INSERT>art. politics + economics|vol.1 #1

A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.
Choreographed, uniforms synched, vocal, dynamic. Onlookers are bewildered first. Then pensive, thoughtful, supportive or derisory as flyers are thrust into their hands. This evening the Pink Bloque have brought their street sequence to Wicker Park to protest rape, sexual violence and the public perception of those issues. At the corner of Milwaukee and Damen spectacular dancing girls, empowered as protest, seduce Mulvey’s cinematic gaze, trapping the beholder then castrating it with crisp, sobering, empirical rationalism. Tonight the jeering apes are brought up short, humbled quickly, the wolf pack is silenced.
The Pink Bloque, activated in Feb. 2002 has staged productions at several locations in Chicago. Each location has provided a historical or social context, framing the dialogue between activists and audience. On May Day, moment of international socialism, Pink Bloque protested the inequalities of the paycheck in terms of gender or race at the site of the Haymarket Riot. July 4th, America celebrates its independence with fireworks and cookouts; Pink Bloque infiltrates celebrations on shores of Michigan to remind citizens that their civil rights are in jeopardy from the newly ratified Patriot Act. More recently the roving spectacle in Wicker Park protested rape and sexual violence, seen from the bottle their message implicates the neighborhood as breeding ground for alcohol fuelled violence towards men and women.
The success of the Pink Bloque as a vehicle to disseminate radical political literature rests on a complex relationship between activists, audience and authorities. The Bloque plays very consciously upon stereotypical femme behavior, flirty, cute, and outgoing. Presenting themselves for public consumption the Bloque at once subverts and reinforces traditional ideas about women in public as objects for the male gaze. So far the authority of law has not reacted with the usual level of institutional violence reserved for minority groups or political dissent. This is the surest sign the tactics the Bloque has developed are successful, creating a smokescreen that both shrouds their purpose and announces their agency.
Spectacle is always well received in a popular culture hungry for novelty, passersby on the street testify to this. Their strategy for dissemination opens the dialogue up to include a wide range of people who might ordinarily shy away from political activity or protests.
Pink Bloque information is collected and authored from data published by federal and state agencies. Flyers are authored in-house and reflect a range of economic, social, political and gender issues. Statistical information is remixed by agony aunts giving young Romeos feminist dating advice, tips to avoid drink doping at parties or bars and other survival pointers for the easy going party crowd.
Their efforts to reclaim public space exploit a powerful symmetry of spectacular entertainment industry and radical feminist politics.
"The revolution never looked so good.”

Questions, comments, compliments, and fashion tips to

email: thepinkbloque@yahoo.com