Documentation from a performance, B!RDBRA!N, at The Blackbox on January 22, 2012 for the Pacific Standard Time Public Art & Performance Festival.

“No general idea, not one idea, but an accumulation of details. One detail after another. All the time, without interruption or pauses”. —Guy de Cointet, 1979

Alex was an African Grey Parrot and the subject of a thirty-year Avian Language EXperiment (hence, his name) that set out to prove that birds can reason on a basic level and use words creatively. Alex consistently demonstrated an ability to learn symbolic and conceptual tasks often associated with complex cognitive and communication skills. The animal psychologist who worked with Alex for 30 years, Dr. Irene Pepperberg, claimed that Alex used a two-way communications code and could identify 50 different objects and recognize quantities up to six; that he could distinguish seven colors and five shapes, and understand various spatial concepts. Alex showed surprise and anger, and could add, to a limited extent. He even understood the concept of zero. Alex died suddenly and unexpectedly on September 6, 2007. His last words to Pepperberg were: “You be good. I love you.” Pepperberg’s research remains controversial, with some skeptics maintaining that Alex’s apparent mastery of language revealed nothing more than a very sophisticated version of conditioned responses.

This is a short clip from the film “Early Warnings” that details the sit-in that happened on Wall Street on the 50th Anniversary of the 1929 Stock Market Crash. The protestors were demanding an end to financial support for the nuclear industry and the action was part of the larger occupations at the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant. The costumed figures on stilts are from the Bread and Puppet Theatre. The film is from Green Mountain Post Films.

Occupy Wall Street — were you arrested on Brooklyn Bridge?

meanwhile…

Oliver Payne meets Theotis Beasley — the nicest skateboarder since Rodney Mullen.

via Grandmixer Emz

thanks Grant

June 24 - July 2, 2011

QUEERING SEX is a performance and video exhibition that features the work of artists who are dealing with gender and sexuality. This cross-generational, trans-historical video program explores sex and sexuality via ideas and actions related to performance, and thereby highlighting a relationship between performativity and identity. The exhibition includes the participation of over 40 artists from Los Angeles, New York, and abroad.

QUEERING SEX needs your support please visit the kickstarter page to help bring this project to Los Angeles!!

thanks Nate