Sep 03 2010
A note from walkingtools.net: I will not say much more than it is easy to ridicule something about which you apparently know so little. This from the Glenn Beck Television program on Fox Media, Sept 1st 2010. Glenn, if want to be in conversation let us know.
Thanks to RawStory for the video. http://www.rawstory.com/rs1/2010/09/02/beck-university-indoctrination-bad-terrorists/
Aug 21 2010
Project Assessed to be an Appropriate Use of Fund on July 21st, 2010
(but UCSD never informed any member of EDT/b.a.n.g lab).
“Based on our review procedures, we concluded that neither University funds nor effort were used inappropriately during the development of the TBT or the Project.”
– San Diego: Audit & Management Advisory Services 0910 University of California. Subject: Use of Resources Investigation – Transborder Immigrant Tool AMAS Audit Project 2010-75 (July 21, 2010)
“[ We ] imagine TBT as a gesture of transborder solidarity, one that might help prevent the needless deaths of those whose only crime is hope.”
- Sustenance: A Play for All Trans [ ] Borders
by Electronic Disturbance Theater/b.a.n.g. lab (July 2010)
-
All’s well that ends well, or at the very least ends at the well of sustenance, for the Transborder Immigrant Tool “investigation” – that like some oddly written mystery ends by accident. We only discovered that this Baroque “investigation” was over because someone mentioned they had received the final report on July 21st, 2010. What!? Could one “investigation” have come to an end? Indeed it had and last week we, or at least one of us, was finally sent a copy of said document. TBT as an account of deaths has been cleared by all accounts of possible inappropriate use of funds. Of course we might ask how much has been spent on the “investigation” versus the limited funding the project has received since 2007? But perhaps we should just be happy that TBT can move forward as envisioned in our original project proposal.
In celebration of this small victory we would like to offer all of you a gift
to download and share:
Sustenance: A Play for All Trans [ ] Borders by
Electronic Disturbance Theater/b.a.n.g. lab
http://www.thing.net/~rdom/Sustenance.pdf
Published in July 2010 by Printed Matter Inc. , as part of its Artist & Activist pamphlet series.
Text by Electronic Disturbance Theater/b.a.n.g. lab [bang.calit2.net/xborder]:
Ricardo Dominguez, Brett Stalbaum, Micha Cárdenas, Amy Sara Carroll, and
Elle Mehrmand
Play Directors: Amy Sara Carroll and Ricardo Dominguez
Cultural Liaison: Chanda L. Carey
Poems: Amy Sara Carroll
German translation: Petra Kuppers
Greek translation: Yanoula Athanassakis
Taiwanese translations: Lili Hsieh/ and Zona Yi-Ping Tsou/
P.S. We would also like to thank all those individuals and groups that have donated funds to the Legal Action Fund for EDT/b.a.n.g. lab/Ricardo Dominguez. The preliminary “investigation” by AUDIT & MANAGEMENT ADVISORY SERVICES (UCSD) of the Virtual Sit-In performance of March 4th, 2010 has come to an “end” as well and they have concluded, “that there is probable cause to believe that you (Professor Ricardo Dominguez) violated the University of California Faculty Code of Conduct and that there is probable cause to believe that you violated the intent of the University of California Electronic Communications Policy.” Which means we/I still need your economic support. For more information about how to support the Legal Action Fund go here:
http://banglabinexile.pbworks.com/Donate-to-the-Ricardo-Dominguez-Legal-Support-Fund
For more information on the Transborder Immigrant Tool:
http://bang.calit2.net/xborder
And for more information about b.a.n.g. lab:
http://bang.calit2.net
P.P.S A note from Brett Stalbaum to AUDIT & MANAGEMENT ADVISORY SERVICES (UCSD):
Failure to distribute Transborder Immigrant Tool Audit Report to the Subjects of the Investigation (August 19, 2010 4:57:39 PM PDT):
Dear AVC Stephanie Burke,
I was surprised to find, through a media source, that the audit
investigation of the Transborder Immigrant Tool project initiated back
in January of 2010 has long since been completed. Apparently your office
produced a final report sometime in July. According to these media
sources, the project was found to be an appropriate use of University funds.
As a subject of that investigation who was interviewed numerous times
and was provided with an earlier draft of the report, I protest that I
was not informed of the conclusion of the audit. I also protest that I
have not been provided with a final copy of the report. These bad faith
actions raise troubling questions about the University’s sincerity and
dedication to view-point neutral application of policies governing
professional conduct as applied toward all of the researchers involved
in the Transborder Immigrant Tool project. Your action strongly implies
that although we were all investigated, the real truth is that your
office continues to single out a particular target amongst us.
I ask for a formal written response explaining why I was omitted from
the list of those investigated who were informed of the report’s
conclusions and provided a copy. An a mere apology will not suffice. I
expect detail on a level explaining the systemic failure to meet basic
professional standards that should be upheld and protected by your
(AVC Burke’s) office as a matter of simple diligence and competence.
Brett Stalbaum
Aug 18 2010
by Kinsee Morlan
The Transborder Immigrant Tool is currently on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in La Jolla
UCSD arts professor Ricardo Dominguez did not use school funds inappropriately, according to the findings of a University of California official investigation into Dominguez’s involvement with a controversial art project.
On Jan. 11, the UC system began investigating Dominguez’s use of just under $5,000 of grant money to fund the Transborder Immigrant Tool (TBT), a GPS-enabled Motorola cell phone meant to aid immigrants crossing the border by providing information about water caches in the desert and offering moral support in the form of streaming bilingual poetry.
Critics, most notably Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter, say TBT helps facilitate illegal entry across the U.S.-Mexico border and therefore should not have been funded by taxpayer money.
http://lastblogonearth.com/2010/08/13/ucsd-arts-professor-cleared-in-at-least-one-investigation/
Aug 18 2010
Rachel Maddow shows the financial connections that proponents of SB 1070 have to the private prison industry and how those private prisons benefit from the increased detention of undocumented immigrants,
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Jun 10 2010
We’re in SF this weekend with the Electronic Disturbance Theater! We’re presenting at two great venues, so come join us!
First, Saturday June 12th, we’ll be presenting from 11:30-12:30 on a panel at the City Centered symposium on locative media, followed by a one hour “breakout session” where people can get their hands on the Transborder Immigrant Tool. Then, at 4pm, we’ll be at Galeria de la Raza. More info below…
Saturday, June 12, 2010 | 4:00 pm
An artist talk/conversation/presentation with Micha Cárdenas, Amy Sara Carroll, Ricardo Dominguez, Elle Mehrmand and Brett Stalbaum. Transborder Immigrant Tool (TBT) repurposes inexpensive used mobile phones that have GPS antennae. The project approximates a code-switch, a queer technology. Its software aspires to guide “the tired, the poor,” the dehydrated—citizens of the world—to water safety sites.
Transborder Immigrant Tool (TBT), a code-switch by Electronic Disturbance Theater and b.a.n.g. lab at CALIT2 at the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, enables cast-away, disposable mobile phones to function as personal safety navigation systems in the Mexican-U.S. borderlands. An artivist gesture, TBT is both powered by software that leads desert-walkers to water caches and by poetry that performatively poses the question, “What constitutes sustenance?” A return to the utopian impulses of hospitality, freedom, justice, –and the aesthetic (”Poetry is not a luxury!”), TBT kinship-diagrams Luis Alberto Urrea’s maxim for the “untimely present”: “In the desert, we are all illegal aliens.”
On Saturday, Electronic Disturbance Theater/b.a.n.g. lab members will premiere “Sustenance: A Play for All Trans[ ]Borders.”” The collectively written script, edited by Amy Sara Carroll and Ricardo Dominguez, is scheduled to be released by Printed Matter Inc. later this month.
Transborder Immigrant Tool is being exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla, CA, and will be part of the 2010 California Biennial at the Orange County Museum of Art, CA, later this year.
For more information on this work and the project as a whole, navigate:
http://bang.calit2.net/xborder
May 21 2010
Orange County Museum of Art announces artists in the 2010 California Biennial
May 20, 2010 | 2:20 pm
The Orange County Museum of Art has selected more than 40 artists and collaborative groups to participate in the 2010 California Biennial.
The exhibition, which will run Oct. 24 to March 13, is designed to showcase new developments in contemporary art with an emphasis on emerging artists from around the state.
This year’s participants were chosen by OCMA curator Sarah Bancroft, who is curating the biennial. They represent the fields of drawing and works on paper, film and video, large-scale installation, painting, performance and dance, photography, sculpture and text-based work.
Here’s the list of the 2010 California Biennial artists:
David Adey, Agitprop, Electronic Disturbance Theater/b.a.n.g lab (Micha Cardnas, Amy Sara Carroll, Ricardo Dominguez, Elle Mehrmand and Brett Stallbaum) Gil Blank, Nate Boyce, Luke Butler, Juan Capistran, Zoe Crosher, Brian Dick, Dru Donovan, Mari Eastman, Carlee Fernandez, Finishing School, Eve Fowler, Rebecca Goldfarb, Katy Grannan, Alexandra Grant, Sherin Guirguis, Drew Heitzler, Violet Hopkins, Alex Israel, Glenna Jennings, Barry MacGregor Johnston, Vishal Jugdeo, Stanya Kahn, Andy Kolar, Jennifer Locke, Los Angeles Urban Rangers, Tom Mueske, Tucker Nichols, Camilo Ontiveros, Nikki Pressley, Andy Ralph, Will Rogan, Paul Schiek, Taravat Talepasand, Wu Tsang, Zlatan Vukosavljevic, Nina Waisman, Flora Wiegmann, Allison Wiese, Lisa Williamson, David Wilson, Patrick Wilson and John Zurier.
//
Every few years during its history, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego has taken stock of the San Diego art scene with a substantial exhibition. In October, the museum announced its intentions to do so again, with an exhibition called “Here Not There.” And now, it has announced the selection of locally based artists who will be in that show, which opens June 6.
There are 43 in all (with a collective counted as one artist); 34 will display work in the galleries of the museum’s home in La Jolla through Sept. 19. The remaining nine will be featured in one of two evenings devoted to film or performance art. The date of the performance evening is June 19; the film date is still to be determined.
The museum’s associate curator, Lucia Sanroman, oversaw the selections, with input from director Hugh Davies, curator Robin Clark and education curator Gabrielle Wyrick.
The process was complex. The museum put out a call for entries, which totaled 234 artists. Meanwhile, Sanroman drew up a list of artists looking at the rosters of schools and various other sources of names. Ultimately, the starting point was a list of 350.
The emphasis on the list is on emerging and midcareer artists.
Sanroman said she changed many of her assumptions about the San Diego County scene as she went through the process of visiting numerous studios (approximately 60) and viewing exhibitions: “We really wanted to make it possible for the public to see what’s being produced here. I like to think of the notion of the show as a kind of banquet or feast.”
The artists: David Adey, Agitprop, Adam Belt, Susannah Bielak, Brian Black and Ryan Bulis (exhibiting together), Kelsey Brookes, Sheldon Brown, Micha Cardenas and Elle Mehrmand (exhibiting together), Brian Dick, Electronic Disturbance Theater/b.a.n.g lab (Micha Cardnas, Amy Sara Carroll, Ricardo Dominguez, Elle Mehrmand and Brett Stallbaum), Tom Driscoll, Kelly Eginton, James Enos, Steve Gibson, Brian Goeltzenleuchter, Matt Hebert, John Hogan , Jeff Irwin, Glenna Jennings, Wendell Kling, John Oliver Lewis, Lev Manovich, Heather Gwen Martin, May-Ling Martinez, Jessica McCambly, Gretchen Mercedes, Patricia Montoya, Ingram Ober, Christopher Puzio, Andy Ralph, Marisol Rendon, Allison Renshaw, Jason Sherry and Matt Hoyt (exhibiting together), Tristan Shone, The Border Corps (Armando de la Torre, Anthony Vasquez, Endy, Perry Vasquez and Shondra Dawson), Stephen Tompkins, Michael Trigilio, Robert Twomey, Zlatan Vukosavljevic, Vicki Walsh and Allison Wiese.
Dec 07 2009
The Transborder Immigrant Tool was the subject of a whirlwind of media attention in the past week. The project has been developed by the Electronic Disturbance Theater, consisting of artists Ricardo Dominguez, Brett Stalbaum, Amy Sara Carroll and Micha Cardenas. The media coverage included television, radio and print stories including the Associated Press, BBC World, NBC, Fox, and the UCSD Guardian. While the actual stories are too many to list here, the following is a list of some of the major articles. Many media outlets improperly reported it as an Iphone app, others attempted to discredit the project saying it is illegal, and some interviewed Enrique Morones of the Border Angels, one of the humanitarian providers whose water caches the tools directs people to. Overall, the members of the group are extremely happy that the Transborder Immigrant Tool has been so effective in opening up dialog on the dire need for humanitarian aid at the border, where thousands of people have needlessly died. We look forward to completing and deploying the tool in the coming year.
Radio Bilingüe/Línea Abierta: Transborder Immigrant Tool
Interview
Mark Cromer: An App For Betrayal
New tool for Mexico border crossers violates federal law
GPS tool helps illegal immigrants cross US border
Associated Press
Celular para cruzar ilegalmente
BBC World
Border Crossing: There’s an App for That
NBC San Diego
Low-Tech App Aids in Crossing Mexican Border
UCSD Guardian
GPS para indocumentados
Telemundo
Border Crossing Application
Fox 5 TV San Diego
GPS Technology to Help Illegal Immigrants
KSRO – Santa Rosa,CA,USA
Poll: 56% say border-crossing tool threatens national security
OC Register
Border-Navigating Phone App Raises Concerns
KMJ Now – Fresno,CA,USA
mobile phone application gets mixed reactions
State Press
Border Crossing: There’s an App for That
NBC Chicago
UCSD Researches Creating Phone App For Border Crossers
MyStateline.com – Rockford,IL,USA
Want to sneak into US? There’s an app for that
WND.com – Washington,DC,USA
Dec 04 2009
We believe that good storytelling strengthens social movements, so every year we want to select stories from Resist to turn into films.
We asked people to upload their stories of resistance and spoke with many activists, writers and political thinkers.
Using what we learnt, we’ve chosen to make our first film with the actor Gael Garcia Bernal
We’ve spent the last few months focusing on the Wall that is being built along the entire USA border with Mexico. It is one of the greatest symbols of the divisions between rich and poor, and inspires a major investigation into the systemic causes of poverty and migration.
We’ve followed the death of one migrant and are currently seeking funding to expand the film to expose a global network of new Walls and the divisive impact they will have on all of our futures.
Nov 17 2009
Vice magazine wrote a long article this month about Ricardo Dominguez and the b.a.n.g. lab. The article covers numerous Border Disturbance Art projects, but focuses on the Transborder Immigrant Tool.
FOLLOW THE GPS, ÉSE:THE TRANSBORDER IMMIGRANT TOOL HELPS MEXICANS CROSS OVER SAFELY
What potential did you see in the Virtual Hiker Tool from the standpoint of an artist-activist who wishes to disrupt the standard protocol for crossing the US-Mexico border?
I thought it was really interesting because it moved GPS away from an urban application and placed it in the natural frontier. I’m always interested in how we shift these ubiquitous technologies and configure them toward other issues and disturbances, as I like to call them. And of course, the border is right there. We know individuals crossing the border mainly die because they get lost or run out of water. It’s the devil’s highway, and it’s been that way for 500 years.
The Electronic Disturbance Theater (EDT) is a small group of artivists
engaged in developing the theory and
practice of
Electronic Civil Disobedience (ECD)
9/11 homeland security republican fence 2009 american patrol borders independent border support online map san diego brownsville texas Amy Sara Carroll article avant-garde Border border entry location U.S Mexico Texas Border language Border Patrol Borders border security Communication Dublin dubliners environmental criminology exhibition Fence Four Freedoms Franklin Delano Roosevelt Hands illegal immigration immigrant interactive art international interview Investigation ISEA latin media NCAD Gallery Poetry precession public intervention rational choice Ricardo Dominguez technology teddy cruz san diego tijuana border transgression tool transborder Transborder Immigrant Tool transborder immigrant tool transition bang lab technology video violence yoga border group assemble beach
