Archive 2008, Ides of March, ABC No Rio, NY, NY

For the first War Show close to home, we decided to engage in a battle of stories and histories, inviting all past combatants to tell their version of past battles. Taking the form of a museum display in less than perfect times, this exhibition brings together real, unreal and falsified records from previous war shows. Also on view: a video documentary of the history of the war show, a suitcase of rejected memorials to past war shows, and texts from past participants, translated via babelfish.

Invasion 2006, Minneapolis, MN

The War Show: Invasion is a battle between artists from New York City, and artists from Minneapolis. A small band of New York artists will be taking on the role of invader/ occupying power, and the artists from Minneapolis will be the defenders/resisters. With the rising rents and lack of affordable real estate in NYC, the Brooklyn artists are driven to find new lands to conquer and colonize, if they wish to continue making their work.

For the first week of this three-part show, the artists will concentrate on preparing for war, scheduled to take place Saturday, September 2nd at 6pm sharp. The two warring groups will engage in battle strategics, intimidation, espionage and propaganda and other necessary components of war, while focusing their artistic skills on the creation of fortifications (i.e. FORTS) for the first (and last) battle. All artists/war marauders will be in uniform.

The culminating event will be a full-on war, where all non-physically challenging or harmful weapons will deployed, and battles of cunning, creativity and force will surely be fought. All in attendance are invited to take part. Insurance forms must be signed at the door to waive artofthis and the Minneapolis Municipal Department of Art and Culture of all liability.

For the last week of the show, viewers will be invited to see the war-torn gallery, and watch footage of the preparations and the war. Also on view will be artifacts and texts recovered from battle.

Volunteers needed. Please inquire within.

Tactics 2006, Manila, The Philippines

"Let your plans be dark and as impenetraable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt".
- Sun Tzu

"Tactics" is a group art exhibition in which pairs of artists are set one against another in artistic combat.

Artistic collaboration is an important approach to contemporary art practice. It poses a much needed challenge to the art-historical notion of The Individual Creator. No artist creates in a void; each individual, each artwork is a product of a complex interchange of social forces from which artworks are drawn, through which they are made real, and to which they are presented. Collaboration consciously uses this social nature of artistic culture to create a newer, more honest type of art.

"Tactics" embraces these idealistic goals of collaboration, but does not ignore the petty, competitive and antagonistic nature of human culture. Though it is true that art is a social creation, the urges to dominate, own, hoard, steal, or subvert are an unavoidable part of this social process. Unlike most collaborative efforts, which try and sublimate these selfish urges to the greater collective good, "Tactics" chooses to highlight them, setting the collaborating artists against each other in direct, overt competition.

These competitions will take the form of duels between pairs of artists, where they will wield an entire arsenal of artistic possibilities with only one goal in mind: to create an artwork that is both the process and product of antagonistic collaboration.