Signals - Resonating Revolutions - Rehearsals are on!

 

Tools for Action and Dancers withoutTänzer ohne Grenzen invites everyone to participate in the rehearsals and the Opening Performance “Signals, Resonating Revolutions” of the project “100 Jahre Revolution - Berlin 1918 / 19” from Kulturprojekte Berlin.

 

Tools for Action is pleased to announce the project “Signals, Resonating Revolutions” as part of the the official opening ceremony of the 100th anniversary of the German Revolution by Kulturprojekte Berlin.

In 1918|19 the first German democracy was proclaimed in Berlin and basic rights, like the right to assemble, freedom of opinion and votes for women were established. 2018 marks the centenary of the German Revolution 1918|19.

Tools for Action is asked to do the opening performance of the November Revolution 1918|19! For this occasion we developed red, inflatable light-sculptures: new tools for public assembly and creative resistance! Together with the organisation Tänzer ohne Grenzen e.V. (dancers without borders) we will be activating these new tools in a collective choreographic experiment together with hundreds of participants.

We are currently looking for participants, who want to test our new tools and rehearse with us.

general Rehearsal, Saturday, 3.11.2018 17:00 - 19:00 h
Meetingpoint: Exit of subway Tiergarten

Final opening performance:
Sunday, 11.11.2018 16:00 - 19:00 h
Meetingpoint: Podewil, entrance via Waisenstraße 26 (courtyard), U2 Klosterstraße

Impressions of first rehearsal, on the 27.10.2018 here.

 

Join the Light Bloc!
Join us for an experiment in resonating revolutions!

#resonatingrevolutions #toolsforaction #revolution100 #versammelteuch

 

Contact:

Artúr van Balen

[email protected]

 

 

More information:
https://www.facebook.com/toolsforaction/
https://100jahrerevolution.berlin/

 

TOOLS FOR ACTION in collaboration with Tänzer ohne Grenzen invites everyone to participate in the rehearsals and the Opening Performance “Signals, Resonating Revolutions” of the project “100 Jahre Revolution - Berlin 1918 / 19” from Kulturprojekte Berlin.

Floating Utopias - exhibition and symposium

Ahmet Ögüt, Castle of Vooruit, Berlin 2018

 

We are proud to present the exhibition Floating Utopias (26.04.20187 - 24.06.2018) and accompanying symposium Floating ideologies - Material Disobedience (19.05.2018).

With: Ahmet Öğüt, Ant Farm, Anna Hoetjes, Anika Schwarzlose, Artúr van Balen, Eventstructure Research Group, Franco Mazzucchelli, Graham Stevens, Huw Wahl, Marco Barotti and Plastique Fantastique, The Yes Men, Tomás Saraceno, Tools for Action, UFO
Ever since the first hot-air balloon ascended in 1783, inflatable objects have inspired the imagination of alternative worlds. In the nineteenth century, aerial towns colonized the skies and floating labs surveyed the world. Flying cameras popularized the view from above. Starting in the 1930s, gigantic floats attracted attention to socialist and capitalist mass parades. Along with the ideals of the generation of 1968, inflatable spaces and performances entered into architecture and tested new forms of coexistence.

‘Floating Utopias’ presents the broad range of pneumatic media in an exhibition and accompanying interventions in urban space. The project juxtaposes historical and contemporary works and raises questions as to their potential for artistic and activist practices. Until today, inflatable objects serve as tools for aesthetic and political interventions: artists and activists situate their works between surreality and functionality, fiction and fact. Inflatables invite us to be playful and disobedient, they forge communities and prompt participation, generate attention and agency.

The exhibition is realised within the democratic arts society neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst (nGbK) Berlin.

Adress:nGbK, Oranienstraße 25, 10999 Berlin
Open: Daily 12-19h, Wed-Fri 12-20h
Language(s):German, English
Entry: free
Organized by:neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst
Project group:

Artúr van Balen, Fabiola Bierhoff, Alexander Dunst, Anna Hoetjes, Jantien Roozenburg, Hannah Zindel

Exhibition design: Agustina Pascotto and Jazmin Lourdes Schenone in collaboration with Jantien Roozenburg

Paris, 2015 ´Red Lines are not for crossing`protest at international climate conference. Photograph

 

Symposium: Floating Ideologies – Material Disobedience

 

Much to the frustration of centuries of inventors, hot-air balloons can only be steered vertically, not horizontally. The uncontrollable, disobedient element of balloons points to both a burden and a promise of liberation. Inflatables are used as tools of observation and disguise in the military, as tools of attraction in mass spectacles and as tools for direct action in protest situations. This symposium investigates how inflatables have the potential for tactics and strategies ranging from centralised technologies of control to insurrectionary bottom-up approaches for empowerment. Where can inflatables take us? And what are the ethical dilemmas, considering that tools can be used by actors with different political agendas?

Artúr van Balen: Guided tour of the Floating Utopias exhibition
(artist, activist, co-curator exhibition Floating Utopias)
15:00 - 15:45

Guided tour through the exhibition and introduction to the themes of the symposium Floating Ideologies - Material disobedience.

Tom Ullrich: Flying barricades
(mediatheorist and historian)
16:00 - 16:45

Barricades and balloons are two centuries-old French inventions that do not initially seem to be connected. However, their stories both touch on extreme situations of armed conflict as well as political and artistic protest. The article illustrates this peculiar exchange of airy blockades and resistant balloons with literary, visual and cinematic documents - from the uprising of the Paris Commune in 1871 and Albert Robidas utopia of a pneumatic twentieth century to the time of the protests around 1968.

Anika Schwarzlose: Disguise and Deception
(artist)
16:45 - 17:30

Inflatables and their use by the military for bluff and deception, as a means of propaganda, make believe, disguise and distraction.

Inflatable decoy weapons and infrastructure as attempts to simulate resources, manpower and mobility, date back to before World War II. An American unit known as the “Ghost Army” gained international fame. But also in Germany, the army has employed very similar methods. The unit “Tarnen und Täuschen” creates inflatable tanks, bridges and replica weapons - starting out in Eastern Germany during the cold war, and still active today. An artist talk and interviews with army technicians give an insight into the history of military inflatable use and construction.

Moritz Frischkorn: Choreography of things, from 1968 to today
(choreographer, theorist)
18:00 - 18:45

In 1968 American choreographer Merce Cunningham presented his piece ‘RainForest’, a movement study about the apparent wilderness of his homeland in the Northwest USA. The ‘Silver Clouds’ by Andy Warhol - helium-filled, silver balloons floating on the stage and into the auditorium - were the central actor and the only stage setting of this choreography. With reference to Cunningham’s work, the aesthetic writings of Yvonne Rainer and current works by Mette Ingvartsen, the role objects play in contemporary choreography is addressed, whether on the stage or the street. At the same time, I examine the question of what constitutes the resistant choreopolitical potential of things, and how this can be developed and preserved?

Shailoh Phillips: Floating Ideologies: Ethical Dilemmas for the Politics of Direct Action
(Artistic researcher, PhD/ philosopher / activist)
18:45 - 19:30

Inflatables are floating and light-weight tactical tools, ideal for sending political messages, disrupting protests and blocking streets. However, the political orientation of such tools are not fixed; indeed, they are filled with nothing but air. Tools of liberation can easily be appropriated for nationalist alt-right agendas, flipping to become tools of oppression. This performance lecture will look into the underlying critical dilemmas of the ethics of inflatables in direct action.

Huw Wahl on Action Space (1968-1978)
(filmmaker)
Film screening and discussion :
20:00 - 22:00

Founded by my father Ken Turner and his wife Mary Turner in 1968, Action Space used large inflatable sculptures to create interventions in public spaces. By bringing together artists, performers, dancers, painters and musicians, the movement sought to produce cultural democratic spaces for art, education and creative play outside of the restrictive space of the gallery system. This film looks at those years between 1968 and 1978, exploring contemporary and pertinent issues around public/private space, individual/collective creativity, community and responsibility, emancipation and play. It features archive footage alongside discussions with key members of the movement, present-day writers and theorists. The film is based around the making of a new inflatable sculpture within which contemporary performances and happenings are staged.

20.07 - 02.09 Exhibition Barricade // IG Metall, Berlin

A passage through the inflatable barricade.
A passage through the inflatable barricade.

 

The mirror barricade is a social sculpture consisting of silver reflective inflatable cubes that can be assembled within seconds into a barricade. The playful tools for blockading roads were built by citizens of Dortmund, who positioned themselves against xenophobia and the so-called “Day of German Future” neo-Nazi rally on the 4th of June 2016.

The exhibition reflects on the process, the forming of the “social sculpture” through an installation, a video and a small publication. The installation consists of an inflatable wall that divides the room into two and serves as a semipermeable membrane. A projection shows two separate videos: the first shows the fabrication workshops and barricade trainings at schools, combined with interviews of 12-13 year old students who explain how they learned to make inflatable cubes and put them to use as a barricade. The second video shows aerial footage of a mass choreographed barricade training with more than 200 people participating, combined with film clips of the inflatables used at two counter demonstrations against the neo-Nazi march: a playful, family-friendly demonstration at Wilhelmsplatz (the square in the district Dorstfeld, what the self-proclaimed neo-Nazis call their “national liberated zone”) and the barricade at BlockaDO, the more radical demonstration that promoted nonviolent civil disobedience for blockading the neo-Nazi march. The BlockaDO demonstration was kettled in immediately after the start. The cubes became cushions and a protection barrier between angry protesters and police forces. The police response was to cut the inflatable works into pieces. Here the question arises about how to deal with neo-Nazi marches and which values are defended in our society.

A small publication designed by Studio Pandan serves as the teaser for Tools for Action’s upcoming book, with texts about the history of barricades (Tom Ullrich), an analysis of the transformative potential of play in demonstrations (Seraphine Meya) and a text describing the pedagogical aspect of the project (Helena Breidt).

The mirror barricade was initiated by Artúr van Balen / Tools for Action in cooperation with the Theatre of Dortmund. Action realised by Tools for Action (in Dortmund coordinated by Artúr van Balen, Katherine Ball, Tilly Gifford, Camille Martenot with additional support on the day of action by Dan Glass, Malcolm Kratz, Seraphine Meya and Aidan Whiteley) together with the Schauspiel Dortmund, the Municipal Integration Centre of Dortmund and the network Schools without Racism - Schools with Courage.

Exhibition from 20th of July until 2nd of September 2016.

Exhibition by Artúr van Balen
Video edit: Artúr van Balen
Video Sound: Sander Manse

Publication and graphic design by Ann Richter and Pia Christmann from Studio Pandan
Texts by Seraphine Meya, Tom Ullrich, Helena Breidt.

Exhibition curated by the Haus am Lützowplatz within the IG Metall (Metall Union).

Action realised with the Theatre of Dortmund,

Action funded by the the Dortmund Municipality for Diversity, Tolerance and Democracy, the Municipal Integration Center of Dortmund, LUSH Charity Pot, Rosa Luxembourg Foundation, the Heinrich Böll Foundation,  Dortmund City Marketing and a crowdfunding campaign.

Exhibition Barricade runs from 21 July until 2 September 2016

Address:
Exhibitionspace of IG Metall (Metall Trade Union)
Alte Jakobstraße 149
10969 Berlin

Opening hours: 
Monday – Thursday from 9:00 am until 6:00 pm
Friday 9:00 am until 2:30 pm
Entrance free

 

Back-side of the inflatable barricade.
Backside of the inflatable barricade.

 

Fragment of workshop table and wall with collaborators, showing the alliance and the organisational structure of the action.
Fragment of workshop table and wall with collaborators, showing the alliance and the organisational structure of the action.
Video Projection of Schoolworkshops, Barricade Trainings from aerial perspective and Action on the 4th of June 2016.
Video Projection of School Workshops, Barricade Trainings from aerial perspective and Action on the 4th of June 2016.
Barricade_pre_publication
Publication and photographs for take away: Designed by Ann Richter and Pia Christmann of Studio Pandan. Analog photograph by Camille Martenot on the 4th of June, showing the Thusneldastreet / Emscherstreet in Dorstfeld-Dortmund, flags with the sign HTLR and the Graffiti 100% Nazi-Kiez.
Cubes from the back with Signs of Usage and Names and Quotes of people who adopted a cobble during the crowdfunding campaign.
Cubes from the back with signs of usage as well as names and quotes of people who “adopted” a cube during the crowdfunding campaign.

IGMetall_inflator

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Mirror Barricade // Die Spiegel Barrikade

Dortmund, Germany, 2016
Coordinated with the Schauspiel Dortmund Theater
and Schools without Racism – Schools with Courage


The Mirror Barricade (Die Spiegel Barrikade) is a social sculpture consisting of silver reflective inflatable cubes that can be assembled within seconds into a barricade. The playful tools were built by citizens of Dortmund, who positioned themselves against xenophobia and the so-called “Day of German Future”, a neo-Nazi rally on the 4th of June 2016. The barricade was designed to enable Dortmunders to literally held up a mirror to the extreme-right marchers and make space for reflecting on the kind of society we want to live in.

 

Pupils of the Bert-Brecht Gymnasium learn how to make inflatable barricades. Foto by Peter Bandermann.
Pupils of the Bert-Brecht Gymnasium learn how to make inflatable barricades. Foto by Peter Bandermann.

The School Workshops

Every cube was made by a citizen of Dortmund during a public workshop. The main focus was to work with students at 14 local schools that were part of the network Schools without Racism — Schools with Courage. During daylong skillshare workshops, students worked together in teams to construct inflatable cubes and also took part in discussions about xenophobia.

The whole day was designed to encourage team building. From the very beginning when a truck of supplies from the theatre would arrive, all of the students, teachers and artists from Tools for Action would unload the truck together. We would begin by setting up six custom tables in the school gymnasium or the aula assembly hall, transforming it into a convivial factory for building barricades of the 21st century. The goal was to create a supportive, open and fun environment where students could feel safe to talk about issues of racism and discrimination. By building the cubes together, students built friendships for supporting each other to be courageous and take action to stand up for multiculturalism and inclusion.

Pupils of the Bert-Brecht Gymnasium train with their self-made inflatable barricade. Foto Peter Bandermann

Pupils of the Bert-Brecht Gymnasium do an action training with their self-made inflatable barricade. Foto Peter Bandermann

As a preamble to the fabrication workshop, students would first engage in a discussion about racism and xenophobia, convened by the local organization Respekt Buro. The discussion exercises were designed to bring to the surface the influence of neo-Nazi ideology on traditional German values. It also created space for students to talk about the internationally interconnected neo-Nazi scene in Dortmund, which focuses much of its recruitment on students just out of high school.

After the discussion and presentation about inflatables by Tools for Action, the fabrication workshop began. The entire class would gather together to watch a step by step of demonstration of how to measure and cut the pattern for the inflatable cube. Then the students would form into teams, each locating themselves at one table and using custom-crafted tools to make their cube pattern. The rest of the day would be an ebb and flow of the group coming together to watch a demonstration for the next step, then returning to their team’s table to work together on that step.

One by one the teams would finish their cubes and inflate them. As the silver forms would fill with air, so too would the hall fill with excitement and laughter. Students would bounce the inflatables high into the air in celebratio

Dortmund 4th of June 2016 Inflatable barricade at the trade union demonstration. Foto by Edy Szekély.
Dortmund 4th of June 2016 Inflatable barricade at the trade union demonstration. Foto by Edy Szekély.

n and then assemble all the cubes together to learn a series of choreographies dubbed the Barricade Ballet. These choreographies doubled as an action training in ways these playful tools could be used to intervene in the neo-Nazi march. “Double spaghetti” and “Pumpkin” where among the favorite code words for intervening with these inflatable sculptures as an artistic form of direct action.

The international network Schools without Racism, Schools with Courage (Schule ohne Rassismus – Schule mit Courage) began in Germany in 1995 during a period of increasing racist and extreme right-wing violence. This was the motivation to create a network in which young people have the opportunity take a stand against daily discrimination in their living environment. In this framework students can ask, “What kind of society do I want to live in?” and actively contribute to building a society where respect and multiculturalism are at its core.

barrikaden-training-friedensplatz1-web

The Action

On June 4th, when more than 500 neo-Nazis gathered in Dortmund, counter-demonstrators connected the cubes together to form a barricade, to literally hold up a mirror to the extreme-right marchers. The Mirror Barricade also protected counter demonstrators by functioning as a shield against neo-Nazi violence and police repression.

The inflatable barricades were located at two gathering points in the city: a playful, family-friendly demonstration at Wilhelmsplatz (the square in the district Dorstfeld, what the self-proclaimed neo-Nazis call their “national liberated zone”) and the barricade at BlockaDO, the more radical demonstration that promoted civil disobedience for blockading the neo-Nazi march. The BlockaDO demonstration was kettled in immediately by police, who had formed a cordon around the neo-Nazi march. The cubes became cushions and a protection barrier between impassioned protesters and police forces. The police response was to cut the inflatable works into pieces. Here the question arises about how to deal with neo-Nazi marches and which values are defended in our society.

https://vimeo.com/180476017

The Barricade of the 21st Century

Blown up within minutes from a formless piece of plastic, the inflatables are huge props for visibility. Stretching across roads and intersections, their glittering metallic surfaces and surreal weightless forms captivate the eyes of the public and media. They are more than just walls, though — when the cubes are thrown into the air, the street is transformed into a spontaneous playground. In the battle of the spectacle, the Mirror Barricade is a tactical tool for saying NO to xenophobia and racism, and YES to imagining what else might be possible.

The Mirror Barricade created an unpredictable, stunning, aesthetic image of togetherness in Dortmund — standing in solidarity against xenophobia and exclusion whilst in solidarity with refugees and inclusion.

 

barrikade-katharinentreppe29mai-web

 

Ende Gelände and Training for Trainers - how we spread the inflatable barricade tactic

Text by Katherine Ball with contributions from John Jordan. 

Ende Gelände is an annual mass action of civil disobedience calling for “here and no Further” for fossil fuel extraction. From 13-15 May 2016, 3,000 demonstrators gathered in the Lausitz region of Germany to blockade the Welzow Sud Lignite Coal Mine, owned by Vattenfall.

Inflatable barricades were set up to block roads leading to train tracks transporting coal supplies. Made of silver inflatable cubes, the barricades prevented police from accessing railways occupied by thousands of demonstrators.

From the rail lines and forests, demonstrators descended into the coal mine and climbed onto the digging machines — forcing the mine to shut down due to health and safety regulations restricting the machines from operating when unauthorized persons enter the mine.

For three days, demonstrators held the blockade of the mine and railways delivering coal to the nearby power plant, also owned by Vattenfall. By preventing coal from being delivered, one unit of the of the Schwarze Pumpe Power Plant had to be completely shut down and the other unit reduced its production by 2/3. Because of the lack of supplies, 1300 MW of the dirtiest power was prevented from entering the power grid.

600 demonstrators entered the power plant, attempting to shut it down completely due to health and safety regulations. Inside the plant, demonstrators were attacked by riot police and pepper sprayed. The demonstrators attempted to leave the plant, frantically jumping over fences, running along an exit road, and breaking through police lines. 130 people were kettled by the police, photographed for three hours, held until 4am in the cold and wind (the temperature dropped 4-6 degrees celsius at night), and finally arrested and brought to the local jail in Cottbus, Germany. Meanwhile, the coal railway and mine blockades continued. The cubes were played with inside the kettle, bringing fun and conviviality into a scenario intended to dehumanize. At one point, one cube escaped the kettle and the police refused to give it back. So demonstrators inflated another cube, chanting:  “We are inflatable, another cube is possible!” (a play on “We are unstoppable, another world is possible.” )

The Ende Gelände actions were part of a larger call to put an end to burning lignite coal in Germany. Lignite is the dirtiest form of coal. It emits far more CO2 than other fossil fuels. Lignite is the main reason why German CO2 emissions have started rising. In Germany, lignite burning is higher today than at any time since the 1990s. No other nation burns so much.

EG2-lrPhoto credit: 350.org / Paul Levis Wagner
EG2b-lrPhoto credit: Fabien Melber
EG3-lrPhoto credit: Kevin Buckland
EG4-lrPhoto credit: Tools for Action / Katherine Ball
EG5-lrPhoto credit: Tools for Action / Katherine Ball
EG7-lrPhoto credit: Tools for Action / Katherine Ball
EG8-lrPhoto credit: Reuben Neugebauer

Vattenfall, one of the big energy corporations in Germany, wants to sell the Welzow Sud Coal Mine and Schwartz Pump Power Plant, instead of shutting them down. A new investor on the other hand would reinvest large sums into lignite mining in the area. In order to avoid catastrophic climate change, this coal has to remain in the ground. One of the largest lignite mines in Germany, the Welzow Sud Lignite Coal Mine is where the climate is being negotiated — and where demonstrators are holding the line for climate justice.

In preparation of the Ende Gelände action,  a “training for trainers” occurred in March 2016, organized by 350.org, the Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination and Tools for Action. Representatives of climate activist groups from all over Europe learned how to organise for the action and make inflatable cubes. Every group representative then took home 2-3 rolls of silver insulation foil, tape, a fan and a battery — enough to make 11 to 16 cubes. Fifteen trainers went back to their respective countries (including Netherlands, UK, France, Denmark, and Sweden) to teach people to make inflatables. 60 cubes were made during these workshops and then brought to Germany.

At Ende Gelände all these inflatables came together for the first time. During the camp, a HQube was set up where people came to find out more about the cubes. 200 people were trained in a rolling programme of role playing trainings in the fields behind the camp in preparation for the actions

The inflatable barricade tactic creates a new visual language for direct action, where play, fun and beauty are pivotal. The technique was first developed by Tools for Action in Paris during the UN Climate Summit. The video below gives an impression of the training for trainers.

More information and instruction manuals here: www.toolsforaction.net/made-in-paris

 

 

How to block a street in 20 seconds and just as easily disappear again..

Inflatable Barricade

Inflatable barricade training for December 12(D12) . The word “barricade” comes from the French word “barrique” meaning “barrel”. The first barricades were hollow barrels rolled out into 16th century streets, filled with stones and secured with metal chains. Tools for Action, a Berlin-based arts collective, developed a barricade with a similar construction principle. Modular lightweight sculptures made of insulation foil are filled with air and attached together with velcro. A set of cube-shaped units (like cobblestones) can be quickly inflated at different locations, forming a line that hinders sight and movement when brought together en masse. They can be more than walls though – when people throw the individual cobble- stones into the air, they turn a street into a spontaneous playground.

Fabriqué à Paris - Made in Paris

Barricade in Paris of 1944, used for the liberation of France.
Barricade in Paris of 1944, used for the liberation of France.

 

In Paris, the city where the concept of a barricade originated, Tools for Action has invented a new type of inflatable blockade in preparation for protest at the 2015 UN Climate Summit. The inflatable barricades were ´Made in Paris´ and sent to different climate activist groups around the world to be used on December 12.

Portable inflatable barricade kit sent to New York. 5.12.2015
Portable inflatable barricade kit sent to New York. 5.12.2015

 

Actions in the United States and London

The inflatables have been sent in packages to activist groups in New York, Portland and London marked “Fabriqué á Paris.” The inscription refers to the climate conference taking place in the city under a state of emergency. It also refers to the barricade being invented in Paris in the 16th century.

Inflatable Blockade of tracked gas pipeline in Wetschester, New York. 11.12.2015.
Inflatable Blockade of tracked gas pipeline in Westchester, New York. 11.12.2015.
Blockade of the offices of the US Forest Service in protest of logging in the Mt. Hood National Forest, Portland. 11.12.2015.
Blockade of the offices of the US Forest Service in protest of logging in the Mt. Hood National Forest, Portland. 11.12.2015.

The inflatables have already been used to blockade the offices of the US Forest Service in protest of logging in the Mt. Hood National Forest and a construction site for fracked gas in Westchester, New York. This tactic addresses the fact that climate change is a global problem that needs a site-specific direct response.

“Red Lines are not for crossing”

A red line is drawn across these infatable barricades, symbolizing the demands drawn up by the Coalition 21, a network of 130 civil-society organisations. The red line entails a drastic and immediate reduction of greenhouse emissions and a recognition of the historical responsibility of industrialized countries. It also demands the installation of a monitoring system with the authority to penalize transgressors, and sufficient financing from more economically developed countries for a global transition to clean energy, including compensation for the suffering and loss that climate change has caused.

Inside the inflatable studio where we gave skillshare workshops how to make the inflatable barricade.
Inside the inflatable studio where we gave skill-share workshops how to make the inflatable barricade.

 

The barricades were assembled by hundreds of helping hands, connecting French farmers opposing a destructive airport, locals from the Montreuil neighbourhood in Paris and solar panel engineers from California. The construction studio in the social center Jardin d’Alice was a meeting point for discussions, skill sharing, and imagining how this simple tool can be used.

See you in Paris! Skillshare Workshop and Training for COP21

Inflatable sculpture in front of Jardin d´Alice. Photo by Artúr van Balen

Come build inflatables with us in Paris!

Tools for Action is giving skill-share workshops and trainings how to build your own inflatable sculpture and use it as a tool for protest at the United Nation Climate Conference (COP21).

You can find our studio at the Art Build Space at Jardin d´Alice, 19 rue Garibaldi in Montreuil, 93100.
We’re here pretty much everyday making inflatables, so feel free to come by anytime.  We’re always here:
Thursdays to Sundays: 12h - 20h.

Check out our Facebook page for what we’ve been making:
www.facebook.com/toolsforaction

If you can’t make it to Paris, you can also join the crew building inflatables in London for the solidarity demonstrations that will happen there. Email [email protected] for more info about London inflatables.

See you in Paris!

yours,
Tools for Action

Test of the inflatable Barricade from toolsforaction

Carbon Bomb Blows Up Near West Point Military Academy (West Point, New York 2014)

The carbon bomb hovering above the Hudson river. Image by Ellen DavidsonThe carbon bomb hovering above the Hudson river. Photo by Ellen Davidson

On Tuesday morning, a 30-foot carbon bomb blew up in the airspace over the Hudson River in front of West Point Military Academy.

An inflatable bomb pressurized with carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and oxygen contained in outer shell of silver radiant barrier foil, the carbon bomb was manufactured as part of a research program coordinated by the inflatable fabrication group Tools for Action. Lettering on the side of the bomb read, “US Military: Largest consumer of oil, largest emitter of CO2.”

Members of the Sea Change Flotilla in a paper boat on the Hudson river in front of West Point Military Academy. Photo by Ellen Davidson.

Members of the Sea Change Flotilla in a paper boat on the Hudson river in front of West Point Military Academy. Photo by Ellen Davidson.

The carbon bomb was transported down the river by a flotilla of canoes midway through a two-week journey traversing the Hudson River down to New York for the upcoming climate mobilization. At West Point, the Sea Change Flotilla was joined by former military service members from Veterans For Peace, who plan to carry the carbon bomb in the Stop the Wars, Stop the Warming contingent at the Peoples Climate March on September 21.

The primary culprit in all this heating the planet is not you or I because we don’t recycle quite enough. It is the US military, the biggest user of fossil fuels and the largest emitter of CO2 on the planet – not to mention its ongoing wars waged for resources and power – wars of destruction to people, life and the environment,” said US Army veteran Tarak Kauff.

Photo by Ellen Davidson

Photo by Ellen Davidson

As the United Nations prepares to meet in New York on September 23 to discuss climate change, one subject that will not be on the negotiating table is the emissions of the US military. Although the US military is assumed to be the largest emitter of CO2, the military is not required to report their emissions to the UN. While the Pentagon refuses to release fuel usage data, it has been estimated that the US military is responsible for five percent of total global greenhouse emissions.

“In the dialogue around stopping climate change, too much emphasis is being put on ethical consumerism,” said Katherine Ball of Tools for Action. “Does it really matter if we try to fly less if the US Air Force continues to burn one-fourth of the world’s jet fuel? We have to address the systemic causes of climate change: the most eco-friendly thing you can do is be anti-war.”

Photo by Ellen Davidson

Photo by Ellen Davidson

For decades, the US military has been fighting wars to secure oil resources. These wars have taken many forms: from the CIA-planned coup in Iran in 1953 in order to prevent the newly elected prime minister from nationalizing the nation’s oil, to the full-scale invasion of Iraq in 2003 in order to – among other things – up the production of Iraq’s vast oil fields.

In the process of fighting these oil wars, the US Department of Defense has consumed more energy and emitted more carbon than any other institution on Earth. In 2003, as the military prepared for the Iraq invasion, the Army estimated it would consume more gasoline in only three weeks than the Allied Forces used during the entirety of World War II. The Guardian estimates that throughout the entire Iraq War, the US military’s carbon footprint was between 250-600 million tons.

“Military interventions for oil are just the tip of the iceberg. The military is gearing up to fight ‘climate wars’ over resources destabilized by climate change: water, arable land, food. It is a vicious cycle: In fighting these climate wars, the military will release emissions, which will cause more climate change, which further destabilize resources and cause more climate wars, which will cause more emissions…” Artúr van Balen of Tools for Action said.

The US military itself has long warned of the reality of climate wars, “The projected impacts of climate change will be more than threat multipliers; they will serve as catalysts for instability and conflict,” explains the US Military Advisory Board Report National Security and the Accelerating Risks of Climate Change.

“We are actively integrating climate considerations across the full spectrum of our activities to ensure a ready and resilient force,” John Conger, the Pentagon’s Deputy under Secretary of Defense for Installations and Environment, said in a statement following the 2014 report. Global weapons manufacturers are also planning for these climate wars, predicting that there will be increased demand for their products as climate change accelerates.

Katherine Ball concluded: “Is military force the US government’s plan for dealing with climate change?”

Giant inflatable rainbow intervenes in Croatia´s annual swim race (Vis 2014)

Foto by Csilla Hódi
Foto by Csilla Hódi

 

At 6p.m. on Saturday the 16th of August on the paradise island of Vis in Croatia, the annual open water swimming event was expected to run as usual. Instead a giant inflatable rainbow carried by activists intervened in the closing section of the race to establish queer visibility in public space and sport, and to protest Croatia’s again increasing LGBTQ discrimination -recently coming in bottom (with Latvia) of the EU list of LGBTQ (2) friendly places. The focus on the ethics of sports is due to the fact that sports environments are very hostile to any minority involvement.

Foto by Csilla Hódi
Foto by Csilla Hódi

For sixteen years the swimming marathon on Vis has taken place over a 2,2 km distance. It is popular among local professionals as well as seasonal recreational swimmers. The biggest group in the past 3 years has been an informal team of LGBTQ swimmers and sport enthusiasts from Croatian clubs in Zagreb and Split. They have gained international attention due to the increasing brutality and homophobia that LGBTQs faced: in attacks on the first Split PRIDE in 2011 and the homophobic and sexist statements of Sport officials in Croatia that received global publicity. Only last week, the Croatian presidential candidate Mrs. Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic (National Democrats) said: “many gay people would not want to be regarded as homosexuals.” illustrating a return to Don’t Ask Don’t Tell style policy.

Foto by Csilla Hódi
Foto by Csilla Hódi

An 8 meter long inflatable rainbow flanked by shimmering silver clouds quickly inflated by an activist flashmob was waiting to meet the scores of swimmers close to the finish line of the 2.2km race. The symbolism referred to both the PRIDE movement and the long-held South Slavic superstition that passing under a rainbow changes an individual’s gender.

Foto by Csilla Hódi
Foto by Csilla Hódi

Tonka, a young coordinator in the recently opened LGBT center & group Rišpet in Split says:
’The Pop-up Rainbow was a fun and much appreciated experience that proves that activism can be stimulating and motivating and produce successful process based work.’

The major of Vis (National Democrats) insisted via the race organizers the rainbow protest not to take place - to suppress public display of LGBTQ groups (also organizing a big queer party on the night). However as he did not dare to make an official prohibition during the height of the tourist season, the intervention took place without official disturbances and with a colourful reaction from the public.

Artúr van Balen, Tools for Action: `The rainbow intervention was meant as a subtle provocation to challenge presuppositions about LGBTQ-people in the region of Dalmatia and Croatia in general. In a region where tradition and dogmatism sees homosexuality as something abnormal, we envisioned the inflatable pop-up rainbow as an eye catching surprise, a fatamorgana on the water that captures everyone’s´ imagination, regardless of their political views. The inflatable workshop was also meant as a support for queers in Croatia to be more open and confident in coming-out.´
 

Foto by Csilla Hódi
Foto by Csilla Hódi

Zeljko Blace, QueerSport : ‘The intervention highlighted the need for the public to be ‘loud and proud’ about sexual orientation and gender identity in public space - especially outside of the nexus of relations between Government, professionalized NGO activism and politricks of media PR. Most LGBTQ advocacy is within the Croatian capital of Zagreb and hugely normalized via the ”marriage equality” focus - highly diverted from the harsh LGBTQ realities on other levels and in rest of Croatia where more grass-root activism is much needed.’

Contact Details

QueerSport community works in social and cultural activism in sport & leisure
rainbow(at)qsport.info>.

Tools for Action creates inflatable intervention in cooperations with other art-, activist or community groups. info(at)toolsforaction.net

Notes to Editors

1. In the lead up to the intervention, two skill sharing workshops in inflatable making as engaged creative work were held in Zagreb and Split, with participants and contributors ranging from young DIY enthusiasts to expert engineers, from creative troublemakers to insightful critics, athletes, artists and activists. Initiators Artúr van Balen from Tools for Action and Zeljko Blace from QueerSport have previously been involved in a number of similar political, social and cultural projects in diverse contexts. Tools for Action’s work includes a 12 meter inflatable hammer that banged the fences of the United Nations climate change conference in Cancún, Mexico 2010, a 7 meter inflatable slipper that slapped patriarchy and supported women rights in India in 2013 and a 11 meter inflatable saw that protested corruption on the anti-Putin protests in 2013. QueerSport does annual QueerSport Weekends in Zagreb and critical sport laboratories in conjunction to EuroGames 2011 in Rotterdam - reflecting on insularity and normalization of a once progressive gay sport movement, Zagreb Pride 2013 - presenting possibilities and alternatives in sport activism in exhibition of “Another Sport is Possible?!.” in Zagreb and Rijeka in Croatia.

2. LGBTQ - Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex