New Year Message from Pinky

Posted by Pinky.

Hi. I want to wish everyone reading this a Happy New Year.

Right now I am in a small town just outside Nagoya (Japan) staying with a friend while I make plans for the future. I have had some time to visit old bookstores, go vegetable shopping, and learn how to do some Japanese cooking and so on, but mostly I have been reading, walking, and thinking about the past and the future. When I look back at our previous blog entries it's easy to see that the past two or three years have been not so productive in terms of making new Pinky Show things. But that same period of time has been a period of tremendous growth for me. Not just because of difficulties associated with caregiving (Wheelchair Lady) or Bunny's death, but because I have had a lot of time to think carefully about many things that I was probably too busy to think about before, or maybe because I was depending on Bunny too much to take care of so many things. I have thought a lot about what I would like to do with the last part of my life, and after much crying, depression, false starts, self-doubting, and wandering around, I've decided that am truly wanting and ready to focus all my energies on Pinky Show things again. I don't want to do things the same way we used to do things before - that wouldn't make sense since I'm different now and everything around me is also different - so with the help of Kim, Mimi, and Daisy, I have been working very hard to shape a new, more appropriate vision of work for where I am in my life right now.

Finally, I wanted to say: yes, Bunny does visit me and sends me messages and information all the time. Maybe some people will think I'm crazy for saying this but I don't think I am.

Much love to you,
pinky

Halloween story.

Posted by Kim.

Pinky has been encouraging me to do more creative activities instead of just reading comic books and playing video games. So I decided to write down this story for you. I didn't invent it myself - actually it's a story that my friend told me a while ago at kitten school. But since I forgot all the details I'm sure my version is pretty different and probably much better than the original.

• • • • •

The Ribbon: A short story retold by me, Kim.

Once upon a time there was a man that was very lonely.

One day he met a woman - she was perfect: intelligent, kind, funny, patient, and beautiful beyond imagination. They fell in love and finally he wasn't lonely any more. 

There was only thing that he thought was kind of odd about her - she always wore the same thing every day. It was a nice outfit - a dark blue dress with cream-colored trim and a satin ribbon around her neck - but isn't it a little bit strange to wear the same thing every day? "Perhaps," he thought to himself, but he quickly reminded himself how lucky he was to have her in his life.

On the day they were married she said to him, "I will love you forever and take good care of you, but don't ever ask me about this ribbon on my neck, and never, ever try to touch it or remove it. Promise me." "Of course, I promise," he agreed.

Their marriage turned out to be very happy. Many years went by and every time he looked at his wife the man thought "She is wonderful, I love her so much." And sometimes, he also found himself thinking, "Why is she wearing that ribbon, and I wonder why I can't ask her about it?"

For years he never said a word about her ribbon, and he certainly never touched it. But as the years passed he found himself thinking about it more and more. And the urge to touch it was almost overwhelming. 

One night, as she lay sleeping next to him in bed, the man again found himself looking at his beautiful wife with her ribbon, and he realized he could not bear it any longer. "What is so special about this ribbon?", he thought. He reached over and gently touched her ribbon. She didn't wake, she was fast asleep. Very slowly, he carefully untied the ribbon. Her head fell off.

Pinky is at Koyasan

Posted by Kim.

I talked to Pinky on the telephone this morning. She has arrived safely at Mount Koya in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. It is the spiritual and administrative center of Shingon Buddhism. She will be there for a few days. I asked her why she was there but she had only a few coins and so we'll talk more when she gets back to Kyoto and has internet again. Anyway, I just wanted to update all of you who've been asking about where Pinky is now, how she's doing, etc. She said her feet are tired and she got bitten a lot by mosquitoes but otherwise she's fine.

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One of the towers of Danjo Garan. This photo is not from Pinky, I just got it from Wikipedia. Either Pinky or I will post some of her photos from Japan when she gets back. 

Another crocheted thing: Water Cat

Posted by Kim.

Here's another thing I made out of yarn. Pinky's been calling it Water Cat because it’s actually a metal water bottle disguised as a cat. Maybe it’s too big but she really doesn't drink enough water.

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Water Cat's head flips back and then you can drink from it. It also has a crocheted carrying strap and a floppy cat tail in the back that you can't see from this angle.

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This is Water Cat tucked in next to the sleep doll that Bunny made for wheelchair lady.

Pinky takes a vacation

Posted by Kim.

Pinky is in Japan now. She got there on June 4 and is planning to stay there for a month. Of course if she is caught then she might get deported earlier. This is the first non-work trip she has ever taken and I think it will be good for her health. She will be mostly in Kyoto, visiting Buddhist temples.

I am making things now

Posted by Kim.

Now that Bunny is gone I am really grateful for all the time I spent with her, learning how to crochet stuff. At first I thought crocheting was stupid because it takes forever to make things. I generally like stuff that's fast, like rockets or instant ramen noodles. But Bunny showed me how to appreciate the tedious process of turning long thin things like string or yarn into fake animals and interesting objects, and now I actually think it's kinda fun. The best part is that I feel like I'm forever connected to Bunny through everything I make, because I received the knowledge of how to crochet directly from Bunny.

I may keep going with this. I want Bunny to be proud of me, to see me being productive instead of just playing video games. 

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These are some pufferfish that I made. I made several so that I could find the right size. 

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This is octopus prototype number 03. What I learned from this became the octopus in the Dreams & Nightmares of Empire poster. ~k.

Pinky Show included in large, heavy book

Posted by Kim.

We got this amazing thing in the mail today. At 4 pounds 2 ounces and 496 pages, this is the heaviest book the Pinky Show has been in so far.

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According to the index, Pinky Show is on pages 390-91, 403, 468, and 475. Nice! So what's it about?

"The geography of the visual arts changed with the end of the Cold War. Contemporary art was no longer defined, exhibited, interpreted, and acquired according to a blueprint drawn up in New York, London, Paris, or Berlin. The art world distributed itself into art worlds. With the emergence of new art scenes in Asia and the Middle East and the explosion of biennials, the visual arts have become globalized as surely as the world economy has. This book offers a new map of contemporary art's new worlds and documents the globalization of the visual arts and the rise of the contemporary over the last twenty years." (from the back cover)

Having said that it's kinda fascinating to me that this book was put together by a team of academics and museum professionals for an elite museum in Germany and is being distributed globally by MIT Press. That's funny, right? ^_^

Anyway, I'm sure Pinky will read this but it’s too heavy for me.

~kim

The new PS website: what it is.

Posted by Kim.

I forgot to mention in my last post what is new about this new website.

For starters, there is some new old stuff that we put into the Project Archives. One example is the Atomic Testing museum pictures - it's actually something we did a while ago, but for some reason we never put it online until now. 

Also, lots of the resources on this website are now available in a higher quality format. The videos are bigger. Photographs & PS art are big. PS comics are now much larger. Et cetera.  

A lot of stuff that used to be viewable only via downloading first can now be viewed directly on the internet via your browser. For example, the I Want to Punch Your Face book, the RadEd zine, the Seven Scenes from Work and Life booklet, the Future Museum Report, and so on.

A brand new Pinky Show store.

AND the website can now be viewed from mobile devices, if you're into that sort of thing.

Anyway, I hope you browse around, I'm sure you'll find lots of new materials or site features you never seen before. Bunny worked a lot on this new website the last few months of her life. So if you like it, please visit Bunny in your dreams and say thank you!

ttyl! ~kim

Happy Birthday Pinky! Your Present Is: PinkyShow.org v3.0!

Posted by Kim.

Welcome to the new Pinky Show website! Launched just in time before the day's end on Pinky's birthday. Yay! I know everyone's been looking forward to our new website (me too!) so thank you for being patient. It took a little longer than anticipated because while Bunny knew how to make the internet, I only sort of know how to use it. But I'm happy with how it came out. Enjoy!

....................................

A separate note from Pinky: Thank you to everybody who sent me Happy Birthdays - I would like to hug all of you. :-) This morning Kim & I took Bunny's ashes (still in the small metal can) down from the shelf and put her on the table with us, had a small birthday breakfast and a short meeting together. Kim and I decided we are both going to try to continue posting diary entries in this blog, and of course we will also keep the Pinky Show going with the help of our friends. To be honest, since Bunny's death there have been many times where I've wanted to just do nothing or even completely give up, but I promised myself that I would keep going no matter what. Bunny was always so strong and fearless and I think maybe in this lifetime I'm supposed to become more like that. Maybe that's why Bunny died before me. One day I will be in an urn on the shelf next to Bunny, but not yet. ~p.

"The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep." - R.F.

They shot Cous Cous for being a lion.

Posted by Kim.

Today I read a newspaper story about how at a California zoo, a lion escaped from a small cage and killed a young zoo worker who was cleaning up nearby. Apparently he killed her instantly by hitting her head with his paw, breaking her neck. I feel sorry for the young woman who died; her father told the news reporters that she loved big cats. But I also feel sorry for Cous Cous (that's what the zoo people called the lion), who was shot "after the animal couldn't be coaxed away from [the woman's] body." [ link ]

According to the BI article, this is a photograph of Cous Cous. He was 4 years old.

This is interesting: "Officials at another big cat sanctuary, Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, Fla., told The Associated Press last year that at least 21 people, including five children, have been killed and 246 mauled by exotic cats in the United States since 1990. Over that period, 254 cats escaped and 143 were killed." [ link ] 267 people getting mauled or killed is awful. But this is also awful for all those big cats, even the ones who somehow managed to escape without getting shot. Are they still alive? What are they eating now?

Zoos as we know them should be abolished. Big cats and lots of other animals I know don't want to live in animal prisons.

People argue that zoos are educational. But lots of things are educational. I'm sure visiting a functioning slave-plantation would also have lots of "educational value.” But I don't hear lots of people saying "We should have that!"

Other people say that zoos do important work like saving endangered animals from extinction. That's great, people absolutely should do that kind of work, especially since human beings are often the reason why so many animals are extinct or barely clinging to survival in the first place. But why is a zoo such a great format for this kind of work? People think helping refugees of war or victims of famine is important too, but we don't have exhibition-style zoos for them to live in while they "receive help".  If you wanted children to think more deeply about how important it is to have love and compassion for their elders, what would be the best way to accomplish this? Would it be to make them pay money to watch a few representative old people for a few minutes getting fed or having their diapers changed?

Animals are awesome and I can understand why people like to look at us. But this isn't a good enough justification for captivity; it's just a convenient excuse for not having to come up with more imaginative solutions to problems that concern animals. And when people are unimaginative usually animals or plants or the environment are always the ones who have to suffer the biggest consequences.

f you really want to educate people to love and respect animals, there are many better ideas than zoos. Which reminds me - I also don't like animal theme-parks like Sea World, which I went to one time just to see what it was about. It was horrible, like if you paid money for the privilege of going into a prison to see what poor people are really like, behind the safety of bars. Stupid, stupid idea.

How to make death squads & torture centers (video)

Posted by Pinky.

A lot of times the media talks about paramilitary death squads and torture centers as if they exist within a historical vaccuum. They just "are" - they are not discussed in terms of how they come into being - who orders their formation and why, how they are funded, who comprises their membership, and so on. So it is very important to watch and discuss reports like the following one, which was produced by the Guardian UK and BBC Arabic and just released today. In this report we learn how U.S. leaders created a system of torture and murder within the larger framework of occupation in post-invasion Iraq.

Watch the video (length: 51 minutes) at the Guardian website.

mmm - I'm sure many people will be interested in this report primarily because U.S. Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld and General David Petraeus (the 'stars' of this report, so to speak) happen to be very famous people. But to me actually individuals are often the most easily interchangeable parts within these kinds of horror stories...

Anyone familiar with the history of U.S.-style terror - against the peoples of Vietnam, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, [...complete your own list here...], and of course we must include Native Americans on this list as well - will be left to wonder if any of these war crimes will ever be punished.

Side note: Much of the information in the Guardian/BBC report would probably never have been researched, let alone made available to the public at all, had it not been for Bradley Manning and Wikileaks. For exposing the truth Bradley Manning is now in a U.S. prison.

~pinky

Hugo Chávez (1954–2013) died.

Posted by Pinky.

Hugo Chávez died of cancer yesterday. He has been a big influence on our thinking.

Although Bunny and I have never been to Venezuela - or anywhere else in South America for that matter - we have been trying our best to study about resistance to U.S. imperialism in that part of the world for several years. I still hope to go there one day to see with my eyes what is happening there.

Chávez holds a miniature copy of the 1999 Venezuelan Constitution at the 2005 World Social Forum held in Brazil. (photo and caption from Wikipedia)

"I believe it's better to die in battle, rather than hold aloft a very revolutionary and very pure banner, and do nothing - that position often strikes me as very convenient, a good excuse... Try and make your revolution, go into combat, advance a little, even if it's only a millimetre, in the right direction, instead of dreaming about utopias..." - Hugo Chávez, as quoted by Tariq Ali

Bunny died.

Posted by Pinky.

Bunny died on Friday afternoon, January 25. It's still hard for me to think of what to write, but I want to write something for all of you who have been in contact with us, providing Bunny with so many kind words of support and encouragement. I want to share with all of you how Bunny died, because she died magnificently.

As some of you may know Bunny had a lot of physical problems these past few years - first arthritis, then diabetes, and then about a year and a half ago she also found out that she has cancer. She did traditional Chinese medicine and chemotherapy for a while, but finally decided to stop all her treatment when the doctor told her she also found (via ultrasound) a rapidly growing tumor in her main artery and that it was already obstructing about 90% of the blood-flow from her heart to her body. Shortly after that she survived a severe episode of congestive heart failure. The emergency room doctor told us she had no time left, that death could come at any moment. This was over six months ago.

When we found out Bunny had cancer I just cried and cried, but she said to me, "Don't be afraid. I'm going to show you how to die."

Bunny was calm until the very end. Even as her body became weaker - "wasting away" the doctors called it - her spirit seemed to steadily become larger and more powerful. There were so many times that Bunny was in a lot of discomfort or pain but she never complained even once. She was so strong. We spent the last few months enjoying every moment together, working as hard as possible. Now everything is in order, and the Pinky Show can continue, even without Bunny.

Three days before she died she began fasting - no food or water. I made a soft bed for her in a cardboard box and she laid down in it, and for the last three days she didn't move much. I told her everything I wanted to say. She didn't say anything. And when she was ready, she left. She left so quietly for a moment I wasn't sure if she was gone or if she was just sleeping. As always, she did everything exactly the way she wanted.

Looking back I guess I can see now that Bunny had been preparing for death her whole life. She used to say, "We come into this life alone and we will leave alone." I used to feel a little bit lonely and afraid when she'd say things like that. But now she's gone and I am realizing that she wasn't trying to make me afraid, she was just trying to move me towards preparing for death too. I wish she had told me exactly how to die, or how to face death without fear. When I realize how far away I am from understanding these things, and how much suffering she endured, I think Bunny made herself into a good example because she loved us so much.

Kim and I covered Bunny in a blanket and we took her in the box to her doctor, Dr. Wendy, who took care of Bunny's cremation. A few days later we got a telephone call that we could return to pick up Bunny's ashes. When we got there we were shocked to see that they had put Bunny in a tiny metal can. Bunny used to be so big, now she is in a little can. Somehow I don't like it, I think when I am feeling stronger I will try to find something better to put Bunny in.

It's so quiet around here now. I find myself feeling sad and missing her so much, but when I think about how she lived and died, I feel nothing but happiness and respect for her, my friend.

Much love,
pinky

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Wheelchair Lady's cat.

Posted by Pinky.

We received a bunch of e-mails about Bunny's crocheted cat toys the past few days, ever since I posted the photos of the toy she made for Myles Kitten. Since people seem to like Bunny's toys I will post this one too - it's the first "big toy" she made. (She made a lot of miniature dolls before this one, to work out details like how to make the shape of the ears, how to attach the arms, and so on.)

Bunny crocheted this doll for Wheelchair Lady, who sleeps with it every night. This cat's had lots of names already, because Wheelchair Lady's short term memory isn't so good, so almost everyday she gives her a new name. It's cute because the nurses at the hospital, when they make WL's bed in the morning sometimes they rest this cat's head on the pillow and pull the blanket up over her to make her look very comfortable. This way when WL gets back to her bed she can feel happy that this cat looks like she's been waiting for her.

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I borrowed Cat X this morning so I could photograph it. (I asked permission first.) After I photographed it I realized it's pretty dirty, so I'm going to wash it...

I'll try to photograph & share whatever new things we make around here.

Take care,
pinky

PS welcome Myles to Earth.

Posted by Pinky.

I thought I posted this earlier but somehow managed to lose this entry in my desktop clutter.

This past October 1st our very good friends had a kitten. They asked Bunny and me to name him. We suggested the name Myles, to honor Myles Horton. So his name is Myles. He's now 3 2/3 months old and super cute.

Side story: When Bunny and I were trying to think of names we like, we realized that practically all of our heros have spent time in prison. Some of them spent a LONG time in prison - some of them are actually still in prison, and some of them even ended up dying in prison. It's sad to think about, but such a concrete reminder of the price sometimes paid for speaking truth to power.

Anyway, I wanted to show you this toy Bunny crocheted for Myles. It's wool yarn stuffed with wool roving and it's about 7 inches tall. And yes, that's a cape she's wearing.

pinky

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For some reason Bunny decided to crochet a cape for this cat.

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The back.

Whoops, the "new year" part already zoomed by.

Posted by Pinky.

Wow, I feel like I blinked and suddenly 2+ weeks of 2013 has already disappeared. One of my new year resolutions is to consistently make entries here in our project diary, so I am already kind of flopping on this one. Bunny and I have been working a lot on the new Pinky Show website, the new PS online store, the new project and also the new project's store.

A few people e-mailed us after my last entry asking us what our new "secret project" is. It's actually not a secret at all so I'll talk about it a bit now.

To make a looong story short, we want the Pinky Show to be financially stable and we've decided to make and sell objects as a means to achieve that. Bunny had the idea that she wanted to make "nice leather wallets" and bags. (I put that in quotes because personally I think anything made out of leather by definition can't be nice - they're gross! Have you seen how leather is made?) So anyway since I don't like harming animals Bunny agreed to develop wallets and stuff that are not made of animal parts. We found a very nice substitute material that functions like leather but the good thing is you don't have to kill a cow in order to make a bunch of wallets. The material also doesn't require a lot of harmful chemicals and water to produce, so it's far friendlier to the environment than anything else we've been able to find.

Anyway, Bunny and I have been making lots of drawings and prototypes the past few months. This is a very early pattern we were working out with paper. We're trying to keep all of our designs as compact and clean as possible.

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I’m finding out that designing useful objects is a lot of fun! ~p.

New PS website; a parallel project

Posted by Pinky.

This is the last day of 2012. Wow, what a lot of changes going on around here lately, sometimes I have a hard time keeping things sorted out. This is a time of many transitions for us.

Although Bunny's body is becoming weaker and developing new problems, her spirit continues to be very, very strong. Thank you to everybody who has sent her nice e-mail wishes. Lately however, she has become uninterested in blogging and is instead very focused on spending all her time preparing the rest of us for life without her. We realize now that she won't be able to finish the war toys project (150+ toys takes a really long time to crochet; she promises to finish them in her next life) so instead she has been working with me to put everything in place that will allow me to keep the Pinky Show moving forward after she is gone. We've developed new workflows for everything but there is still a thousand small loose ends that need attending to.

Toy number 001.​

Probably the biggest single thing that we have been working on is trying to develop something that will help sustain the Pinky Show financially. Over the years we have seen so many great projects that we really respect slowly fall apart or stop entirely because of lack of funding. We don't want to be like that too. It's been difficult running the Pinky Show on donations alone but for many reasons we are also not interested in charging people for information, adding advertising to our website, chasing grants, and so on. So after much research and discussion Bunny and I have decided to take a big step and create a side business that will be organized and run according to our own values. Hopefully it will generate enough money to keep our educational programming going. I'm sure it will be difficult though; personally I seem to have a problem with money - don't like it, don't want it, don't want to even talk or think about it. But I have been working very hard to change my attitude, because if I don't, I'm sure the Pinky Show will eventually disappear like so many others. We will unveil this new parallel project during the Spring.

Bunny is almost finished with re-making the Pinky Show website. This will be version 3.0. It looks nice, and it will work a lot better.

The past few weeks Kim has been helping me clean up around here. Everyday we do a little bit together. So 2013 will start out a little tidier than years past. It was a real struggle to get myself to clean up because I have been feeling more depressed the past few months. Things were getting pretty out of control - thank goodness for Kim's energy otherwise this place would still be filthy. Actually now it is not so bad.

I am feeling a complicated mix of emotions at the moment. I continue to be amazed by Bunny's strength and focus. Sometimes I feel like giving up but deep down I know everything is going to be okay. I am trying to concentrate on what needs to be done and I hear Daisy's voice in my head: "Fulfill your obligations!" So right now it is infrastructure work, which I understand is necessary to make the Pinky Show stronger and more meaningful. Bunny and I feel like we have an obligation to make the Pinky Show survive long-term because, 1) we do believe that our work is important; and 2) we also believe that it is too easy to do a project for a short time but then give up on it and then re-assimilate into the dominant system when it gets too hard to continue. If we can really figure out a way to keep the Pinky Show going long-term, then we will be able to say, okay, look, it really _is_ possible for a small-scale, independent project to sustain itself, and here is a nice example! We have always had difficulty trying to convince people that dropping out of the system and making your own future is anything more than just a nice-sounding-but-ultimately-unrealistic idea. Maybe if we can make the Pinky Show into a tiny but concrete example of how it can be done, maybe deciding to take on this kind of weird life-work might seem a little less scary? I'm not sure. This all continues to be an experiment.

I wish everyone reading this my sincerest best wishes for a good 2013. My love to you all,
pinky

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NOTE FROM BUNNY: Pinky is really good at talking about me like I am already dead. Obviously I'm going to die but then who knows, you might die before you even finish reading this sentence. (Still here? That's how I feel.) I have all kinds of things that I’m still working on, some with Pinky or Kim, some by myself. I (or someone else) will post them later. A few years ago I came across these words by the Shawnee leader Tecumseh. Perhaps you’ve seen these words before.

"Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.
Trouble no one about his religion.
Respect others in their views and demand that they respect yours.
Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life.
Seek to make your life long and of service to your people.
Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.
Always give a word or sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, or even a stranger, if in a lonely place.
Show respect to all people, but grovel to none.
When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength.
Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living.
If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.
Touch not the poisonous firewater that makes wise ones turn to fools and robs their spirit of its vision.
When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way.
Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home."

I wish you all a happy new year. Tomorrow is my birthday. I will be 12 years old.
~Bunny.

Photo report: Truth is Concrete in Graz, Austria

Posted by Pinky.

Hi everybody. Bunny and I were scheduled to go to Austria for 10 days to attend a big political-art/artistic-politics program at the Steirischer herbst festival in Graz. However, Bunny's health has been so bad lately that she became too weak to travel and had to stay home. I went by myself, which was a very lonely feeling, especially when I was riding the airplane and when it was time to eat. And when I got to Graz to be honest I kind of had a hard time focusing on the programming. But I did manage to meet a lot of wonderful people and was exposed to an enormous amount of new ideas attending the 24-hour-a-day talks, workshops, and meetings. It was very intense and I didn't sleep much but I feel like I learned so much in a very short amount of time. When I got back Bunny asked me to tell her, in excruciating detail, every little thing that I could remember from the whole trip. So I did that.

Below I've included a few photos from the trip. Special thanks to Graz-area cats who took the time to keep me company and show me around their beautiful city. (Thank you for the photos!) Graz is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has a lot of stunning architecture - Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Baroque, all mixed in between modern and contemporary stuff. Pretty neat, but I didn't photograph many buildings, I figure that's what postcards are for. Mostly I took pictures of food...

Like this thing. I think this was the first meal I ate in Graz. I got it at a nice bakery on Jacominiplatz. It has fluffy cream cheese in it. The tea was flavored with pear and mint, which might not sound so good, but it turned out to be a really nice combination.

This area had a lot of small cafes and imbiss stands so I ate here quite a few times. I like street food.

Speaking of take-away food, I noticed a lot of people eating Chinese food out of a paper-box while walking down the street. Bunny and I saw the same thing in Berlin but that time we didn't have a chance to eat any of it. I like Chinese food and I think it's always interesting to eat it in different countries, to see how it changes to become "local food". This time I got to eat "nudelbox mit gemüse" at 2am in the morning - I think  that just means noodles in a box with vegetables. It actually tasted a lot like ordinary chow mien, but more salty because they poured a sauce over it.

One thing that I thought was kind of odd is that many of the Asia-cusine restaurants in Graz serve sushi, even if they're Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese, or whatever. I didn't get to eat any sushi.

This is me sitting in front of the venue, were I gave our Pinky Show presentation. A lot of people came and I think they liked the presentation because they did a lot of clapping and whoop-whoop stuff when it was over, which was really nice. Of course I also met with local area cats, which also went well. We met behind the Opera Hall, which is just down the street. The tall thing in the photo is 'The Bloghouse' - a temporary tower built out of scaffolding and discarded windows - inside Radio Helsinki broadcasted a radio show for the duration of the event, and on the upper levels growing things as an act of biological disobedience.

Here's me having technical difficulties before the start of my lecture.

The Truth is Concrete event poster features Bunny's war toy and was plastered all over the city, which was pretty neat to see. The cat on the poster is printed approximately life-size, so it really kept catching my eye by surprise whenever I passed by one on the street. I really wish Bunny could have come to Graz because it really was something to see thousands of people walking around with the festival's newspaper-size program with her cat on the cover! [Download the PDF version of the program here.]

Here's some nice cat graffiti...

I took a photo of this statue of four birds talking to each other for Bunny. This statue is by the Schloßberg - an extremely interesting area with lots of very old buildings & structures.

Here I'm standing right next to the birds-statue, pointing my camera up towards the famous Graz clock tower. I wanted to walk up the old, winding stone stairs and visit the clock tower but I had just eaten a piece of apple strudel so I was too full.

Graz has some of the most beautiful old doors I have ever seen. I wish I could go back just to take photos of doors! This one is on a church built around 1696.

This is a small sculpture of a cat-in-a-shoe that I saw in the window of an antique shop. Don't I kind of look like this cat? Anyway, Graz has a lot of antique shops which are really fun to visit, but I kind of feel bad because I never buy anything.

I arrived at the airport at 3:30am in the morning for my 6am flight out of Graz - way too early! So I sat in this giant toy airplane until it was time to go.

This is a very large pretzel I bought to eat at the airport in Frankfurt. It was so chewy that by the time I finished eating it two hours later my whole face was really tired. But I enjoyed it.

So that's the last photo I have from the trip. My big hope is that Bunny will start feeling stronger so that we can do these trips together again.

Finally, I wanted to extend our gratitude to Florian Malzacher, co-curator of the project, for inviting us to participate and giving us this great learning opportunity, and of course to make new friends and alliances. Everything at Steirischer herbst seemed to run near-perfect, even though this was easily the most complex program we have ever been a part of. The responsible team should be acknowledged!: Theresa Adamski, Markus Boxler, Christine Conrad-Eybesfeld, Lisa Dreier, Katrin Ecker-Eckhofen, Hannah Ertl, Anne Faucheret, Philipp Forthuber, Lina Maria Gärtner, Kerstin Geder, Roland Gfrerer, Adina Hasler, Anja Herman, Cornelia Iber, Dominik Jutz, Veronica Kaup-Hasler, Kira Kirsch, Matti Kruse, Martin Ladinig, Florian Malzacher, Karl Masten, Christiane Mörth, Maria Motter, Arno Muchwitsch, Heide Oberegger, Vesna Pajičić, Sithara Pathirana, Kirsten Patent, Andreas R. Peternell, Petra Pölzl, Danica Radat, Angelika Raffer, Johanna Rainer, Sabine Reisner, Anthony Saxton, Hermann Schapek, Maria Schneeweiß, Susanne Spörker, Annika Strassmair, Gerda Strobl, Christian Sundl, Artemis Vakianis, and Florian Wimmer. Thank you to everyone at steirischer herbst from the bottom of our hearts!

That's all for now, though I promise to write again soon. Bunny and I send our love.​

Bunny is finally out of the hospital

Posted by Kim.

I'm taking over for Bunny until she starts feeling better.

As some of you may know, Bunny has been very sick the past year or two. She has a lot of health problems - hyperthyroidism, arthritis, diabetes, and cancer. It's a lot of problems to manage all at once but I always say if anybody can defeat cancer it's Bunny. About two weeks ago though Bunny started having difficulty breathing. It got so bad that we took her to the hospital. The doctors did some tests and found out that she was having heart failure. They used big needles to drain fluid from her lungs and chest cavity. She got very weak and looked awful. I was really scared, I even thought Bunny was going to die. But like I said Bunny is very strong, and with the help of some new medicine she pulled through and this morning the doctors finally discharged her from the hospital. Now she's back in her own bed resting. Bunny told me to thank everyone who has been calling and sending nice wishes.

Pinky will have to go to Graz by herself. Bunny will stay home and rest, and I will take care of her.

~kk

Pinky Show at Truth is Concrete (Graz, Austria)

Posted by Bunny.

Pinky and I have been invited to present at the steirischer herbst "Truth is Concrete" project in Graz, Austria. What is “Truth is concrete”?

"Truth is concrete" is a 24-hour, 7-day marathon camp: for 170 hours more than 200 artists, activists and theorists lecture, perform, play, produce, discuss and collect useful strategies and tactics in art and politics... The marathon is the centre, surrounded by a camp-like living and working environment, a social space with its own needs and timings... The programme of the marathon is accompanied by one-day-workshops, several durational projects and an exhibition. And – most important – by a parallel "Open marathon" that is based on self-organisation: its content is produced entirely by the participants – everybody is welcome to fill the slots, spontaneously or a couple of days in advance..." - from the Truth is Concrete website

Who else will be there? Funny you should ask...

Hans Abbing (NL), Milan Adamčiak (SK), Udi Aloni (IL), Valery Alzaga (MEX), Ulf Aminde (D), Burak Arikan (TR), ArtLeaks, Awesome Tapes From Africa (USA), Babi Badalov (AZ), Zdenka Badovinac (SLO), Zbynék Baladrán (CZ), Anette Baldauf (A), Katherine Ball (USA), Stéphane Bérard (F), Ellen Blumenstein / Haben und Brauchen (D), Katya Bondarenko / Teatr.doc (RUS), Leah Borromeo (GB), Jakob Braeuer (D), Christoph Braun (D), Reinhard Braun (A), Ondrej Buddeus (CZ), Loulou Chérinet (S), Chimurenga (ZA), Carlos Celdran (RP), Center for Political Beauty (D), common spring collective (D), Luigi Coppola (B/I), Critical Practice (GB), Minerva Cuevas (MEX), Sibylle Dahrendorf (D), Eyal Danon (IL), Diedrich Diederichsen (D), Jens Dietrich / IIMP - International Institute of Political Murder (D), Annie Dorsen (USA), eclectic electric collective (D), Róza El-Hassan (H/SYR), Rana El Nemr (ET), Oriana Eliçabe / Enmedio Collective (ES), Shady El Noshokaty (ET), Köken Ergun (TR/D), Charles Esche (NL/GB), Tim Etchells (GB), Everday Rebellion (A), Marcelo Expósito (AR), Eleonora Fabião (BR), Nick Farr (USA), Femen (UA), Joanna Figiel (GB/PL), Noah Fischer (USA), Dirk Fleischmann (ROK/D), Davis Freeman (B), Isabelle Fremeaux / The Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination (F), Fun-Da-Mental (GB), Alexandra Galkina (RUS), Loreto Garín Guzmán / Etcétera... (AR), Vjekoslav Gašparović / pulska grupa (HR), Federico Geller (AR), Mariam Ghani (USA), Adrienne Goehler (D), Jennifer González (USA), Julieta Gonzalez (VE), Janna Graham / Ultra-red (GB/CAN), Hafiz (ID), The Haircut Before The Party (GB), Gary Hall (GB), Christian Hanussek (D), Paul Harfleet (GB), Stefano Harney (GB), Vít Havranek (CZ), Adrian Heathfield (GB), Carl Hegemann (D), Herr Bogensberger (D/A), Stefan Hertmans (B), Pia Hierzegger (A), Herwig G. Hoeller (A), Edgar Honetschläger (A), Sam Hopkins (I/KE), Hor 29 Novembar (A), Khaled Hourani (PS), Hector Huerga (ES), Iconoclasistas (AR), The Israeli Center for Digital Art in Holon (IL), Irwin (SLO), Janez Janša (SLO), Khaled Jarrar (PS), Anna Jermolaewa (A/RUS), Jeudi Noir (F), John Jordan / The Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination (GB/F), Kaddu Yaraax (SN), Don Karl aka Stone (D), Kavecs (GR), Jerry Killick (GB), Jisun Kim (ROK), Guido Kleene (NL), Dmytri Kleiner / Telekommunisten (CA/DE), Nikolai Klimeniouk (RUS/UA), Bettina Knaup (D), The Kominas (USA), Michał Kozłowski / Free Slow University Warsaw (PL), Omer Krieger (IL), Leo Kühberger (A), André Lepecki (USA/BR), André Éric Létourneau (CAN), Lexxus Légal (CGO), Lawrence Liang (IND), Miguel López (PE), Sri Louise (USA), Matteo Lucchetti (I), Lucifer / Church of Kopimism (NL), Make (RUS), Mapa Teatro (CO), Oliver Marchart (A), Leónidas Martín / Enmedio Collective (ES), Masala Brass Kollektiv (A), Joana Mazza / Observatório de Favelas (BR), Tomislav Medak (HR), Kerstin Meyer (D), Antanas Mockus (CO), Moddi (N), Maryam Mohammadi (IR/A), Mao Mollona (GB), monochrom (A), Carlos Motta (CO/USA), Chantal Mouffe (GB/B), Rabih Mroué (LB), Michal Murin (SK), Marina Naprushkina (BY), Alexander Nikolic / Boem* (A), Mary Ocher (D/RUS), Jens Ohlig (D), Sofia Olascoaga (MEX), Nikolay Oleynikov and Dmitry Vilensky / Chto Delat (RUS), Giulia Palladini (I),  Lia Perjovschi (RO), Sibylle Peters (D), Nenad Duda Petrović (SRB), Claus Philipp (A), The Pinky Show (USA), The Piracy Project (GB), Michelangelo Pistoletto (I), Lisl Ponger (A), Srđa Popović / CANVAS (SRB), Precarious Workers Brigade (GB), Goran Sergej Pristaš (HR), Public Movement (IL), Radio Helsinki (A), Tzortzis Rallis / Occupy London Times (GB/GR), Judith Raum (D), raumlaborberlin (D), Gerald Raunig (A), Oliver Ressler (A), Reverend Billy & The Church of Stop Shopping (USA), Richard Reynolds (GB), Ultra-red (GB/USA), Scott Rigby / Basekamp (USA), Irit Rogoff (GB), Lina Saneh (LB), Imanuel Schipper (CH), Florian Schneider (D), Thomas M. Schnölzer / VolXküche feat. die Pastinaken (A), Judith Schwentner (A), Marco Scotini / Disobedience Archive (I), Ruti Sela (IL), Salma Shamel / Mosireen (ET), Urok Shirhan Alsaedy (IRQ), Gregory Sholette (USA), Stevphen Shukaitis / Minor Compositions (USA), Amund Sjølie Sveen (N), Anders Smebye (N), Joost Smiers (NL), Laila Soliman (ET), Petr Šourek / CorruptTour (CZ), Janek Sowa / Free Slow University Warsaw (PL), Jonas Staal (NL), Ana Džokić & Marc Neelen / STEALTH.unlimited (NL/SRB), Nora Sternfeld (A), Kuba Szreder (PL), Xu Tan (RC), Theater im Bahnhof (A), Bert Theis (I/L), Slaven Tolj (HR), Aseem Trivedi (IND), Don Tshibanda (CGO), Klumzy Tung (GB), the vacuum cleaner (GB), Wolfgang Vacarescu (A), Nicoline van Harskamp (NL), Marina Vishmidt (GB), Voina (RUS), W.A.G.E. (USA), Klaus Walter (D), Joanna Warsza (PL), Dave Watts (GB), Hans Winkler (D), WochenKlausur (A), Michael Wrentschur (A), Stephen Wright (CAN), Salam Yousry (ET), Stephen Zepke (A/NZ), Michael Zinganel (A), Federico Zukerfeld / Etcétera... (AR) and more.

Sounds pretty crazy. Anyway, Pinky and I will be making a presentation titled Unpleasant Cat Stories for Learning on Saturday September 22 at the Black Cube at 1pm - please come if you are in or nearby Austria. The rest of the week, I'm guessing Pinky and I will just use the time to talk and learn with everybody else, our favorite thing to do.

Oh, by the way, isn't the cover of program the best cover you've ever seen? I wonder who could have crocheted such a fabulous work of art? (Hint: It's me. Project background info here.)

To download the program, click here. (pdf, 12 pages, 1.8mb)

See you in Graz!

~Bunny.