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Jan. 17, 2012 The website for my new project, The Somerville Stock Exchange (SSE), went live today. Starting March 1, the SSE will let community members acquire shares in the Community; the Environment; and the Arts. People can earn theseshares through individual actions, or purchase them by making donations to nonprofits. Stay tuned!
Nov. 13, 2011 I started putting up a new series of street posters today. These ones are about different protests, strikes, and sit-ins. Here are the PDFs, if you'd like to look at them-- or print them out, and hang them up in your neighborhood!
Nov. 6 , 2011 Some of my broadsides were in the Pop-up Art Show at Occupy Boston today.
Oct. 25 , 2011   I wrote a short pamphlet about security cameras for Occupy Boston. It includes information on how to request footage from cameras; how cameras work; and a map of the cameras that are near the camp. Here's the PDF.
Oct. 21, 2011 Some of my broadsides are in a show in Croatia. The show is called "Sign of the times," and is up through November 3.
Aug. 6, 2011 I made some new Street Surveys for my BBC broadsides project. I posted some photos of the different broadsides on the street here. I also put PDFs of the surveys up, if you'd like to print some out, and stick them up near where you live.
July 16, 2011 I made a pad of broadsides for the Chain Letter show at Samson Projects. Anyone who wanted a poster could tear one off, and put it up where they lived. (The show was amazing, by the way. The idea was that the gallery invited 10 artists, who could then invite 10 artists each, who then could invite 10 artists... Over 1200 artists brought their work. It was mayhem.)
June 27, 2011   Some of my books and zines were part of second event in Prague this past weekend. It was called "Book the Book," and focused on small and noncommercial publishing projects. Here's some information on it.
June 23, 2011 Dave Taber and I wrote a piece for the Massachusetts Cultural Council's blog about the Play-Jurisms conference that we organized in May. You can read the article here.
June 13, 2011 For some reason, I was on the Callie Crossley Show today, talking about community, public art, and my BBC broadsides. It was live on WGBH radio--which is one of Boston's NPR stations. Sheesh. Here's the part of the show that I'm on.
June 1, 2011 I made three more broadsides, this time about Los Angeles. They show income leves; crime rates; and where LA folks get their water from. They'll be up around LA soon-- and are part of Rise Industries' show at the Institute of Cultural Inquiry!
May 20, 2011 Play-Jurisms: A Weekend of Creativity! Copyright! Ethics! Appropriation is this weekend! Free talks by lawyers on how to protect your work! Free talks by copyright and copyright-reform activists! Performances! A film! You should come! It's at the Democracy Center, 45 Mt. Auburn St., Cambridge MA. (Organized by myself, and David Taber.)
May 18, 2011 Whew! A crazy few days! After Sebastian Campion blogged about the broadsides on his wonderful Guerrilla Innovation website, the story was picked up by GOOD and Boston.com, and a whole bunch of blogs. I'm really amazed by it.
May 14, 2011 I started putting up some new posters for BBC broadsides. They're called Street Surveys, and ask questions about public space and community that people can answer by removing a slip of paper.
May 9, 2011   Some of my little books are in a design show in Prague, which opens today. The show's called "Zavíráme za 21 dní," and runs through the end of the month.
May 6, 2011   I'm now on the board of the Somerville Arts Council, which I'm very excited about.
May 3, 2011   Berlin's Gestalten Press has put out an amazing coffee table book about zines and self-publishing-- and included a short essay and a 2-page spread about some of my projects! The book's called "Behind the Zines: Self-Publishing Culture." Check it out here!
April 22, 2011 I started a new project today, BBC broadsides. Look for small posters around the Boston area, showing everything from statistical maps about the city, to poems by Paul Johns.
March 27, 2011   It's brand new! It's retro! It's my new website! You're looking at it! Hooray!

March 16, 2011

David Taber and I have been busy organizing events for our Play-Jurisms: A Weekend of Creativity! Copyright! Ethics! Appropriation! Check back later for a full list of goings-on-- and if you're in town on May 21 or 22, hope you can come!

March 14, 2011 After 3 years, I finished working on my Everyday Exchange. This project involved interviewing people about their daily routines, and giving them a gift based on what they told me. I mailed the final gift off today.
March 3, 2011 Over the past few weeks, I've been working on a survey about how creative people use and view their time. I wrote up the results as the first issue of Rise Industries's new RIPT paper series.

The paper is here. It has some charts and an essay about the data I received--as well as about 8 pages of anonymous descriptions of how 81 creative people organize their time (their routines; how many hours they spend on creative projects each week, etc.). Take a look if you get the chance!

March 1, 2011 Well, I've stopped working on my "History of Somerville, 2010-2100" community art project. It was two years in the making, and was a fantastic experience. Thanks to everyone who participated, or came to one of the events. Without your enthusiasm and ideas, nothing would've come of the project. Thanks!
Feb. 16, 2011 I'll be giving a talk at the Somerville Public Library this coming Wednesday, at 7pm for the book version of my "History of Somerville" project. It'll be at the Main Branch at 79 Highland. Hope you can make it. (Note: The Weekly Dig lists this as the Daily Dig for Wednesday!)
Feb. 15, 2011 The very excellent Shareable.net, which focuses on community and sharing, asked me to write a story about my "History of Somerville" project! Take a look at the article, and their website if you get the chance.
Feb. 12, 2011 The Somerville News and the Somerville Journal both wrote very nice pieces about my "History of Somerville" art show at the Nave. And the News put their article on the front page!

Here's the Journal's article, and here's the New's article. Thanks guys!

Feb. 8, 2011

The show at the Nave Gallery went down swimmingly. Here's some photos. Take a look!
Jan. 23, 2011 This just in! Very glad to announce that futurist Seth Itzkan will give a short talk on Feb. 5th, as part of my "History of Somerville, 2010-2100" show at the Nave Gallery-- and that Adam Schutzman will play the theremin afterwards!
Jan. 21, 2011   Itch Dance journal just put out an issue about competition in the arts. They included a short piece I wrote about all of the competition I've been part or, and seen in the past few months. Get yourself a copy!
Jan. 15, 2011 I finalized the details for the art show and the book reading for my "History of Somerville, 2010-2100" project. I've also printed copies of the book.

Book
Copies of the book are $12 (plus shipping, if you need it shipped) here.

Art show
The art show will be at the Nave Gallery on February 5 from 1-9pm, and February 6 from 1-5pm. Visitors to the show will be able to see all of the predictions I've received so far--and add their own!

There will be an opening reception from 6-9pm on Saturday. At the reception I'll be hosting Future-aoke! Visitors will be able to step up to the mic, and share their thought on the future.

The Nave is located at 155 Powderhouse Blvd., Somerville. Hope you can make it!

Book reading
On Wednesday, Feb. 23, at 7pm, I'll be giving a talk at the Somerville Public Library. The Library is located at 79 Highland Ave. Hope to see you there!

Jan. 14, 2011 Last May, the D21 Gallery in Leipzig put on a large show and symposium about art zines, and included my "i left this here..." zine. They just created a book about the the events, called "Thanks for sharing." You can see it here for free; and you can get yourself a copy here.
Jan. 7, 2011 The future is here again! As part of my "The history of Somerville, 2010-2100" project, I compiled all of the predictions I received between February 2009 and December 2010 into one history of the future. They are on the project's website (in the Timeline & findings section , and in the Participants section)-- and as a free PDF in the Book section.

I'm also working on a print version of the book, which will be available soon.

On February 5-6, I'll be having an art show at the Nave Gallery in Somerville. And on February 23, I'll also be giving a book reading and Future Information Session at the Somerville Public Library.

Check back for more details. Thanks!

Sept. 2, 2010 This summer was a busy time for the future! As part of my "History of Somerville, 2010-2100" project, I had my Future Information table at a few festivals, and interviewed over 20 people about the future. I updated the timeline again to include these newly discovered facts. Take a look!
Aug. 18, 2010 I wrote a short piece for the Rise blog about a group exploration of the sidewalk that runs Logan Airport that I'd given as part of the Common Boston Festival this year. Barbed wire! Discussion of terrorism! Investigations of cul-de-sacs! This tour had it all.
July 5, 2010 MEWS-PARI (the meaningful encounters with strangers preservation and reenactment initiative) has uploaded about 10 new stories that we've gathered recently. Take a look here for the original stories, to read the reenactment scripts, and to see the analytic charts.
June 29, 2010 Marc Levy was nice enough to write a piece for the Cambridge Day about my Everyday Exchange show at MEME. Take a look here.
June 27, 2010 I'll be presenting my Everday Exchange project at MEME for a week, starting today. Visitors will be able to see past examples of presents I've made for participants. I'll also be interviewing visitors about their daily routines, and making presents for them.

Hope to see you there!

Hours: 1-8pm, Sunday 6/27 - Saturday 7/3.
Closing reception: 7-10pm, Saturday 7/3.

MEME: 55 Norfolk St., Cambridge MA
June 8, 2010 As part of the Common Boston festival, I'll be giving a walking tour of the sidewalk connecting the terminals at Logan Airport. We'll check out barbed wire fences and weird traffic circles and sudden flower beds and blast walls--and talk about privacy and public space and public security! Register for free tickets here. Tour date: June 19 (raindate June 26). I hope to see you there!
June 6, 2010 On June 5, MEWS-PARI (the Meaningful Encounters with Strangers Preservation and Reenactment Initiative) was at the Figment Boston festival. We gathered about 12 stories, and got some people to reenact stories with us. We'll put the stories up soon--but in the meantime, take a look at our Documentation page for photos!
May 3, 2010 On May 7, 2010, the D21 Gallery in Leipzig will be presenting a great show on zines, called "Thanks for Sharing". There will be zines, zines and more zines--alongside talks, workshops and other suchlike goodness. My "i left this here..." project will be part of the show. Hooray for Germany!
Feb. 26, 2010 Meghann Ackerman wrote a very nice article about my "History of Somerville, 2010-2100" project for The Somerville Journal. Thanks Meghann!
Feb. 16, 2010 Welcome to the future!

I put together the first version of the website and book for my "The history of Somerville, 2010-2100" project.

Both the book and the website present what I've found by talking to Somerville community members about the future. In the book and website, you'll also find official government plans, think tank vision statements, and various ideas and concerns about the future from various other sources.

The Timeline section presents this material as a single timeline. In the Predictions Archive section, you'll find the actual predictions that community members made.

To download a free PDF of this book, click here. To view the project's website: click here.

Nov. 11, 2009 "i left this here..." will be part of the Something New Festival in Chicago today. Throughout the day, Eli Skipp, Elisha Marshall, Libby Taggart, Nick van der Kolk, and a number of anonymous volunteers will be leaving copies of the magazine around Chicago. Thanks for the help everybody! See the project's page on the festival's website for more details.
Oct. 20, 2009   My art group, Rise Industries, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. As part of the Celebrations, Jeremy went and designed us a whole new website, which he and Michele have been filling with wonderful art reviews. We also have two new members: Mike Feldman, and John Kim.

We also also now have a Facebook group page, which, for some reason, current has 368 members. Hooray for Rise!

Sept. 25, 2009 "i left this here..." will be part of the Dumbo Art Center's 13th annual Art Under the Bridge Festival. During the festival, Amanda B. Friedman will leave copies of the magazine in the Brooklyn Bridge Park. Thanks Amanda!
Aug. 27, 2009 "i left this here..." will be part of a group show documenting interventionist projects in Dublin, at the National College of Art and Design. The show is called "Space is the place," and also features work by the Institute for Applied Autonomy, and the Surveillance Camera Players, among others. It's part of this year's ISEA conference.
Aug. 14, 2009 As part of my "History of Somerville" project, I'll be giving a powerpoint lecture about some of my findings. It will be part of the SAC's Somerville...in shorts event in Union Square at 8pm. Stop on by! Here's the poster, designed by Jef Czekaj.
July 22, 2009 Auditi Guha talked about my "History of Somerville" project in an article about Artbeat in the Somerville Journal. Here's the article.
July 18, 2009 I'll presenting my "The history of Somerville, 2010-2100" project today. At noon, I'll be giving a powerpoint lecture at the Somerville Theatre; and after 130pm, I'll be outside, manning my Future Information table-- where I'll be handing out free copies of a timeline I've created, and talking about the future to anyone who stops by. I'm doing this as part of the Somerville Arts Council's Artbeat Festival. Hope to see you there!
July 13, 2009 Julia Fairclough mentioned my "History of Somerville" project again, in an article about Artbeat. Here's the article.
July 12, 2009   The wonderful folks at Itch Journal included some graphs I created comparing my creative output with other aspects of my life (as I remembered them last winter) in their Issue 9. The graphs are called "Creativity graphs: comparing my creative output with other aspects of my life (as I remember things right now): January 2005 to present."
July 1, 2009   Keith Buchholz's Flux Kits (which include some of my pieces) were in turn included in the Fluxhibition 3 show at the University of Texas at Arlington. Also in the show: Yoko Ono, and Stewart Home. Sheesh.
June 9, 2009

Julia Fairclough was nice enough to have me on Somerville Cable Access's "Somerville Art Matters" talk show, to talk about my "The history of Somerville" project. The show was about chronology in art, and also features Nancy Anderson and Dana Mueller. The show will air twice a week through the month.

Here's the show.

May 25, 2009 I'm starting to close the doors for my "i left this here for you to read" project. I'm no longer accepting new material... (but, of course, if I've asked you to submit something, or you're working on something I know about, I'll be glad to include it in a future issue)

Thanks everyone!

May 16, 2009 Julia Fairclough was nice enough to write an article for the Somerville News about my "History of Somerville, 2010-2100" project. here's the article.
April 22, 2009 Nora Young interviewed me about my "I left this here..." project for CBC's Spark show. (CBC being Canada's national public radio. Sheesh.) Here's the show's blog post about the project, and here's the episode itself.
April 18, 2009 The Somerville News wrote a couple paragraphs about my "History of Somerville, 2010-2100" project in an article about the SAC today. Here's the article
April 5, 2009   Doug Holder printed the tv interview he did of me in the Somerville News. Here is the article.
April 3, 2009   Neural, the Italian new media art magazine, has included Vito Campanelli's piece on my "i left this here for you to read" project in Issue 32, which came out this week. Here is the original web article by Campanelli.

The Rhode Island Historical Society was also nice enough to ask me to donate a copy of my "the last time i saw..." book. It is now a permanent part of their archives.

March 29, 2009 The Boston Globe mentioned my "History of Somerville" project on page 7, in the news in brief column of the City Section.
March 28, 2009   Frank Mills included a short essay I wrote about art in his Urban Paradoxes electronic journal. The essay is called "Leaving little mysteries in the street"; here is the link.
March 27, 2009

Keith Buchholz included part of my MEWS-PARI project in the 5th issue of his Flux Kits.

He's accepting material for future kits, I believe.

March 10, 2009   Doug Holder was nice enought to have me on his Somerville MA talk show, "Poet to Poet, Writer to Writer." Here is a partial transcript of the interview.
Feb. 27, 2009 I launched a new project today, "The history of Somerville, 2010-2100." I hope you'll decide to participate!
Feb. 10, 2009 Vito Campanelli wrote a really nice piece about my "i left this here for you to read" project for Neural. Here's the article.
Jan. 17, 2009 Dutch Cowgirls, a Dutch news website, covered my "i left this here..." project. Here is the article.
Jan. 9, 2009 Dale Roberts was nice enough to include Issue #12 of my "i left this here for you to read" project in the "Mailmania 3" show he curated at Victoria, British Columbia's Vancouver Island School of Art. The show opened today.
Jan. 8, 2009 Jackie Wong was nice enough to write a piece on my "i left this here..." magazine in Vancouver's WestEnder. Here is the article.