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Petty? Principled? Personal? Proof? Public's right to know?
You decide.
Bob Mabbitt
Video: Gorilla Art v. Guerilla Art
APE SHIT:
Follow along as Uncommon Sense publisher Matt Zacks goes from inspired purist to self-appointed appeasement guru to hypocrite truth censor faster than you can say, ‘Ettinger, write me an editorial about why I, Matt Zacks, and my paper, The Uncommon Sense, typify the integrity, freedom and fearlessness of beholden-to-no-one independent press.’
(Email Exchange between Matt Zacks and Bob Mabbitt following the April 13 Guerilla Art event in Downtown Flint (see video link above))
-----Original Message-----
From: Matt Zacks ((Uncommon Sense Publisher))
Sent: April 14, 2007 10:51:45 AM EDT
To: Bob Mabbitt , Melodee Hagensen
Subject: The Mail So Far . . .
See attached…
(letters of disapproval attached)
-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Mabbitt
Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2007 12:14 PM
To: Matt Zacks ((Uncommon Sense Publisher))
Subject: Re: The Mail So Far . . .
I'm all over this. Don't worry and don't respond. Talk to you later.
-----Original Message-----
From: Matt Zacks ((Uncommon Sense Publisher))
Sent: April 14, 2007 12:30:26 PM EDT
To: Bob Mabbitt
Subject: The Mail So Far . . .
Not worried at all. I may want to help with some finer points to the response though, although I'm sure you've thought of just about everything so far.
Mike from the T-shirt shop wants to talk to me face to face on Monday too. And so it begins.
I love it. Great idea and count me in for this kind of thing in the future.
By the way, i was talking to that fat old white guy at the white horse last night. He used to work for the sheriffs department. He said he has our back if we need people who "can't be identified" as he put it. Very interesting.
Talk to you later,
Matt
p.s. what was that bit from Justin Phillips about the flint journal employees dressing up as zombies too? Crazy.
-----Original Message-----
From: Matt Zacks ((Uncommon Sense Publisher))
Sent: April 15, 2007 12:54:43 PM EDT
To: Bob Mabbitt
Subject: The Mail So Far . . .
A couple more.
(more letters of disapproval attached)
-----Original Message-----
From: Matt Zacks ((Uncommon Sense Publisher))
Sent: April 15, 2007 1:01:57 PM EDT
To: Bob Mabbitt
Subject: The Mail So Far . . .
Is it not repugnant that they're evoking images of revolution and contempt for the powers that be (in their advertising at least), yet they are completely against free speech?
This is going to get crazy. Check out the attachment...think we should print this with the letters? Or your editorial?
(artistic disapproval attached)
-----Original Message-----
From: Matt Zacks ((Uncommon Sense Publisher))
Sent: April 16, 2007 4:47:28 PM EDT
To: Bob Mabbitt
Subject: Ugh
Hey Bob,
Michael Kelly just called saying he’s getting mail from Mott students that were involved in the show, angry that their tuition money is going toward advertising in the paper.
Make sure your response is sincere and not in attack mode. The key is that they’re fired up about something and that’s a good thing. The idea that we’re going to use this for the greater good is just about the only thing that saved me from losing advertising at Mott.
Thanks and sorry I’m getting so nutty about this.
Flint City T-Shirts cancelled advertising and distribution because “what we did was bad for Flint” and “someone claiming to be the organizer posted a message on the 625 myspace page saying that we were protesting the show.”
Anyway, later,
matt
-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Mabbitt
Sent: Sunday, April 22, 2007 2:33 PM
To: Matt Zacks ((Uncommon Sense Publisher))
Subject: Gorilla Art Show
Hey Matt. Here’s the final version of the gorilla thing. Give me a call if you have questions, concerns. Tried to be as straight-forward and honest as possible. The only way to go. Give me a call. Do you plan on using other letters, images, blogs? Would be easy to source. Later. Bob
-----Original Message-----
From: Matt Zacks ((Uncommon Sense Publisher))
Sent: Sunday, April 22, 2007 2:33 PM
To: Bob Mabbitt
Subject: Gorilla Art Show
Cool. Thanks bob. I definitely plan on using other letters. Not sure about myspace blogs, except to illustrate the wild rumor mill. I want to include a picture of the banner and maybe a screen capture of someone smiling for the video camera when we walked through.
What do you think?
Thanks for doing this and sparing me the agony of it all.
Later,
Matt
(Myspace Message Exchange Between Glen Birdsall and Bob Mabbitt)
----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Oktobor
Date: Apr 24, 2007 10:43 AM
Bob,
This is Glen at the Mott Foundation. I've been going through books again and i have quite a few that i think would benefit you and Pub. Dev. These are some of the subjects i've set aside for you.
1. intellectual property.
2. access to information.
3. 20-30 year olds who can't seem to get financially stable.
4. unemployment.
5. health insurance.
6. World Trade Organization.
7. Human Rights.
8. Electoral College Reform.
I am putting them into a box. I don't have a budget to Mail them to you....so could you come to the Mott Foundation sometime (12th Floor) to pick them up?
Thanx, glen
----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: PUBLIC DEVELOPMENT
Date: Apr 25, 2007 11:24 AM
Thanks, Glen. That's nice of you. I'll try to swing through early next week around lunch. And really, no hard feelings about the guerilla stuff. Wasn't a personal thing. Just a principle thing. Later!
----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Oktobor
Date: Apr 25, 2007 11:35 AM
cool. there is a lot of material here.
"the letter" at the meeting today read as a personal attack. i wish you would've talked to us. before, after, something....
but i am a big person and i just want it all to end.
when you can come get the books from the mott foundation come to the 12th floor reception and have them ring me. i'll help you carry them to your car. the civil society books are really new and good....most of them are extra copies.
glen
----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: PUBLIC DEVELOPMENT
Date: Apr 25, 2007 11:39 AM
What letter?
----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Oktobor
Date: Apr 25, 2007 11:52 AM
at the forum at mott community college. the letter sent in for matt zacks to read on your behalf. don't worry i am over the whole situation....i just want/need it to end.
glen
get a hold of me next week...
-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Mabbitt
Sent: April 25, 2007 2:21:35 PM EDT
To: Matt Zacks ((Uncommon Sense Publisher))
Subject: Forum?
Matt. What is Glen talking about? What forum? What letter? For who? On whose behalf? Very confused.
-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Mabbitt
Sent: April 26, 2007 10:58:34 PM EDT
To: Matt Zacks ((Uncommon Sense Publisher))
Subject: Gorilla V.2
Matt, I dropped off a new version of the gorilla thing at the office but wanted to talk to you about it face to face. Since we were not allowed to participate in the forum, what with generating discussion being a big part of why we did what we did (Dr. Kosnoski – head of UM-Flint's American Democracy Project – and I had actually met the day before Mott's mystery forum on how to really maximize the reach and value of such a critical conversation, crossing all campuses, sections of the city, and involving those most involved and affected (and certainly those who did not commercialize the anit-commercialization action). Oh well, right? Anyway, we think it's fair to ask that this new version be run in your paper. I'd be surprised if you think so – but it may be better for The Uncommon Sense to print it this month than for the Mott Chronicle to print the unedited version next month. I'm really sorry to have to say it – believe me, I am – but oops or the pearls from your advisor of the month are wearing really thin again. We care about our integrity too, Matt. Call me. Or forget it.
(Submitted for the May Issue of The Uncommon Sense:)
LESSONS LEARNED (AND TO LEARN) FROM THE GORILLA ART SHOW
The banner read:
Guerilla
Art (anarchy symbol A) is Not For Sale. Not ‘art’ is not for sale.
guer·ril·la art (or gue·ril·la art)
v. the surreptitious, usually sudden, creation or installation of unauthorized public art, especially for the purpose of making an overt political statement.
It was not an Uncommon Sense suggested or sponsored action.
It was not a Public Development suggested or sponsored action.
It was not a KFC, McDonalds, Buick, Kroger, What’s Up Downtown or Che Guevara suggested or sponsored action.
It was a group of artists from Flint’s diverse art community working together to create what those artists understand guerilla art to be – at the “Guerilla Art Show.” Irony is so two Presidents ago.
No one involved would ever say art should not be sold. We all gotta eat.
The banner read:
Guerilla
Art (anarchy symbol A) is Not For Sale.
But we all remember events as we need to remember them.
Matt Zacks bringing
The Uncommon Sense
to hand out was a gorilla-marketing move he made on his own – branding the action. The rest of us should have stopped him but it was too late. It was not about
The Uncommon Sense
(formerly located at 625 South Saginaw Street); unless this means The Uncommon Sense lives up to its ‘Guerilla News & Views’ mantra. But that seems doubtful . . .
Since the action (in which he alone botched by branding and tarnished by ticker-tape litter parading), Matt alone (along with Randy Zimmerman who was not there), appeared at the secret Mott Community College forum on, you guessed it, ‘guerilla art.’ Blap. Yes. That enevidable discussion was the reason we did what we did. However, Matt spoke on behalf of the rest of those involved in the creation, planning and un-commercialized execution of unabashed guerilla art without our knowing and clearly without grasp of what we said. (Beware the trendiness of can’t-miss trends, advertisers. artists) Matt’s full-on opportunistic nature got caught up in the conflict he has with selling ad space and selling people short. Welcome to for-profit journalism. Yet it’s a rare independent publisher who has no problem with guerilla hype’s potential to position himself as your friendly neighborhood broker of back-cover ad gorilla damage control at the expense of true, open, meaningful discussion. Neither Matt or Mott’s Art Department bothered to invite us to participate in the forum. Again, meaningful conversations were why we did what we did. I, for one, would never pin a letter to Matt’s shirt and tell him to read (some of) it for me. Discussion and misrepresentative reciting are completely different things – and entertaining clients isn’t in the same galaxy. Call us . . . we’ll go non-profit . . . but we digest . . .
Why did those who know why they did what they did go to such lengths? Why subject everyone to an aftermath of misunderstanding, hurt feelings and finger pointing? Words are just words.
No. Words represent ideas. Ideas – especially for idealists – are not just ideas. Art is life. And idealists are serious artists too.
“Guerilla” can be a nasty idea to mess around with unless you’re serious. And what the “gorilla show” said to that Flint art community is that guerilla art can be poached, gutted, tanned, one-size-fits-all, artificially-flavored, shrink-wrapped, kiss-the-gorilla-for-a-dollar, hocked, bought, sold, consumed and recycled back into the great visceral overload a la mode, brought to you by the General Motors 100th Anniversary. Lost in the events page.
Lost like militant, dissident artists like X Clan, The Goats and Public Enemy when hip-hop went mainstream. When record executives saw popularity and profits, they put themselves in a position to weed out artists who didn’t appeal to the widest market – towards the lowest common denominator. The political, the radical, those willing to risk poor sales, bad press, even their careers in order to communicate their convictions were not worth the investment. The masters of access said, “You can’t touch this.” And underground, activist hip-hop would have to wait another ten years for the internet to open up another pipeline to the public.
Art is life. For some, fighting back is too. And those artists need to be able to burn the invisible blindfolds and bust the comfortable chains of false security and accomplishment with jolts of greater meaning, greater clarity, at greater scale. They are fueled by a sincere desire to generate more thought, discussion, action! That’s what guerilla art, news, views and tactics of endless degree and necessity provide those individuals. Everyone has the freedom to participate or not. But please don’t hijack that power for the sake of homogenization, or gentrification, or because
The Uncommon Sense
can’t pay artists and writers to cover all the other artists and writers in Flint. Market forces and scarce resources are nothing personal.
Nor was the guerilla art display in question. Living, working or playing in Flint does not make any of us freedom fighters, or guerillas – nor does it mean we have to aspire or present ourselves to be. Be yourself.
Still, many area artists and activists hold to the principle that ‘guerilla’ is a declaration of one’s willingness to risk significantly in the effort to fight back. For them, ‘guerilla’ is a proclamation about how far one is willing to go, what one is willing to do and the methods one is willing to employ to fight back – vehemently and non-violently – and without needing permission or approval to do so. This is fundamental to all variety and degree of guerilla action. Again, ‘guerilla’ can be a nasty idea to mess around with unless you’re serious.
The Flint Sit-down Strikers; every graffiti artist to ever spend time in Flint; this city’s former members of Students for a Democratic Society; area participants in groups like New Directions and Soldiers of Solidarity who keep real labor interests and spirit alive; anybody who’s ever painted The Block; John Sinclair; NGP; Dave Yettaw; Flint-native Nile Malloy and his work with Green Labor Solidarity and the Freedom From Oil Campaign; Brian Morrissey and Charles and Shelby Snyder and what they went through to get medical marijuana legalized in Flint; Michael Moore; Adam Gerics; many more. Even Matt Zacks, printing petitions, allowing Gregg Shotwell – the autoworker activist of the Soldiers of Solidarity – to enter the UAW Bargaining Convention, not as a delegate, but with press credentials through
The Uncommon Sense
is something no non-guerilla news outlet would ever do. “Too risky,” say their Risk Management Managers. “Too risky not to,” say too few.
Which is why fearless willingness to take bold action, uncomfortable or unpopular as it may be, is inspiring to so many of us. That power needs to be protected, uncorrupted, full-blown. No concessions. The stories need to be told and the voices need to be heard with all the energy and motivation that drives serious actions – to drive more. Fighting back does foster hope. And there is nothing tempered about it.
Believe it or not, this is not meant to come off as a ‘we’re more guerilla than you’ chest-pounding – or even Matt Zacks bemoaning. It has to be an open, honest explanation of motivations – with a little ‘call to arms’ thrown in. Sincerest apologizes to those who did not understand – and perhaps still won’t.
Just know that we were offended too. Please do not sell out our methods of expression, our life, and our livelihood in a manner in allegiance with the very reasons why we are forced to resort to them.
The banner read:
Guerilla
Art (anarchy symbol A) is Not For Sale.
Why? Somebody had to do it. Nobody had to call the police. Somebody should have invited us to the forum.
To learn more about why, you are invited to participate in the Citizen Nuisance Task Force’s “Graffiti Free Flint Day,” Saturday, May 12, 2007. 10 AM – 4 PM. Graffiti Buster volunteers will be painting over graffiti throughout the city.
Or call the Graffiti Hurts® Flint HOTLINE at 810-767-2683 to report locations of graffiti, volunteer to become a Graffiti Buster, or to leave a message for one of the Citizens Nuisance Task Force Executive Board members.
Coming Next Month! :
Relive Matt Zacks’ panache as he easily justifies censorship of an article about Dale Kildee, your Congressman, and Anteon, the chemical weapons manufacturer tenet of Uptown-for-profit’s Uptown-non-profit procured property in downtown Flint; Anteon’s partnership with Mott Community College, Kettering University and the United States Defense Department, all a-dipping their toes in the curriculum dollars, R&D deflection and tuition payers/future WMD-manufacturers of America/Flint Economic Redevelopment tool pool. Why did Matt Zacks censor such a dud? The grant he got to buy
The Uncommon Sense’s
new digs (the former Democratic Party of Genesee County Headquarters) was through one of Tim Herman’s other non-profit interests.
I won’t talk about it if you don’t. Cool? Deal!
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Wed May 09, 2007 3:17 pm |
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Tegan
F L I N T O I D
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I'm interested in this topic, but because I'm looking at it totally from the outside, this post is really hard for me to follow and know what is going on.
I assume this has something to do with the fact that people from the Uncommon Sense showed up at a recent art fair to protest the selling of art, saying basically that art should not be for sale and a part of capitalism.... and i understood some items were destroyed or damaged...
but thats all I know... I wasn't there. I had to work...
just curious.... |
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Wed May 09, 2007 7:16 pm |
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