, and countless years since one person first kissed another. A lot has been thought on the oppressive technology of the state, and much good work has been done to either ameliorate or counter the direct results of these oppressions.

In Los Angeles, a Journal's sister organization, c-level (www.c-level.cc) (founded in 2001) hosted one event, a public interface with New York's Creative Capital foundation, which directly helps selected people put food on the table. All other events have abstractly produced by harshening nightmares or sweetening dreams.

30 years ago, in the same area code (90026) three food cooperatives collectively met the needs of much of neighborhood's diverse demographic. Today, no coops exist. The social technology which distributed juicy manna and saucy tofu has been lost. There is scantly a percieved need, collective will or working knowledge we can use to create concrete structures that affect our immediate needs. Today, 90026 artists focus our time on interpreting history and/or political or phenomenological reality into the plastic arts, writing and performance. We shop at Trader Joes and casually meet at party's, openings and such. In our dayjobs or neighborhoods we interact within the rest of the city as bland post-modern subjects.

Monday's Journal event will focus on the call for social science fiction... an art that imagines and practices the creation of new social technology. An art that understands that cultural production is a part of the production of culture, not cultural objects. A research into the poetics of collectictive practice, the discomfort of cross-community interaction and (in an anti-functional move) the specifics of site and history.

Social Science Fiction would create stories and possiblity, while modeling social practice at the intersection of of matieral reality and the political moment.

The event will draw from articles in our second issue including Patrick Reinsborough's DE-COLONIZING THE REVOLUTIONARY IMAGINATION (http://www.journalofaestheticsandprotest.org/1/de_colonizing/index.html), Christina Ulke's "Imagination is an Instrument of Survival" (http://www.journalofaestheticsandprotest.org/1/pragmaticMultitudism/index.html), Mariana Botey's "Conspiracy of Silence" http://www.journalofaestheticsandprotest.org/1/EZLN/index.html and the two articles by Journal Editors (Moving Forword and Counter Culture Dialectics).

*Guy Debord

__________________________________________________
3. About J.A.P

New definition:

The Journal of Aesthetics and Protest (growing soon but presently comprised by Marc Herbst, Robby Herbst, Christina Ulke and Kimberly Varella) is a Los Angeles based magazine. The Journal, aware of the possibilities of the boundless moment, searches for ways to think through the cultural and political ramifications of representation. In word and aspiration, The Journal dreams toward a world that differs from "a celebration of the choice already made in the sphere of production, and the consummate result of that choice."*

Previous definition:

We are captivated by creative, critical, cultural, and conceptual
engagements with manifestations of power. The Journal of Aesthetics and
Protest explores the fertile areas between media production and politics.
We feature the writing of activists, artists, journalists, policy
advocates, and writers. Rather than asking "what can art do?", we ask
"what are the many ways that people are using media right now in sympathy
with, or in opposition to, structures of power?" Ultimately we are working
to locate contemporary modes of theory and practice in order to promote
multiple democratic radical practices.

The Journal of Aesthetics and Protest

A magazine is a stage where characters emerge as
articles. The characters are drawn from the infinite.
Before the curtain opens the audience is united in
their expectations but shy to the possibilities of
where together they might travel. Will it be all to
hell or to the stars with no return? After the final
applause the crowds exit having shared in the creation
of stories. Like a folk song, the sharing of the urge
ensures the continued emergence of tales.

__________________________________________________
4. Link to J.A.P.

Our magazines are available for purchase at Blustocking Books and Clovis Press. Articles are available on-line at
http://www.journalofaestheticsandprotest.org/

__________________________________________________
16 Beaver Group
16 Beaver Street, 5th fl.
New York, NY 10004
phone: 212.480.2093

for directions/subscriptions/info visit:
http://www.16beavergroup.org

TRAINS:
4,5 Bowling Green
N,R Whitehall
2,3 Wall Street
J,M Broad Street
1,9 South Ferry