jan 2007
Video of Spiderman action now online..... (main language finnish)
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Following on from the amazingly inspiring creative resisters weekends in March & May in Helsinki and Tampere My Dads Strip Club is working with Finnish based resisters to use strategies of direct action and creativity to inspire and support radical social and ecological change.
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14 June
We
took part in the DO
IT YOURSELF City project in Keskustori, Tampere Central
Square, created by Mikko Lipiäinen and Jonne Kauko. A chaotic
environment was born around one site hut and two steel containers challenging
people in the
city to deliberate and transform their surroundings.
( photo: shoppers worship Stockmanns)
WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY
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WE ARE WORKING WITH SPIDERMAN
Eurajoki Nuclear Power Plant Finland ( HE IS STILL DEPRESSED FROM BEING BITTEN BY THAT RADIOACTIVE SPIDER)
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Despite having a nuclear disaster on its doorstep Finland is proud to be rapidly expanding it's nuclear power programme. Spiderman went to Eurajoki Nuclear Plant to take them a bag of cement. He heard they had big problems with the concrete foundations.He warned that even his superpowers can't help if there's another disaster...
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It might be POLITICAL 26 April was a day for the policially depressed.... marking 20 years since Chernobyl. Politically depressed joined us in their bedclothes ( we were so depressed we didn't bother to get dressed).
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DEPRESSED?
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The Strip Club was based at the centre of the snowy universe, Pori on the west coast of Finland for 6 months in 2006. First participants in the new PORI AIR project. |
So much has happened already....
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UK news 2006 Thanks to The Baltic we now have police records. |
Cheers to those of you who have emailed us showing concern and support following our ridiculous arrest in December 2005 at The Baltic Contemporary Arts Centre(UK). This took place as we were making a new piece in their bookshop Christmas shopping evening.
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We were filming a new action directly related to us being contracted to deliver a performance lecture at the Baltic the following week. Despite this and our publicity being plastered all over the centre, we were still arrested and held in police cells for 7 hours, eventually being relased on bail for theft. The police eventually dropped the case at the end of December. Because we did nothing illegal. |
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Over SIX months after the arrest we can confirm that the cops refuse to return our video tape and have sent an email saying they intend to destroy it. We have still had NO response (apart from acknowledgments) from The Baltic Contemporary Arts Centre despite emailing them three times. As a result our mugshots,fingerprints and DNA are now permanently on police records. |
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Buy More Things the ads urge. Why do we accept this? Do you mind being f**cked over by Corporations? We do. We went out there and fucked em back. See the video of servicing Coca-Cola vending-machines.... |
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More Finland news
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Click here for a report on the FAKE DEAL ad project last month. |
Old stuff
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Ironically My Dads Strip Club is now based over the 'Sale' supermarket and across the road is a Shell garage.This was our message to Shell for the International Day of Action Against Shell. The annimated message was projected for 5 nights in February. |
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There was constant audience of car drivers who stopping at the red traffic lights. Plus teenagers hanging out in the Shell garage cafe at night and people stopping to fill their cars with fuel. Drivers were winding down their windows and shouting at me in Finnish as I was taking these photos. What were they saying? How do I know? I didn't hang about because it was -20 out there.
climate deal ( I pollute) |
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Even older stuff
november 2005
Buy Nothing Day click here to see us contemplate our consumption. Its a quicktime movie of the Helsinki Whirl-Mart art/action of "Ritualised Resistance" a one-hour meditative experience in a Helsinki shopping space with empty trolleys .
september 2005
London - Sheffield - Manchester - Brighton- Leicester - Nottingham UK
We supported the UK tour of the Critical Mass film Still We Ride.
June 2005
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CRITICAL Lets get this clear we didnt go to the US We got on our bikes to‘go west’ on a hybrid bike tour of California in the UK. This playful exploration of a small area of Derby embraced suburbia and its struggles with the promise of the American Dream. Taking place a few miles from the shadow of the Wal-Mart big box Taggart & Graham chewed over the invasive influence of consumption narcosis. Featuring products purchased from Joys Minimarket.
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“Out in the Wild West, there is a place where the deer still play and buffalo roam free, best of all, it's only a ten minute cycle ride from Derby city centre.”
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Critical-California dreamed of fostering conversations and developing a network of cyclists for creative resistance. |
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Richard Dedomenici arrived and climbed into his luggage to test Finlands position to the war on terror:
Unattended
Baggage
Helsinki Railway Station 11.05.05
A series of experiments took place including live-cludo in various apartments for sale.
Cross the game Cluedo with a Finnish Estate Agents and you get Ms Scarlet in the study with the revolver or....
Mrs Bloodblood in the kitchen with the dagger
Helsinki Estate Agent "here's the kitchen, look
the fridge and freezer are here "
Mrs Blueblood " Ooh thats a huge freezer, you could fit a whole
person in there"
Saturday 14 May HELSINKI, FINLAND
7-10pm Art Contact 2005 Forum Box Ruoholahdenranta 3a
Yee gads... as Eurovision gets nearer, Dedomenici and Taggart tackle Finnish Karaoke and 70's disco dancing at Art Contact held in Forum Box with a video update on recent performances in Finland including Crazy Day at Stockmanns, live-art Cluedo at Huoneistokeskus and Unattended Baggage at Helsinki train station.
Other artists in the event: Roi Vaara, Hepa Halme, Yrjänä Sauros, Malcolm Manning and Alice Miceli.
Alice Miceli from Brazil screened her emotive video showing images of people who were imprisoned and murdered by the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia during the 70s. The pictures, taken at their detention, are projected on a veil of falling sand, the projection time being proportional to the individuals' suffering in prison.
8pm Friday 20 May TURKU, FINLAND
Fluxee hosts another evening of performance art
Tehdas Teatteri,
Manilla, Itainen Rantakatu 64, Turku
My Dads Strip Club teams up with Breathingplanet at Fluxee..... reporting
back details of bicycles under siege in NYC, Unattended Baggage at
Helsinki train station and detective games with Huoneistokeskus
<http://www.breathingplanet.net>
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PORI - Saturday 21 May
Boomerang
Knickers.
Oh my god the fucking Americans and fucking Brits are fucking up the
fucking planet..... is this happening simultaneously with other things?
My Dads Strip Club teams up with Breathingplanet to report back.
events begin
from 2pm onwards
More details http://www.tehdasry.fi/ilmoitustaulu/perf05.htm
Try this ...Joe Kelly came up with the idea and we ran with it...only throwing cardboard ones but staff at The Works were not amused threatening to call the police, they didnt ...shame as we hoped to be charged for "for throwing a spanner in the works" it was a health and safety risk they said...
.... what papercuts?
highlights from 2004
Nestle Christmas Hit
'Somebody' went to an event with their sister, a bit worse for wear noted that a table of Nestle employees was nearby, she identified the CEO, put salt and pepper in his drink when he wasnt looking and accidentally spilt her drink all down him on the dance floor.
On the subject of CEO's, Bjane demonstrates Nestle are being a bit more honest about their motives with their new range of Fat-Kat bars.
Take a survey
What would you say if someone stopped you in the street and asked "Which company would you like to run Iraq?" Richard Hay did just that in Nottingham UK,around the time of the Iraq elections.The worrying thing was that 65% of people asked didn't even question the question and happily picked a company. When asked about the reasons for their choice responses included " Virgin - because I used to work for Virgin Airlines" and "Starbucks - because I dont drink coke, but I like coffee"
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Results from asking 77 people Virgin 20 votes Starbucks 11 votes Macdonalds 8 votes Coca Cola 6 votes Bechtel 4 votes Halliburton 1 vote |
Thankfully 27 people voted for none .... to quote one respondant "none of them because they're all a bunch of thieving fuckers"
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Steve's been up a lampost trying to make CCTV more user friendly
Start praying children
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Not only has Rev Billy has been banned from every Starbucks in the world he's been jailed for going into such a hellhole. Time for all of us to get some bad Elvis hair, a white collar, white jacket and enter that Starbucks store. Deposit information about child labor in coffee fields on the tables. Hallelujah! Feel the Spirit! |
No Cough-fee to Starbucks
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Starbucks have been cough cough coughing thier guts up having locked up our mate Billy and issued legal papers about a website belonging to our friend The Vacuum Cleaner. We hear this has already cost them £20,000 in legal fees alone. The spoof website shows how to subvert their brand by filling in a few choice letters on the Starbucks logo and magically transforming it into the words “fuck off”. Starbucks claims that it “tarnishes” their brand and “goodwill”. (Does anyone give a crapaccino?). you are
invited to |
Labofii.net
My Dads Strip Club was in London playing games.
pictures at the lab
“There are no rules here. No formulas……… have fun, experiment,…toy with a look that borders on dangerous. Our only request - go for broke, not for average. You are no ordinary beauty.”
Team Game up to 30 players -1 hour
PAY BACK
“Give em back their own shit man.”
Chris Graham expresses his negativity towards capitalist modes of
production and consumption by demonstrating the art of eating and
shitting money to spend in store.
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more older stuff...
For those of you who haven't seen Cereal Monogamy the video is now online.
High on our list of 'things to do' is feed the network of associations for creative resistance in the UK. We organised 'Reaching To The Converted' a London event hosted by Artsadmin, and so oversubscribed it was we were forced to move venue to accomodate everyone. Thanks to the Artsadmin and the arts cafe who opened at short notice. Richard Dedomenici, My Dads Strip Club, The Vacuum Cleaner,Space Hijackers,The Church Of Stop Shopping, Chris Graham all shared a bit of work it was a chance to scheme and plot... and meet up with fellow artists and activists& creative organisers. The choir sang and £50 appeared when we passed round a hat for Critical Art Ensemble Fund to support Steve Kurtz.
Rev Billy had a running on BBC with the queen of consumerism Vanessa Feltz....he was thrown off her BBC radio show for stating the true costs of Ronald Reagan's policies and Starbucks' anti-labour practices.
Show bosses
became alarmed when the Stop Shopping
Gospel Choir broke in to a chorus of "George Bush Does Not Return
to Ground Zero." and the reverend (quite rightly) pointed out
that
"Wal-Mart is the Devil, and Starbucks presides over infant
m ortality rates in Guatemala that must drive us from our pose with
the double latte..." What else did they expect from a man whose
been banned from every Starbucks in America?
Our latest action on the war against shopping is here at URBAN DECOY.
Thanks to all the inspiring people in Chicago and NYC we connected with. We dropped in a few Starbucks en-route to do some colouring in. The hours pass by so quickly sitting in their comfy chairs with a green felt tip pen in hand.
Dedomenici was jumped on by Chicago police when he was performing his Cable Tie Navigation act by the Happy Birthday Israel Celebrations in Daley Plazza.
In the UK Tony Wilkinson who ought to be tied up for stuffing £295 million under his belt and continuing to exploit prison labour to boost his business.
UK chain Wilkinson's Hardware has been accused by the Campaign Against Prison Slavery of using prison inmates as forced "slave labour" A series of events at Wilkinson's stores have been taking place across the country.See Letter to Mr. Wilkinson and 'Part Time Prisoner'
December 03
Report came in from a new Dutch contact
On the 20th of December, starting 5pm, a party was held at IKEA Amsterdam and Paris simultaneously. About forty people joined the party in Amsterdam. They brought drinks, cake, streamers, games and came dressed up. About four interior displays were thus transformed into parties. IKEA staff had mixed reactions. Some of them said it was OK so long as they didn’t drink alcohol, or so long as they didn’t make a mess. Others told them to collect their stuff and leave immediately. This meant that they had to move around a bit. In the end, by staying friendly towards the staff but still refusing to leave, they stayed all the way till closing time and the staff even helped tidy up. They offered to purchase a bed cover that had got a wine stain on it, but the manager said they would replace it. They left a box of chocolates to thank them.
Getting arrested.... and a new low in supermarket fascism, a man was arrested and then fined £95 for not using a basket when he went into his local Eddah store to buy one item. When Carst Kijlstra, from Holland, went to pay for it the shop assistant refused to serve him saying he must have a basket. "Don't be ridiculous" said Mr Kijlstra who then left the money on the counter and went home. At home while cooking his dinner a police car arrived at his house to arrest him. After being held for an hour Mr Kijlstra was allowed to go home if he agreed to pay the £95 fine and stay out of the shop for 12 months.From SchNEWS
November 03
Sat 29 November 2003 - BUY NOTHING DAY
My Dads Strip Club purged Oxford St in London teaming up with the likes of The Vacuum Cleaner, Mr Dedomenici and Rev Billy from the Church of Stop Shopping.We started at Niketown, the turn out was excellent we had 6 uniformed police waiting for us with 2 minibuses full of cops parked around the corner.See Immo Klinks pictures