Collectivism after Modernism - autonomous learning - Blogs

Do-It-Yourself Geopolitics 285
The constellation of artists’ groups and subversive social movements
operating in the city of Barcelona has taken some audacious steps in
this direction. 28 The galvanizing effect of the Prague protests against the
IMF and the World Bank on September 26, 2000 (the Wrst big European convergence
after Seattle), was particularly strong among these circles, which
constantly evolve in a net-like or rhizomatic structure, making any attempt
to identify them ultimately fruitless—and that’s part of the idea. An early collective
known as Las Agencias, working with another group called OWcina
2004, launched a subversive tease campaign in the streets, announcing Dinero
(money), then completing a week later Dinero Gratis (money for free). The
idea, it seems, was to short-circuit the advertising promise of instant grati-
Wcation and to subvert the demands and deferrals of labor, while at the same
time pointing toward a utopian economy of free time and creative possibility.
Other projects went on to bring pop fashion to the protest campaigns,
introducing the Prêt-à-révolter line of defensive clothing, offering all kinds
of accessorized option-slots for the latest in tactical media gear, then the New
Kids on the Black Block poster campaign, which made ridicule out of the
heavily moralized discussion of violence or nonviolence that followed the
protests against the G8 in Genoa, Italy, in July 2001. The Yomango project—
FIGURE 10.4.
Yomango “countermarketing”
advertising the group’s theme
“It’s either you, money, or Yomango.”
Barcelona, Mexico City, Buenos Aires,
and Rosario, Argentina. Image
courtesy of Yomango,
http://www.yomango.net.
Creative Commons License.