Saludos desde Berlin / Press photos

We´ve just uploaded print quality photographs of El Martillo onto a Mediafire account. Here is the link:

Go to press photos

Technical details:

180 dpi

JPEG, Quality 10

Max. Size: 1 MB/Image

Copyright: free for use. Please mark "Eclectic Electric Collective" as copyright holder in caption.

If you need higher quality images, please contact us at: simcik@hgb-leipzig.de

For other information, please contact us here:

First Hammer action in Mexico! 19.11. „Dia Nacional en Repudio al Mal Gobierno“

19.11. Mexico C.d. „Dia Nacional en Repudio al Mal Gobierno“
("National Day to protest the bad government" or "against the suppression of social movements in Mexiko".)

For more information, see:

Dicidente Radio (Spanish)

Invitation to Exhibition Opening on the 27th November

Battle of the Spectacle
Invitation to exhibition opening on the 27th November, 8 pm
27th November - 10th of December, 2010

Open Tu - Sun, 2 - 7 pm, or by arrangement

Eclectic Electric Collective
Terminal 21
Artúr van Balen
Jakub Simcik


"We see art not as a mirror to hold up to reality but as a hammer with which to shape it."
-Bertolt Brecht

„Battle of the Spectacle“ is an art project operating at the crossroads of art and environmental activism. The “solutions” which are being discussed under the United Nations framework are not only unjust but also incapable of effectively combatting climate change. In a time when all political events are staged events, the demands of repressed minorities will only be heard if they are presented as a spectacle. El Martillo was born in order to visualise that struggle into one iconic image: a twelve meter tall inflatable “Trojan” sculpture completely in silver. Just like the Trojan horse it has been smuggled into the enemy camp in order to transport a message that would normally never reach the mainstream media.

El Martillo will be put into action by the climate justice group Marea Creciente Mexico on the demonstration of 30th of November in Mexico City. On that demonstration social movements converge to protest for the rights of Mother Earth at the COP 16. It is very unlikely that El Martillo will survive the COP 16, as a matter of fact, we are counting on the police to destroy it within the first couple of days.

We invite you to the opening of our exhibition "Battle of the Spectacle" on the 27th of November in the OKK Raum in Berlin. Here you will be able to view prototypes of "El Martillo," video documentation and original sketches. You will also be able to follow the events in Mexico by live stream in our media center that will be set up by the net activist group “Terminal 21.”

There will also be documentation material from the making of El Martillo on display, making visible the collective process. It was sown together out of reflective insulation foil during a two week long workshop in which twenty different people from all over the world, including a local Turkish dressmaker participated.

The exhibition will also connect Cancún with the last climate conference in Copenhagen - the COP 15. The artist duo Jakub Simcik & Artúr van Balen will be putting two separate works on display, which are both the result of a bicycle trip from Berlin to Copenhagen in 2009. Artúr van Balen will be exhibiting an installation made out of his specially manufactured tall bike, appropriating the visual form of a flashy car fair and combining it with activist relics into a witty and ironic take on green capitalism. Jakub Simcik on the other hand is showing a documentary, focusing on activism as spectacle and questioning the role of media in political debate.


Where?
OKK/ Raum 29
Prinzenallee 29
13359 Berlin
U-Bhf Osloer Straße U9/U8

Links:
Terminal 21
Jakub Simcik
Artúr van Balen (PDF)
Marea Creciente Mexico
Cochamamba Agreement
COP 16

Easy-to-use, mobile Protest-Hammer®

Ever wondered how we got the gigantic 12 meter tall Hammer to Mexico?
Here is the manual. You can also order one! cheers!

News from our mexican friends

Cristian our contact in mexico from Marea Creciente Mexico send us a video from the organisation C.A.C.I.T.A. (Autonomous center for the creation of appropriate technologies.) The organisation C.A.C.I.T.A. educates, how to build amazing coffee and corn grinders out of bycicles.




Marea Creciente and co are just back from a climate convergence in San Salvador Atenco, an iconic place of resistance and repression. (In 2002 the government had plans to build a 6 runway airport and expropriate the land of the farmers. Riots and hostages followed with a victory from the side of the farmers. A deeprooted conflict between state and locals evolved. Some small background information see here )

Now they are organising the antic@p space.

Martillo llegó!! Hammer arrived!

The hammer arrived sunday 7.november on 10pm in Mexico City.
Although the suitcase was 3.1 kg too heavy, it miraculously all went well.
Now our friend is in best spirits and waits for some bad ass action!

A million thanks to our flying angel Myriam and our friends at the other side of the ocean,
who came to pick it up.