Future Force Geo Speculators (CARPA)
About the Project
A collaboration with Carole Frances Lung, Christine Tarkowski and Ellen Rothenberg
"Strength lies in improvisation. All the decisive blows are struck left-handed."
—Walter Benjamin “One Way Street and Other Writings”
Future Force Geo Speculators is a collaborative group founded by artists Carole Frances Lung, Ellen Rothenberg and Christine Tarkowski. Their impulse to form this collective stems from their common interest in the use of “textile” as a creative and social medium. Though each artist intersects with the material within their creative production, each capitalizes upon unique aspects of “textile” as cultural or historic carrier. Their themes of collective or individual exploration include: histories of textile and garment manufacturing from cottage industry to global production; craft/art/design dialog; social and gendered histories of labor; and textiles as surface, sculpture and architecture. The mission of FFGS is to function as an artist collaboration, which through research and production furthers the collective knowledge and output within this field. FFGS’s creative practice engages in a pluralistic production research format. We value the physical process of hand and studio based making as well as project driven research to generate ideas and artistic solutions. Our terrain of output is variable in that we do not prioritize one form of making over another. Forms of output include architecturally scaled works, public proposals, propositional models and drawings, texts, performances, social actions, publications, and installations. We are interested in exploring the studios’ relationship to historical production, the interweaving of American craft and manufacturing traditions, utopic communities, notions of Sci-Fi Feminism, and the monumental relative to the inconsequential.
CARPA (The Craft Advanced Research Projects Agency) solicited research proposals, which investigate innovative approaches to craft, devices, and systems for a series of field exercises near Joshua Tree, California. Camp Carpa was located on five acres of desert land that border the 29 Palms Marine Base, Bureau of Land Management property, and the US Air Force Afghan Test Village.The framework of Camp CARPA was a site-specific symposium and exhibition. Over a week in October 2013 thirty artists, writers, curators, and a Los Angeles based underground radio station KCHUNG converged on Camp Carpa for a series of: ‘Briefs’ (lectures and performances from experts in the field,) ‘Challenges’ (exercises in strategic creating,) and ‘Deployments.’
The Future Force Geo Speculators (FFGS) proposed a deployment located at a critical juncture in the dessert terrain with vantage points for surveillance of the following settlements: Camp Carpa and the Afghan Village. This included joint maneuvers geared towards visibility: the development and production of dazzle camouflage uniforms, the fabrication of prototype viewing platforms, and a series of training actions to be rehearsed on the proving grounds of Camp Carpa during the testing period.The Future Force Geo Speculators view the landscape as a site of accumulated histories, a site of knowledge of what’s come before. As self-proclaimed sci-fi feminists, The Future Force Geo Speculators intend to deploy feminist actions in contemporary art and craft and imagine the future. We are dedicated to the intoxication of working without expectations of outcomes.
REMOTE CENTRAL
A collection of prototypes of speculative souvenirs for unexplored geographies, which include flags, wall prints, work uniforms, and a broadside publication of photographs, texts, and patterns. Through this multi-faceted collaborative production we are negotiating the current territory of communication and identity formation through email, and Skype communications. Prototypes being produced are hybrids of the hand, digital and “factory.”
Sally Timms Performance
Sally Timms Performance
May 02, 2014
SALLY TIMMS a singer best known for her long involvement with the mekons. She collaborated with The Future Force Geo Speculators and produced a sound installation for REMOTE CENTRAL and gave a special performance at the opening.
REMOTE WEST
Exhibition at Institute 4 Labor Generosity Workers + Uniforms (ILGWU) with a deployment to the Los Angels Port.
Opening performance: Jung Money
Exhibition history
CARPA, Museum of Contemporary Craft, Portland, Oregon, 2016
REMOTE WEST, Institute 4 Labor and Generosity Workers + Uniforms, Long Beach, California, 2015
REMOTE CENTRAL, Future Force Geo Speculators, curated by Sandra Binion, Audible Gallery, The Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago, 2014
Camp CARPA: Craft Advanced Research Project, curated by The Craft Advanced Research Projects Agency, Adaptive Craft Execution Office, 29 Palms, CA, 2013
RELATED MATERIALS
Publication:
REMOTE CENTRAL: Future Force Geo Speculators, 2014 | PDF↓
Reviews:
Remote Central: Future Force Geo Speculators | PDF↓
Project Links:
Future Force Geo Speculators
CARPA
Sally Timms, with the Future Force Geo Speculators: Remote Central (audio)