“A small organic holding in sunny Otaki, New Zealand, sprouting kids and pigs and walnut trees, seems a world away from the devastation of war-torn Iraq. But for Adrian and Shelley Leason, the two are intimately connected.”

I’d have thought that most of the world is a world away from the devastation of war-torn Iraq, and this I guess is the point.  In our highly choreographed democracies it takes  something special to remind us of the devastation that war actually is.  The three individuals readily admit to committing the acts, but argue however that it was an act of self defense on behalf of the people of Iraq and Afghanistan.

My personal view falls a few different ways on this: On one hand the war in Iraq was and is an absolute travesty of the worst sort of lies and distorted politics, and the Blair’s and Bushes who created it should be locked away forever. There is no crime worse than the fabrication of lies to a population and an army which then leads to all out and very one sided war.  On the other hand we have to ask if the breaking of more laws is a suitable way to draw attention to this matter?  And on another hand we have to ask if attacking a spy base in New Zealand is the appropriate means to protest a war in another part of the world?   It does strike me as a remarkably daring and effective display of activism, and given the absolute and utter devastation acted upon the people of Iraq, this was a pretty small scale act of protest.  I draw the readers to Nicky Hagar’s book Absolute Power for an indepth background to the role of the Waihopai spy base in the international ‘intelligence’ network.

What does everyone else feel about all this?  Given that we are about to start investigating the role of the trickster in todays world its seems a good place to start a conversation about how to respond to violent power.

On March 13, there will be a worldwide launch of the ‘Objects Without Property‘ project, a fundraiser to make it possible for others to make things happen during their residency at PAF (=PerformingArtsForum).

PAF is located in a ginormous ex-convent school (since apocolyptic cult dwelling then german inhabited then aspiring ice hockey museum) now artists’ residence in a small village in northern France.

This is a truly magical place. Forget about quaint French village. Other than the cherry trees, wild poppies and the fact that the village consists of little more than two bakeries and a fete hall, there is nothing quaint about this place at all. It’s a wild rumpus where anything can happen. Where there is only one rule: “The doer decides.” Check it out, go there, make things happen.

I was there for a couple of months last year, making a short stop motion film and taking photographs of 6,000 different objects in the building on the side,  then categorising these under such criteria as “Promiscuous Objects” or “Objects that Look Scary in the Dark” or “Objects that Never Forget.” This meant I pretty much checked out every nook and cranny of the place. 3 storeys, 60 some odd rooms, not to mention the sheds, the chapel, the gardens. (Click on the following link if you’re interested in more stories about happenings at PAF)

ANYWAY. These photos were for a project to fund PAF renovations by allowing people to sponsor any object in the building for other people to use. Other than the fact that it is of course crucial to have beds and towels and knives and forks in a place that functions like a huge huge house with sometimes 30 or more people living in it at a time, I found it equally crucial to the PAF magic to be able to come across that random rotten nun’s shoe in the attic or to make use of that awkward rolling desk thing for filming our hallway sequences. Even to find the apocolyptic cult’s financial records to fuel our imaginations.

The website is finally up and ready with 10,000 objects for you to sponsor, ranging from 7-15 euros/year to make this place possible for others if not for yourself. Check it out. You can browse by category or roll the die. I donated my bicycle, it’s categorised under “Objects that Never Give Up” because it has 3 gears, back pedal brakes and weighs at least a ton, and I rode it to France from Denmark without giving in to all the people along the way who tried to convince me to trade it in for something more practical.

There will soon be announcement of worldwide simultaneous launch parties so check back if you are interested in finding out about one near you.

In the first instance its obviously pretty easy to get sharp or dangerous good onto a plane: pens, pencils, duty freeglass bottles, etc.  They even give out steel knifes and forks!  The reality is that anyone with any military or martial arts training can do violent and fatal damage if they want.

The primary ways that terrorist attacks are stopped through a. a few simple security features like locking the pilots away. b. training airline staff well. It is remarkable how few successful terrorist attempts are carried out on plans and this on the most part because of the huge resources put into surveillance and observation long before anyone gets of the ground.

It strikes me that all this security bizzo is really about making governments look like they are doing something by making us do something for them.  Its a similar logic to environmental behavior like household water and recycling, which are good in principle, but almost entirely pointless if industry is allowed to pollute and externalize its environmental destruction.

Some highly entertaining social dissonance.

Here’s some ideas for freerange 3…. What do you all think?

The format is going to change this year, we will release 3 shorter free online pdfs as the year progresses and then finish each year with beautiful printed version that will be released to some book stores.
Also we are going to do some printing of freerange one and two soon!

Ideas for freerange three!

The Trickster

Through most cultures, ancient and modern there is the presence of the character of the trickster… the subversive element that speaks to power and keeps authority on its toes. This issue is a chance to investigate some of these characters, and asks when and where is the role of the trickster in todays global culture.

The Importance of Design

Self explanatory really, it would be an entire issue with invited guests arguing for design as an important area of human knowledge….will be approached from a multidisciplinary perspective, and will again focus on the need for design if cities are to be habitable long term.

Homeness and Homelessness

I forget all the figures but homelessness is a huge issue globally that is almost largely misunderstood. It is a fantastically rich area of investigation that is complex and draws upon a diverse range of fields from social sciences to health to design. Additionally it allows us to reflect on our own notions of home and how this is changing in our world today.

The Year 1200

the 13th century is usually considered to be near the end of the dark ages. This weirdly labeled time in european history. However it was a remarkably rich part of human history. At the time when polynesian people were discovering NZ and occupying one of the largest empires in human history, the french and spanish were building the early great cathedrals, African in the southern end were trading with China and Persia, and the middle east was flourishing…

Open Issue

Open to all submissions around the central freerange theme of living in cities.

Fuck the Status Quo

An angry version of the one above. Is consensus and movement building working quickly enough for the planet?

Any other good ideas?

Eggy regards

Barnaby
Chief Egg

Ps. Freerange is about to start publishing books for real… watch this space. The first one is a cracker!

The Flaming Lips Wayne Coyle takes us on a tour of his house in the midst of refurbishment. Finished it packs a little more heat than this crappy video suggests, take a look at the pictures at Design Milk.