The Nomadic Party by Group 3
The Nomadic Party was the relational remix of Group 3, as pertaining to Party! In Progress, which was the initial project of F.O.U.R.
The concepts that F.O.U.R. presented with Party! In Progress (alluding to the collective of VCC 490 that they would be participating in a party that was never fully actualized) was reinterpreted by Group 3.
Instead of concentrating on the ideas of affective labour which F.O.U.R had made central to Party! In Progress, Group 3 developed the idea of an on-campus nomadic party within their groups’ aesthetic and centralized their remix on the theories of Guy Debord.
The idea of The Nomadic Party was no longer a self–contained event in the way that Party! In Progress had been. The Nomadic Party instead delivered the anticipated party to the students of VCC 490, while also incorporating and encouraging the participation of other students from UTM. Group 3 had inverted the aesthetics of Party! In Progress, making it a spectacle that was both mobile and viral.
"Our central purpose is the construction of situations, that is, the concrete construction of temporary settings of life and their transformation into a higher, passionate nature. We must develop an intervention directed by the complicated factors of two great components in perpetual interaction: The material setting of life and the behaviors that incites it and overturns it." (Debord 44)1
The Nomadic Party was self-contained like Party! In Progress, but instead of being defined by architecture and decorum, the members of The Nomadic Party had centralized and internalized the party mentality. They defined themselves through party accoutrements (drinks & snacks) and by incorporating the party decorations as part of their apparel.
With The Nomadic Party, the students of VCC 490 were given party decorations and noisemakers and were told to decorate themselves. They were also given refreshments and snacks, and were encouraged to distribute these among the student population as a means of encouragement to participate. There were also portable music players, emitting danceable tunes while the party moved its way across the University campus. The members of VCC 490 were instructed to travel within the pack, so as to as to maintain the mob mentality they had established in their activity The Flash Mob. With The Nomadic Party stayed true to, “The most general aim must be to broaden the nonmediocre portion of life, to reduce its empty moments as much as possible.” (Debord 45)2, as they brought a moment of surrealism to the students on campus.
The Nomadic Party had traveled in a circular pattern from the CCIT building, moving towards the South Building, crossing over to the Student Center, before finalizing its course at the Starbucks located across the library.
With The Nomadic Party , Group 3 had successfully embodied the theories of Guy Debord through their disruption of the repetitive motions of campus life via a spectacle.
F.O.U.R.
SOURCES
1& 2Debord, Guy. Situationist International. 2002nd ed. New York: MIT P, 2002. 44-51.
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I WAS REALLY IMPRESSED WITH GROUP 3'S RELATIONAL REMIX. I FELT THEY HAD DONE A GREAT JOB OF REINTERPRETING OUR WORK WITH PARTY! IN PROGRESS. I KNOW WE WERE ALL CURIOUS TO SEE WHAT THEY WOULD DO FOR THEIR RELATIONAL REMIX, SEEING HOW PARTY! IN PROGRESS IS A CONTROVERSIAL CONCEPT TO ADDRESS. THE NOMADIC PARTY WAS A COMPLETELY NEW DIRECTION, AND I THOUGHT IT BROUGHT SOMETHING FRESH TO THE CONCEPT
It was also interesting to see that this group continued to work within their own aesthetic style; i.e. "the mob" and constructing situations that disrupt the daily flow of life.
Laura Filosa
The Nomadic Party steams from ideas of cultural imperialism and the creation of social relations, rooted from another book from Guy Debord, called The Society as a Spectacle. Chapter 7: The Organization of Territory, speaks about homogenization and the modification of free space. Group 3 took the existing space of the school and its surrounds and challenged students to venture out in their interaction with their environment and also with one another.
By doing so, the reconstruction of the university environment was altered to meet with the social needs of the students.
Debord, Guy. "The Society of the Spectacle." 1967. Black and Red.
Krzysztof Wodiczko is known for his project surround the nomadic life of the homeless. His projects aim at finding solutions for many homeless New Yorkers, by constructing homes on wheels. One project, Homeless Vehicle, looks too not only create shelter but also awareness of the situation and homeless conditions.
When asked how Wodiczko uses preexisting visual forms of discourses in his work, he replied, “my work often ‘adapts’ existing symbolic structures of city architecture and - often with the help of specially designed instruments - attempts to offer them as transitional objects to participants and to the public” (Thompson 27).
Wodiczko plays with the idea of boundaries – your home is on the streets! My take on this project deals with the unique freedom obtained when not having to return home each night. So much time is lost when having to leave and return to your house each day. That time could be spent seeing more of the world, or meeting and interacting with new people. I feel that in relation to the Nomadic Party, utility and design of public space becomes the focus of a parasitic invasion of urban environment.
Thompson, Nato. The Interventionists. London, England: MASS MoCA, 2004.
The idea of the Nomad is also present in some of the works done by (PARK)ing. In one of their actions they set up a mobile "Park" that travelled throughout San Francisco on (PARK)ing Day. This work uses the concept of the nomad to mobilize "constructed situations." The Park theme suggests a political activism against pollution and global warming. This work of art becomes transversal in that it exists on several different levels of interpretation. It can be regarded simply as a work of art, or it can also be considered relational art because of its availability for sociability and interaction. It can also act as a type of public service, in that it educates passers-by about the purpose of its existence.
for photos and more information on (PARK)ing visit:
http://www.parkingday.org/
Laura Filosa
Guys,
I thought that this summed up The Nomadic Party and our interaction with Group 3 beautifully,
The orchid is deterritorialized by forming an image,
an exact tracing (calque) of the wasp; but the wasp
reterrritorial, however, by becoming part of the orchid’s
reproductive apparatus, but it reterritorializes the orchid
by transporting its pollen. The wasp and the orchid thus
make a rhizome, insofar as they are heterogeneous.
(Deleuze and Guattari 1983: 19)
I think that what was innovative about The Nomadic Party was how it was rhizomatic. Group 3, the orchid, had formed an image of Group 4, the wasp, and thus had reterritorialized our original project to become part of their group aesthetic. But we as a class, including Group F.O.U.R , reterritorialized Group 3’s project, in the way we gave their project life and brought The Nomadic Party to different territories of the campus; South building, The Student Center, Starbucks/Library, and CCIT. We had formed this rhizome, but Group F.O.U.R had always stayed a distinct and heterogeneous aesthetic from that of group 3’s.
1.Deleuze, Giles and Felix Guattari (1983) On the Line, trans. J. Johnston, New York: Semiotext(e).
“Moments constructed into ‘situations’ might be thought of as moments of rupture, of acceleration, revolutions in individual everyday life” – Situationist International (Raunig 131).
This was definitely a rupture in the everyday life for the University students that both witnessed and in some cases participated in this constantly moving party. I know we spent some time wondering how they were going to take the idea of a party and remix it without just simply having a party and I think this turned out really well.
I do however wish they were a little more caution of their music selection insuring that the content wouldn’t offend any one and maybe even appeal to a larger audience.
Raunig, Gerald. Art and Revolution: Transversal Activism in the Long Twentieth Century. Los Angeles: Semiotext(e), 2007.
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