Temple University Libraries’ Urban Archives and Megawords Magazine are partnering for a screening as part of the Zoe Strauss: Ten Years exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. All films are drawn from our television news collection and are loosely inspired by the work of Zoe Strauss, Megawords and the PMA itself. All footage where the gaze of the news camera puts you in touch with the rituals, traditions, places and challenges of Philadelphia and its residents over three decades. Some material has screened at previous UA screenings and some is new.

Advance tickets are free (but with a $3.50 service charge) here:

http://bit.ly/yS1RTH

You could also come to the PMA earlier to reserve a seat with no charge.

For more info and a full listing, read more.

Here is a full listing of the films:

**“Assignment: 1747 Randolph Street” (Part 1) WPVI Public Affairs- 1966 (25:00)- The first half of a sometimes challenging 1966 documentary about poverty in North Philadelphia. The documentary focuses specifically on the Ludlow neighborhood, the scene of a brutal crime a year before and eventual target for reform by civic organizations and politicians. Vivid shots of neighborhood conditions are combined with interviews with a cross section of community leaders, politicians and residents.

** “North Philadelphia Slums” KYW News- March 15, 1967 (2:24)- A camera sits in a car driving through North Philadelphia gazing at its bars and residents. Sometimes they look back, sometimes they hide their faces.

** “Chinese New Year” KYW News- 1965 (5:37)- Black and white silent footage of the performers and audience in Chinatown’s 1965 New Year celebration.

** “Ninth Street Merchants” KYW News- April 7, 1966 (5:28)- Black and white silent footage of the vendors and shoppers that made up Ninth Street in 1966.

**“Graffiti and Wall Mural” WPVI Public Affairs- 1972 (12:00)- Vintage shots of a graffiti covered El ride, artist Sam Maitin debating with South Philadelphia neighbors as he paints a mural on the Fleisher Art Memorial, and street interviews with Philadelphians about art and graffiti. A quirky, fun piece about the politics and opinions on graffiti and murals in the city.

**“Last game at Connie Mack stadium” KYW News- October 2, 1970 (8:48)- Color footage of the Phillies-Expos game morphs into footage of the confusion, chaos and detritus surrounding the last game at Connie Mack Stadium (Shibe Park). Philadelphians “celebrate” the end of the institution in their own unique way.

** “Mummers (1953) & Mummers (1966)” KYW News (5:40)- Black and white silent footage of one of Philadelphia’s most distinct celebrations. Well composed, beautiful shots of audiences and performers just south of City Hall, 13 years apart.

** “Be-In” (excerpts) KYW News- April 17, 1967 (2:30)- Black and white silent footage of now infamous Ira Einhorn’s first “Be-In” in Fairmount Park in 1967. Footage of some of the estimated 2,000 people gathered near Strawberry Mansion as they mill about and play music.

** “Hippies” KYW News- April 12, 1968 (4:37)- A news story on hippies in one of their most popular spaces to congregate in the 1960s, Rittenhouse Square. Hippies and residents alike perform for the camera and make the anchor’s job difficult as he tries to report on their future in the park.

** “Sit-In” (excerpts) KYW News- March 11, 1965 (3:00)- Students from Temple University and University of Pennsylvania stage a sit-in, inside and outside the offices of U.S. Attorney General Drew J. T. O’Keefe in the Ninth and Market federal building. They were doing so to protest the “treatment of African-Americans conducting right-to-vote demonstrations in Selma, Alabama.”

** “Art Museum” KYW News- September 15, 1967 (6:00)- Silent black and white footage of some of the pieces and reactions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s popular but polarizing “American Sculpture of the Sixties”. A few of the 130 pieces from 80 artists in the playful 1967 exhibition.

** “Blimp Visits City” WFIL News- November 23, 1948 (1:18)- Very short but distinct vantage of Philadelphia through a 1948 Goodyear Blimp visit to our city. The camera treats the forms of the city below as abstractions.

** “City Snow” KYW News- November 30, 1967 (1:30) – Short black and white footage of center city braving its way through a 1967 snow storm.

** “Visions of A New Day: Bodegas ‘Mom and Pop Stores’” WPVI Public Affairs- March 18, 1976 (10:00)- Visions of a New Day highlights an integral part of Philadelphia’s Puerto Rican neighborhoods, the bodega (corner store). We’re taken through the streets and inside homes and stores during interviews with bodega owners and shoppers.

** “Puerto Rican Drill Team” (excerpts) WPVI Public Affairs- 1970s (5:28) Documentary on the Puerto Rican Drill Team “Los Conquistadors” based around El Centro De Oro in North Philadelphia. The children of the drill team take over a small North Philadelphia Street when practicing their drills.

Beginning in January 2012, Megawords will call the Philadelphia Museum of Art home for three months. As part of Zoe Strauss: Ten Years we will create a publishing studio and bookshop in the museum, program music performances, host a panel discussion about what belongs in a city, conduct workshops and classes, screen films and hold office hours in the museum. We will also publish a new issue of Megawords and an original edition of artists books.

Our installation is located in the South Auditorium Gallery and admission is free.
We are excited about meeting everyone who visits the show, and about working with Zoe and the museum staff on this amazing collaboration. We hope you’ll join us!

Find out more here:
philamuseum.org/exhibitions
megawordsmagazine.com
zoestraussbillboardproject.com

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We’ll be very busy during the show! All of our our activities center around four actions:

Making Connections
We like having conversations with people. We like spending time with with them, observing and documenting their creative and learning processes. Activating spaces like the publication studio give us the amazing opportunity to directly interact with our audience. The Megawords space will be comfortable for all, and evoke a sense of freedom of spirit and function, free from inhibition.

Visitors to the space will become intimately involved in the project. They can write on the walls, converse with us, draw in sketch books, take photographs, make publications and browse our collection of books and magazines. We will learn from each other. Ideas will move between people from different cultural, social and economic backgrounds, and geographic locations. Perceived boundaries will be chipped away.

Producing New Work
Our installation will include an active publishing studio that includes the tools needed to make short-run publications. We will conduct workshops to teach others how to make their own books and zines. We will also print and bind a special edition of eight artists books, as well as other zines and posters.

We want our projects to inspire and empower others. We believe that with hard work and dedication, and a bit of creativity for good measure, anyone can start their own project, make their own magazine or short film, curate their own show, or create their own music. You owe it to others to get something going! Don’t live under the tyranny of asking permission or waiting for someone to tell you it’s ok to start.

Asking Questions
So much of our work centers around exploring the borders of public/private space and what happens when these walls break down or are purposefully broken down by individuals. During our time at the art museum, we’ll be asking a lot of questions: how can the museum become more of a civic space or a town hall, a real place for exchange and dialogue?

We believe that all art has value and relevance. How can a museum communicate this to a wider audience? How can its programming reflect the vibrancy and changes that take place outside it’s walls?

We also want to examine the structure and relationships within the museum. We want to ask questions about the way things are done and boundaries that are in place, including the mundane and bureaucratic. There is a lot to be learned on both sides. How can we adapt to different ways of doing things, different methods, different settings? How can we learn to negotiate and work together?

Inspiring Others
In our book shop you will find shelves stocked with new and used books and magazines. These books will be for sale, but commerce is not the point (we’ll be selling the books at just above cost).

Our aim is to define a cultural space and to position the books as objects of discussion, exploration, explanation and departure. The books we’ve chosen cover a wide range of topics: music, film, urban affairs, photography, fiction, philosophy, cycling, etc.. They are a living, breathing reading list that encourages the contemplation of different world-views and are an important source of inspiration for us. We hope that by sharing these books, we can demonstrate the direct link between being excited by the work of others and producing one’s own work.

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Schedule of Megawords Events
January 14
Zoe Strauss Exhibition Opening Dance Party
Saturday, January 14, 2012
8:00 p.m. – 1:00 a.m.
Great Stair Hall & East Balcony
Paid tickets required
Event tickets: $8 ($8 Members)
Sponsor tickets: $50 ($50 Members)

Please come to the opening party for the exhibition Zoe Strauss: Ten Years. Featuring DJ David Dye of WXPN and a celebrity guest DJ, this late-night dance party will bring together art lovers, Zoe Strauss fans, and proud Philadelphians. Join us in the Great Stair Hall at 8:00 p.m., and don’t forget your dancing shoes! Tickets include Philly-inspired snacks, complimentary soft drinks, cash bar, and free parking in the Museum’s Parking Garage or valet bike parking.

Advance tickets can be purchased online or by calling (215) 235-SHOW and are required by January 12, 2012.

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January 21 through April
Megawords Office Hours
Megawords Installation Space, South Auditorium Gallery

We will be in our space every Friday between noon and 6pm. Stop by and say hello!

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January 21st
Zine Workshop
11 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Megawords Installation Space, South Auditorium Gallery
FREE! – Space is limited; tickets required

An introduction to material production using your own ideas and resources. Zine-making demonstrates a direct path from concept to realization of a physical object. Regardless of your medium of choice, this process empowers your creative voice by encouraging you to execute your ideas and put them out into the world. Start making things happen now!

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Feb 5
Film Screening
2:30 p.m.
Van Pelt Auditorium
FREE – Tickets required!

We’ll be working with Temple University Urban Archives to screen a selection of short films that explore the city, architecture and art. More info and details soon. This is a must-see event!

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March 2
Art After 5 – Music is a big part of our lives and practice. To celebrate this, we’ve put together musical performances with
the West Philly Orchestra and Drummer Chris Powell.
5:00 p.m. – 8:45 p.m.
Great Stair Hall
Paid tickets required
FREE with admission

5:45 – 6:45
West Philadelphia Orchestra
Made up of a diverse and accomplished lineup of Philly musicians, West Philadelphia Orchestra is an unusual ensemble in today’s musical world. They began playing Romanian songs, Serbian brass band tunes, Macedonian folk-dance songs, Bulgarian wedding music, and various klezmer tunes in late 2006, and have continued expanding and refining their sound and repertoire. As much a community as a band, WPO’s liveshow always feels like a celebratory event, even in a concert setting. With their pounding drums and shimmering brass sounds, they inspire audiences to hold hands, dance, and sing along.

7:15- 8:15
ADVENTUREDRUM
ADVENTUREDRUM is a new dance band led by Philadelphia percussionist Christopher Sean Powell (Need New Body/Man Man).  This community-based project brings together local musicians, performers, and artists to explore rhythms constructed from sampled sound, exotic percussion, synthesizers, traditional drums, and drum kits.  Merging new sounds and ideas with traditional drumming, this is a dance band for the future. These are the drums of tomorrow…today!

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April 1
Belonging: A Conversation about Cities in Flux
2:30 p.m.
Perelman Media Room (located in the Perelman building,
across from main building)
FREE – Tickets required!

We’re very interested in the future of cities. We’ve asked Diana Lind to help us put together a panel discussion about Cities in Flux:

Cities’ populations, boundaries and identities are constantly changing. While the market often pulls cities in opposite directions of gentrification and vacancy, policymakers and community leaders try to mediate these trends. These actions beg the question: Who and what belongs in a city? In cities around the country, everyone from artists to philanthropists are leaving their imprints on local school systems, urban agriculture, historic preservation, media, art and many other aspects of urban life in order to make the city their own. This panel discussion will gather a distinguished group of experts, artists and practitioners for a provocative dialogue on the topic of spatial, political, and cultural belonging in American cities.
Invited panelists include: David Simon, Creator, Treme; Toni Griffin, Director, J. Max Bond Center, CCNY; Rebecca Solnit, Author, Infinite City; Camilo José Vergara, Artist, Invincible Cities; and Anthony Smyrski, Artist, Megawords. (Panelists subject to change.) Moderated by Diana Lind, Executive Director, Next American City.

FOR INFORMATION ON OTHER EVENTS DURING THE SHOW, PLEASE VISIT PHILAMUSEUM.ORG/ZOESTRAUSS10YEARS

All days are from 1 – 4 pm

10/28: Brian Spies
11/2: Bong Mee Lee
11/4: Brian Spies
11/8: Bong Mee Lee
11/9: Brian Spies
11/11: Marek Danielewski
11/12: Ashley Wick
11/16: Bong Mee Lee
11/18: Brian Spies
11/30: Bong Mee Lee
12/2: Brian Spies
12/3: Ashley Wick

Please stop by PAFA and check out our new installation as part of the current show entitled Here. Our installation features collage and video work, and you’ll also be able to grab a copy of the latest issue of Megawords.

See more photos on our project page. Find out more about the show at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art’s website.

We’re putting together an installation for a Creative Time Project called Living as Form (more info at http://creativetime.org/programs/archive/2011/livingasform/about.htm). The show opens on September 24th at the Historic Essex Street Market in Manhattan, and it runs for 4 weeks. We’re creating a teen-aged warehouse hangout, and will be hosting events by KillScreen Magazine and the Copenhagen Game Collective, music by  “The Brutalist School” AKA Hsi-Chang Lin, more music by Georgia and a participatory dance performance organized by Joanna Quigley of Free Movement Specialists, INC.

A new issue of Megawords will also be available!

September 24–October 16

Thursday–Sunday, 12–8 PM
The historic Essex Street Market
Southeast corner of Essex and Delancey Streets 
(entrance on Delancey)
New York City
See a Google map here.

Here are some details about Megawords specific events (subject to change, so please check back for updates!)
September 24, Saturday
8pm
Show opens and live music performance by “The Brutalist School” AKA Hsi-Chang Lin

September 30, Friday
Two sessions
4:30 and 6:30pm
Kill Screen presents Copenhagen Game Collective’s Johan Sebastian Joust

October 8 , Saturday
6-8pm
Music by Justin Tripp and Brian Close of Georgia. Food by Megawords

October 14, Friday and October 15, Saturday
Three 20 minute performances each day
2pm, 4pm and 6pm
Free Movement Specialists, INC. is happy to guide you on a journey to being free. Free of all technique, all preexisting dance crazes and all worries of what you really look like when dancing in public. THIS is a judgement free zone.

TAKE TWO: A COLLECTION OF COLLABORATIVELY MADE FILMS
Whenever Wednesday, May 18, 8pm

The Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia

Here is a map for directions: http://tinyurl.com/42q54zb

Take in a screening of films by Megawords’ international network of filmmakers, featuring work from the Maysles Brothers, Adams & Itso, Matthias Wermke and Mischa Leinkauf, and the Temple University Libraries, Urban Archives collection.

Wermke and Leinkauf’s short films are thought provoking documentations of their interactions with cities and architecture. Through their unusual and daring performances, they confront our preconceptions of public and private space, and how we approach the concrete and mental layout of the city each day.

In a similar subtly provocative manner, Adams and Itso’s work documents the illegal construction and habitation of a small dwelling inside the Copehagen central train station. The film is a fascinating look into the imaginative use of overlooked space within an the walls of Denmark’s busiest train station.

The Maysles brothers need no introduction, and we are happy to show a 30 minute reel of select clips from various films created by the fraternal duo including Salesman, Gimme Shelter, early footage from Russia, footage of Christo and more. A great introduction to the Maysles oeuvre for the newcomer, and a pleasant reminder of the breadth of the brothers talent for familiar fans.

We discovered “Graffiti” in the Temple University Urban Archives. The short made for TV documentary  was created in 1976 by WPVI, a local broadcasting station in Philadelphia. It documents citizens initial reactions to the explosion of graffiti in the city, and raises questions about artistic expression in public space. Learn more about the Urban Archives here: www.facebook.com/pages/Urban-Archives-Paley-Library-Temple-University/83447331003

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