Joseph Tanke with my written example of Robert Barrys Marcuse Piece behind him, right Joseph Tanke speaking before an audience.

On October 18, 2008 the philosopher Joseph Tanke stood on the grass mound, behind a redwood colored podium and spoke about the philosopher Herbert Marcuse’s The Aesthetic Dimension. Below you will find my brief introduction to the event, describing a speech/action I preformed prior to Joseph’s presentation, an audio recording podcast of Josephs talk, followed by a text interview between Joseph and I on the subject of Marcuse’s protest and art. This talk was the sixth and final event that I produced as part of A Grass Mound (With Kind Regards to Utopia).

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As a way of introducing philosopher Joseph Tanke and to tie the subject of Marcusian Aesthetics, to utopia and art or the gallery - in which this event was taking place, I wrote the following words on the gallery wall with a marker.
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Iain Boal sitting on the mound in front of a replica of the SF Mime Yes, Parks Commission No, protest sign from the 1965 protest in Golden Gate Park, to the right is Ronnie Davis with Mime Troupe photographs.

On October 11, 2008 Iain Boal sat on the grass mound and gave a talk entitled “Conflicts On The Common”. This lecture was basically concerned with the history of enclosure, emparkment and it’s relationship with art, one in which Iain, a historian with exhaustive knowledge on the body and the commons, spoke about many, many things. This talk spanned from Thomas Moore, to Wordsworth, to Gerard Winstanly and the Diggers, to 60’s experiments with communal living, to Utopian endeavors and the problematics of Utopian vision. It was a way to mark a path through these histories of resistance taking place in the common open air, as a preamble for a question which Iain asked to Ronnie Davis, founder of the San Francisco Mime Troupe (SFMT); ‘what was the SFMT trying to do in the late 60’s when they brought their political theater outside into the open air of the park?’ This talk was the fifth of six event that I produced as part of A Grass Mound (With Kind Regards to Utopia).
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Lewis Jordan performing at the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery

On October 4, 2008, musician Lewis Jordan performed a series of poems, musical improvisations and jazz standards on top of the grass mound. I initially asked Lewis to perform as part of this project because I was interested in having someone who was versed and had participated in the experimental or avant-garde jazz scene in San Francisco and beyond. This scene to me seemed to flirt with Utopian ideas both in its experimentation and in its individual narratives. Lewis accepted because he said he was both enamored with the idea of playing on top of a grass mound, which was saying goodbye to utopia, while also being expressly dubious about the idea. You can read more about this below in the interview that I made with him and/or you can hear his performance reacting to the site in the MP3 podcast available below. This was the fourth of six events that I produced as part of A Grass Mound (With Kind Regards to Utopia).
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Left two covers from The City, Not Long After; right Pat Murphy reading on the mound.

On Saturday September 28, 2008 science fiction author Pat Murphy read from her book The City, Not Long After at the SF Arts Commission Gallery. This was the third of six events that I produced as part of A Grass Mound (With Kind Regards to Utopia). Below you will find my brief recollection on the event, an interview between Pat Murphy and an MP3 download of Pat’s reading from The City, Not Long After.

There has been a long-standing relationship between grass and science fiction. In Ward Moore’s novel Greener Than You Think, the world is slowly taken over by unstoppable Bermuda Grass. This is the most common grass seen throughout the southern United States. In John Christopher’s The Death of Grass, a plague kills off all forms of grass threatening the survival of the human species. Grass can also be seen as the major signifier of Utopian suburban America, which has been the setting of much critical sci-fi during the 60’s from Ray Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles to Philip K. Dick’s, Time Out of Joint. However when I was programming this event I was not really thinking about the relationships between science fiction and grass, rather I was searching for different perspectives concerning the role that art or creative expression plays in shaping and transforming our cities, and our world. When I read Pat Murphy’s novel The City, Not Long After, I was amazed to discover a novelist who had written a novel in which art, anarchy and creativity are the central themes in a struggle for independence and freedom set within a city in which I am currently living, San Francisco. More… »

On September 20, 2008 at 1pm and again at 2pm, the artist Tommy Becker Performed a series of participatory instructional poems involving movement with charged stones. In this post you can read my description and reflection on the event, download the audio of Tommy’s performance, read the poems that Tommy read, and read the transcript from an interview between Tommy and I on his work and working practice, which I conducted right prior to his performance. This was the second of six events that I produced as part of A Grass Mound (With Kind Regards to Utopia).

Artist Tommy Becker will perform participatory instructional poetry involving movement with charged stones. Like mantras or hymns the poems will act as concentration aids to enable the audience to focus and unite their existence to the earth and one another through repeated phrases, movements and the artist’s recitation of communal nostalgia. Prior to their arrival at the gallery the stones will have been subjected to a variety of utopian experiences by the artist such as, chantings, blessings, prolonged cuddling and extended exposure to the music of The Beach Boys. Tommy will perform the series of poems twice, once at 1:00pm and a second time at 2:00pm. Wear comfortable shoes and positive thoughts. Audience participation is required.
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Matthew David Rana Performing on the mound, right with Amy Balkin.

On Saturday, September 13th, artist Matthew David Rana performed a speech series on top of a grass mound. He presented five speeches ranging from; two speeches from Ingmar Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander; a discourse concerning an ideal schedule, by Eric Steen; a transcript from a supreme court case dealing with free speech, public space and private space, a collaboration with the artist Amy Balkin; and a polemic on Utopia by Justin Fiset. This was the first of six events that I produced as part of A Grass Mound (With Kind Regards to Utopia). Downloads from each of these speeches are linked below followed by an interview between myself and Matthew.
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Poster image from A Grass Mound (With Kind Regards to Utopia)

A Grass Mound (With Kind Regards to Utopia) is an art project comprising a sculpture and an event series centered around discussing Utopian potential, resistance, and creative expression. The sculpture is a convex form made of natural grass, which acts as a stage or platform, for a series of lectures, readings and performances. This project was most recently produced as part of Immediate Futures an exhibition at the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, from September 6-October 18, 2008.

The mound or natural-grass-knoll is based upon a ruin found at the site of a vanished California Utopian colony named Alturia (1894-96) located near Santa Rosa, California. The aim of this sculpture is that by emulating this ruin (which contains the remains of a Utopian experiment) the mound will act as a foundation from which to explore and develop the complexities of Utopian vision as it relates to both acts of resistance and creative expression. A poster placed above the mound announces the upcoming events, and a series of interview pamphlets with all participants is produced in order to further articulate the ideas.
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