http://utopiad.org

Sunday:  1 day exhibition + events at Elysian Park

noon   

Food

12:30

Intro and discussion with artists exhibited, moderated by Light and Wire.  Discussion about future alternatives. 

1:45

Alison Kudlow, Karen Lee and Jenny Yurshansky present Greenus Graffitia.

2:00 

Oscar Santos, acoustic dance experiment.

2:30

Conclusion of Secret Barter Mart.

3:00

Ryan Lieu, Thank Tank Protest: “DON'T LET THESE HIPPIES TAKE OVER ECHO PARK! JOIN THIS PUBLIC PROTEST AGAINST THINKING ABOUT PUBLIC SPACE!”

3:30 

Arsfidelis (Kathryn Hargreaves and Tim Quinn of Dangerous Curve)  

Pull Your Own Weight

A mini-durational participatory metaphor of your community obligation to fulfill your natural purpose, and your community's choice to help you.

4:00

Talk by Anna Kochesberger: Basic Urban Survival (and/or how not to kill or hugely inconvenience yourself and others).

4:45 

Closing with John Kim and participants. John plans to hold a crit with everyone involved and make that process visible to the public,  “I think it can benefit both the artist and the public.  It will be more like a dialogue of afterthought. . . hopefully cheerful and constructive”.

Saturday, December 13 (4:45pm)

Piazza del Tomas: a conversation about the What If's of a specific place?

in the parking lot of

Tom's Burgers

2861 W Sunset Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA  90026

*Bring your own chair and/or blanket.  We will be having this conversation on the parking lot.*

What if the community members of Silver Lake came together to transform the parking lot of Tom's Burger's into a well-landscaped public plaza serving the restaurant's need for locally grown vegetables, as well as, the City's ever-growing need for more public, open space?

What if, through the grassroot resources of neighborhood full of spirited residents, we could renew our urban environment into a healthier, more delightful experience and at the same time serve as a catalyst for economic development & community outreach??

Inspired by the Silver Lake Chamber of Commerce's imminent Green Business Certification Program and the the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council's mission to foster healthier, more vibrant communities, a wide constituency of Silver Lake residents are coming together to brainstorm ideas that will not only serve the neighborhood, but will also serve as a model template for how other neighborhoods within the City of Los Angeles can transform their own communities one parking lot at a time.

Please join Will Wright, Jenna Didier, Jenny Rask, Kate Balug, Daveed Kapoor and Patricia Salcedo (the owner of Tom's Burgers) in an open conversation about how the principals of permaculture design can help transform a locally owned business that has served as a gateway to the community for 25+ years into a sustainable oasis.  Together we can help transform the 1970's paradigm of drive-thru fast food into a healthier experience featuring outdoor dining, a public plaza, an urban farm, on-site power generation generating excess capacity to feed renewable energy back into the grid - in essence a delightful space enhancing the role of Tom's Burgers as a cornerstone of the community.

The Piazza Del Tomas public forum is free & open to the public and is being included as part of the THANK TANK 2008:  GOING PUBLIC conference:  www.thanktankannual.net.

Please join us!  Everyone is invited to participate in the open discussion.