Artist Lecture: L. M. Bogad

March 1, 2017 5:00 PM–6:30 PM

Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry,
CMU College of Fine Arts, Room CFA-111 

This event is free and open to the public. This event is sponsored by the Center for the Arts in Society and the Carnegie Mellon School of Art.

In this talk, Bogad explores the history, ethics, aesthetics, and practical concerns of tactical performance and creative activism. The powerful sociodramas created by the American Civil Rights Movement and the American Indian Movement create a framework for the talk, followed by other major groundbreaking groups such as the Yippies, the Wobblies and ACT UP.  The talk then examines these groups’ more ridiculous and contemporary descendants such as Billionaires for Bush, Reclaim the Streets, The Clown Army, and the Yes Men, as well as the grim and gripping actions by Iraq Veterans Against the War and 1000 Coffins.  Bogad draws on 20 years of experience as an artist-activist, having worked with most of the contemporary groups he discusses as a writer, performer and strategist.

An anti-capitalist protester confronts riot police lines in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland prior to the upcoming G8 summit in Gleneagles.

L. M. Bogad is an author, performer, and the founding Director of the Center for Tactical Performance, based in Berkeley, California. Bogad writes, performs, and strategizes with  mischievous artists such as the Yes Men, Agit-Pop, and La Pocha Nostra. He is a veteran of the Lincoln Center Theatre Director’s Laboratory, and a co-founder of the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army. He has performed on picket lines as Saint Francis, the Angry Banker, and Sam Walton, and led Tactical Performance workshops in Egypt, Iceland, Argentina, Latvia, and across the USA and Europe.