PLS, I'M TRYING TO THINK INSTITUTE

A FEW CURRENTLY, POSSIBLY PROPOSED PROJECTS

[Working Title: Illuminated Charter] (idea 2010). Have all the foundational organization documents of P.I.T.T.I. inscribed and illuminated by artists, including the formation document required to be filed with the State of Texas, so that everyone who orders a copy from the State – and those who do business with a corporation often do – will acquire an original work of art certified and thus completed with the cooperation of the citizens of the State through their agency, the Office of the Texas Secretary of State.

New History Street Project (2010- --)

The City of Dallas has been re-naming streets near the impending Trinity River Project, erasing the history of the area as evinced by the old names.  After the City's re-molding fathers rejected the results of an election that they themselves organized for the purpose of re-naming Industrial Blvd., in which Dallasites voted to re-name the street Cesar Chavez Blvd., the fathers decided instead to give it perhaps the most generic name possible, Riverfront Blvd. (the street runs along the river).  Next, Motor Street was re-named Medical District Drive (the street leads to a medical district).  (Ok, "Industrial" probably used to run through an industrial district, so that maybe name wasn't all that imaginative, either; but at least it had acquired meaning as a historical marker.)

I live and work on Chemical Street, very near the old Industrial and the old Motor, and I surmise my street may be next in the re-molding fathers' line of fire. So the idea is to preemptively apply to have Chemical officially re-named something that will at least be meaningful to we who live or work on the street.

Perhaps Chemical St. and others in the area could be re-named after historically significant Texas artists – e.g., maybe Donald Judd, Robert Rauschenberg, Vernon Fisher, Ant Farm, Good/Bad Art Collective, The Art Guys, etc. This would also fit with City and developers' aspirations to art-ify the district.

We'd have to obtain the consent of 51% of the owners on each street (unless the name changes are actually proposed by the City) and perhaps pay various fees, but at present, many buildings or units are unoccupied, which might reduce objections.

We could install historical plaques – perhaps one at one end of each street to commemorate the history that's being obliterated and another at the other end, commemorating the new history – either the factual history of the life and works of the artist after whom the street was re-named, or the imagined history that we hope to suggest or create by the new street name. (Another alternative, perhaps if there's difficulty agreeing on the artists after whom streets should be re-named: re-name them after fictitious Texas artists, and fabricate the stories and images of their lives and work. Or use alternate identities created by artists, such as Annabel Livermore, Pinky Diablo, or George Quartz. Or alternate identities in general, such as George Sand, Batman, or Divine.)

As each street is re-named and new street signs and historical plaques are installed, we could have a block party with formal unveiling, ribbon-cutting, and christening/inauguration ceremonies, a band, refreshments, etc. Tenants on the street could invite their clients as a way to renew their relationships with them as well as making sure they're aware of the new street name. We could have real and fictitious presentations and performances about the old and new factual or imagined histories. It could become an annual street celebration. Tenants could create and perform new histories every year, with or without the help of the P.I.T.T. Institute or other artists.

Artists could create a cool little walking-tour map of the district for local businesses to offer, showing the locations of the re-named streets and the plaques, as well as The Dallas Contemporary, art galleries, showrooms, nearby restaurants, etc.

Through the simple approval of the new names and at no greater expense to the City than the cost of a few new street signs and plaques, the City and local owners could acquire an enduring piece of public art that helps create new history for the area in a flavor the City and others might find more palatable than the old one.

The art work created through this project would comprise all the re-named streets and the commemorative plaques, as well as the any related block party performances, the walking tour map, etc.

Maybe this project could be a commission by a local patron or art institution (e.g., it's almost in the neighborhood of The Dallas Contemporary and The Green Zone), and they could participate in this event. Alternatively, the idea could be sold with an option for the art buyer/patron to be credited in a plaque.

The P.I.T.T. Institute and its artists could play a key role in soliciting support among local owners and tenants for re-naming their streets, in helping to determine which artists should be commemorated, and any and all other efforts needed to realize this project.

[Not Yet Titled Virtual Sculpture] (2010 - --). "3-D" sculpture in virtual space. Could make many different kinds; basic idea is to construct a lattice-sculpture with links to various servers; "viewers" of the work would click from link to link, thus tracing a "sculpture" that could exist in various ways. E.g., on the most literal level, the servers could be physically located at geographical points that outline a recognizable 3-D object, such as a pyramid organized around the highest point in a skyscraper (5 lattice points). Or the "subject" could be conceptual; e.g., the sculpture could be based on my aphorism, "There is no responsibility without freedom; no freedom without power; no power without knowledge; no knowledge without love." Could set up streaming-online videocams at various locations: for responsibility, a jail; for freedom, maybe the ACLU or a public square; for power, maybe a nuclear power plant, or a gas station; for knowledge, a university or library; for love, a hospital nursery, Las Vegas wedding chapel, or swingers' club. Etc.

The P.I.T.T. Institute School (idea 2009). A minimum-cost, experimental artists' teaching school; see the P.I.T.T. Institute Curriculum.

Credential Factory (idea 2010). In response to the ongoing credentials "arms race," form a P.I.T.T.I. committee to consider requests for various kinds of credentials. To the extent the committee determines that the usual requirements for obtaining those credentials are not entirely helpful (such as, e.g., incurring large student loans or garnering approval from corporate-controlled institutions), the committee would consider developing alternative means for issuing them. E.g., the P.I.T.T.I. could itself issue such credentials as the title of "Artistic Director" (which could be granted to any and all artists participating significantly in any P.I.T.T.I. project), not to mention student I.D.'s, and possibly also including higher degrees and various kinds of no- or low-money awards, which could even be custom-tailored for worthy individuals otherwise unlikely to win recognition from more traditional awarding bodies (e.g., the school referred to in the previous project could be called "The P.I.T.T.I School for Uncredentialled Credentials"). I think there should be requirements for the issuance of such credentials beyond the payment of the costs or fees for issuance; however, these requirements need be no less subjective than those for more traditional credentials are.

[Not Yet Titled] (idea 2010): The purposes permitted to tax-exempt organizations under U.S. law include (among other things) fostering national or international amateur sports competition and testing for public safety. Maybe we need to develop those kinds of projects, too (e.g., an art olympics, or testing for public mental safety).

[Exhibition Working Titles: Objectless Art, Unownable Art, Impossible Art, Etc.] (idea 2010). A cluster of exhibitions of works of the stated varieties. Works in Objectless Art would involve no material object; works in Unownable Art would be inherently insusceptible of being owned; Impossible Art would comprise descriptions or mock-ups of works that cannot be realized, etc.

[Not Yet Titled New Media Expo] (idea 2010). An exposition of new media-based work (possibly biennial, to occur in years alternate to the Video Association's The Program).

[Not Yet Titled Mass Wedding] (idea 2010). Conduct a mass wedding and marriage celebration. (I'm already a certified Minister in the Universal Life Church; so is Tom Sale.) Per Article 1, Sec. 32 of the Texas Constitution, "Marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman", and "This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage"; and per Title 1, Section 2.001(b) of the Texas Family Code, "A license may not be issued for the marriage of persons of the same sex." Subject to that, the ceremony could include same-sex couples, with the understanding that the extra-legal marriages could be morally binding among the private individuals agreeing to them, and the hope that they might automatically become legal if and when Texas law changes. Also, if the law does not define "man, "woman," or "sex," perhaps we could offer definitions.

[Not Yet Titled Art Registry] (idea 2010). Develop a database of artists and others listing the kinds of skills they offer, so that people who might be willing and able to pay or barter for artistic services can easily find and connect with them. This could also be useful to the Institute to help identify people with skills needed for other P.I.T.T.I.-full projects. UPDATE: I've learned that this has been done, and didn't last; but perhaps it could be given new life on the 'net.

[Working Title: Personal Theater] (idea 2004). Invite people to create a fantasy role they'd like to play – in a theater, video, or in their own imagination – what kind of character, in what kind of context – plot and setting. They should be encouraged to imagine something different from their real, daily lives. Then meld these writings into a single play that weaves together the various plots and characters. Produce the play with each role played by the person who conceived it.

[Working Title: Institute of Rights] (idea 2010): A foundation or institute for the production and evaluation of possible rights.

Before I chatted with Prof. Hedy Law, it never occurred to me that the right of free speech had to be invented -- but of course it did, along with all the other things various peoples consider to be rights. How do we decide what's a right, and who's entitled to it?

E.g., I think animals should have some rights (e.g., a chimp who uses sign language, as compared to an early human fetus with the i.q. of a carrot); I also think people should have a right or two I'm not sure any gov. or other org. consistently recognizes to the extent I think we should (e.g., the right of travel/migration – are we serfs, owned by our manor lords, or what?).

Or w.r.t. "ownership." The concept is a total fiction; we can define as we think most helpful what it should or should not encompass. E.g., most of us could probably agree, we should each be considered to own our own body (what did the hospital do with my uterus after my hysterectomy? They never even asked whether I might want it; even if I had no use for it, maybe Annette Lawrence could have done something with it), and probably a lot of us could agree we should each be considered to own the fruits of our own labor/creation, at least up to a point. And maybe it's time for more explicit discussion re- who – if anyone – should be deemed to own natural resources, air rights, the air waves, your personal or private data, outer space, etc. etc.

[Reserved] (idea 2010).

 

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