A R E A

January AREA Newsletter

Happy New Year to you all! Below are some upcoming events we're really excited about. Please consider checking them out. Also, thanks so much to nearly 200 people that gave donations to AREA Chicago either by attending our December fundraising party or by donating online or through writing a personal check. Because of your donations we will be able to fully fund the next issue of AREA Chicago #6!

SUMMARY
01) Every Weekend/All Month - Method To Madness Festival and Workshops All Month @ links hall
02) 01.11 Fri - AREA Contributor Nicolas Lampert Exhibition Opening
03) 01.11 Fri - 6th Anniversary of Indefinite Detention at Guantanamo Protest @ Fed Plaza
04) 01.12 Sat - Tamms Poetry Committee plans year long campaign about supermax prisons in IL
05) 01.14 Mon - Kick Boeing to the Curb fundraising dance/drinking @ Danny's Tavern
06) 01.17 Thu - Seminar on Left Wing Communism in the Wake of WWI @ Mess Hall
07) 01.18-20 - 3 Day Critical/Activist Art Seminar @ Mess Hall with Over 20 Speakers and Free Meals
08) 01.23 Wed - Anti-Recruitment Rally @ Chicago Public Schools HQ
09) 01.24 Thu - Angela Davis Lecture @ University of Chicago
10) 01.24 Thu - Fundraising Workshops by the Crossroads Fund (also on 02.21 and 03.20)
11) 02.03 Early Warning - Discussion Between Feel Tank Chicago and AREA Chicago
12) Call For Proposals for Chicago Anarchist Film Festival
13) Call for Workshop Proposals for Finding Our Roots conference

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DETAILS BELOW
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01)======
Method to Madness Festival
Curated by Kate Sheehy, Links Hall Artistic Associate
Throughout January, we explore the theme of Method to Madness. This multi-disciplinary festival includes puppetry, performance, film, and sound. Each week, artists investigate the process of their creative practice, offering a behind-the-scenes exploration of the catalogs, regimen, recipes, and obsessions that make them go.
Performances and workshops will be happening each week and weekend so please check the link below for schedules. http://www.linkshall.org/08-pp-jan.shtml

02)======
Nicolas Lampert: Machine Animal Collages: New Work
opening reception: Friday, January 11, 5 - 8:30pm
artist's talk: Saturday, January 12, 1pm

show runs from January 11 - February 16, 2008

gescheidle  •  contemporary art  •  1039 w. lake
street, 2nd floor  •  chicago, il 60607  •  p 312.226.3500

More examples of his artwork can be viewed at: www.machineanimalcollages.com

03)======
Jan 11, Fri, 4:30 pm, Federal Plaza,
SIXTH ANNIVERSARY OF INDEFINITE DETENTION
FOR GUANTANAMO PRISONERS
Join us to challenge the use of torture by the United States, to call for
the closure of Guantanamo, and to demand justice for those tortured by the
Chicago Police Department.

Wear orange!

Scheduled Speakers include:
* Marc Falkoff, lawyer and editor of "Poems from Guantanamo: The Detainees Speak"
* Larry Kennon, attorney from Black People Against Police Torture
* Darrell Cannon, survivor of torture at the hands of the Chicago Police Department
* Black People Against Police Torture representative

For more information: Voices for Creative Nonviolence
773-878-3815 info@vcnv.org www.vcnv.org

04)======
Organizing Meeting + Prisoners Letters
Jan. 12, 11:00 a.m.
 People's Law Office, 1180 N. Milwaukee Ave
At the Division stop on the Blue Line
(parking across the street by the Technical Institute)
** THANK YOU TO THE PEOPLE'S LAW OFFICE FOR USE OF THIS SPACE!

Come to learn more about Tamms Poetry Committee's "Year 10" campaign to educate the public about Tamms supermax prison on the anniversary of the 10th year of its opening. Contact nadya.pittendrigh@gmail.com if you have questions.

05)======
Hello Everyone!

We are excited to announce that Kick Boeing to the Curb has an upcoming fundraiser.  The bar Danny's hosts a Peace Party once a month, donating half the bar sales to a non-profit group and this month, KBC will be the recipient organization.  There will be a DJ playing music all night and all you have to do is come dance, drink and socialize!

Here are the details:
Danny's (1951 W. Dickens)
Monday, January 14th
10:00 pm-2:00 am
No cover

06)======
Left Wing Communism in the Wake of WWI
Jan. 17, 7:30pm,
at the Mess Hall (6932 N. Glenwood)
Hello All,
The 49th St. Underground would like to announce an evening discussion of the Left Communist and Council Communist traditions. This version of Left theory and practice is often appealed to as a way to escape the pitfalls of the Stalinization of Marxist and Left politics. However, we have found that it is rarely closely examined. As always, we will take a critical and historical approach to these movements, attempting to understand them in their moment, understand what was revolutionary about them in that moment, and critically appropriate that which may still be revolutionary and inform our conteporary left politics. We do not arrive at these texts with a dogma and are open to all directions that the discussion might lead us. This is a process of critical exploration.
 
A note of explanation: I have included a wide array of links to texts and if you find yourself interested and with a great deal of free time, then read them all. However, if you are like most people you don't have the time to read all these articles-- even as short as some of them are--, so please read a variety of articles and come prepared to present and to discuss what you have read. (The historical study by Gerber and the articles by Mattick might be the best place to start.)
 
Thanks,
Parker Everett
http://www.49underground.org/index.php

07)======
What We Know of Our Past
What We Demand of Our Future
A three-day gathering to talk about socially-engaged, political, and critical artwork, its international iterations, history, and future
January 18-20, 2008
Mess Hall - 6932 N. Glenwood - Chicago

This weekend we come together to look at and talk about the intersections between art and activism. We want to take this time to address a range of concerns, to look at past strategies of creative resistance and build on them, to address our frustrations and anxieties about what we do, to play and laugh together, share food, and discuss the possibilities for going forward.
For a full schedule see http://www.letsremake.info/whatweknow.html

08)======
Jan 23, Wed, 9:30 am, CPS Headquarters, Truth in Recruitment Rally
TRUTH IN RECRUITMENT RALLY
Tell the Chicago Board of Ed to limit access of military recruiters to schools

09)======
2008 KENT LECTURE FEATURING ~MS. ANGELA DAVIS~

FREE EVENT - OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Date:  Thursday, January 24, 2008
Time:  7:00-9:00pm
Location: Rockefeller Chapel at University of Chicago,
5850 S. Woodlawn Avenue

American social justice activist, community organizer and professor who was associated with the Black Panther Party (BPP) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Community Party. Her story takes America down the path of social injustice and through the civil rights battles that enraged America, which victimized those who voiced opposing opinions. She draws upon her own experiences in the early 1970s as a person who spent eighteen months in jail and on trial, after being placed on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted List."  Her story is one of false accusations, incarceration and the ultimate vindication of justice.

You are cordially invited to hear MS. ANGELA DAVIS address the question: "How Does Change Happen?" Ms. Davis will address the issue of unfinished work in the struggle for equality in America, and how to deal with the social challenges that remain in American democracy.

10)======
Care to learn more about increasing financial resources for your organization? Come with your questions and learn from your peers to our workshops on: Creating a Development Calendar (January 24), Individual Donors (February 21) and Special Events (March 20).  Learn more about these fundraising trainings. Please RSVP to rashida@crossroadsfund.org by the dates listed on the website. http://www.crossroadsfund.org

11)======
Sunday, February 3
Dan S. Wang moderates a discussion between Feel Tank and AREA, and the public
 There has been an enormous amount of activity related to critical art practices in the last year in Chicago making it an international hub for this work. Feel Tank and AREA both mobilized large numbers of practitioners, activists, and folks in other fields working and thinking in parallel to make, talk, act, and learn together. What impact did this have? What are the lasting implications of all this activity? What is next? Times and location TBA.

12)======
2008 Chicago Anarchist Film Festival Call for Entries
http://mayfirst.wordpress.com/2007/12/12/2008-chicago-anarchist-film-festival-call-for-entries/

13)======
Finding Our Roots: Anarchist Organizing in the Midwest: Call for workshops
http://mayfirst.wordpress.com/2007/12/10/call-for-proposals/