The Institute of Peoples Art and Action aims to explore the connections between political/cultural revolution and the associated artistic movements. We aim to equip citizens with the knowledge and collective conscious necessary to think critically about the established hegemonic and oppressive systems which they live under - and gather together in critical mass against them.
The Institute of Peoples Art and Action
A Laboratory of the Seventh International
Roosevelt Roads, Ceiba, Puerto Rico
18°12'40.7"N 65°38'30.0"W
Download our Brochure
A Laboratory of the Seventh International
Roosevelt Roads, Ceiba, Puerto Rico
18°12'40.7"N 65°38'30.0"W
Download our Brochure
STATEMENT OF INTENT
We are on the edge of an age, and in the same way that Ulrich is lost in the transition into what we now understand as Modernity, perhaps we are about to fall into a deep confusion about purpose and meaning in our own lives and world. Zizek seems to share the same position in Like a thief in broad daylight when referring to the prospect of automatization of production – as if the silent presuppositions of our everyday reality are losing their symbolic efficiency and slowly evaporating before our very eyes.
Capitalism, a system which as Lacan posits is intimately self-destructive (that is, divided against itself) and founded upon the extraction of surplus value from wage labor, is then also facing an identity crisis. When the alienated are ousted out of the system completely, what does that leave left over? In an essay Fabio Vighi reflects that if we consider the ongoing debate between neo-keynesian and neo-liberal economic approaches it is clear that both sides share the same presupposition that capital is somehow an inexhaustible divine resource, which we are not permitted to question the potency or limits of regardless of how much evidence to the contrary we collect. We believe that the act of commitment to change or rebellion in and of itself, regardless of the outcome, is vital insofar as it demonstrates the undeniable value of ideas. To paraphrase Zizek again, ‘Our struggle… is against those in power in general… against the global order and the ideological mystification which sustains it.’
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
The programs consist of rigorous study, avid debate, collective observation, ateliers of anti-propaganda, demonstration grounds, guerrilla activism training, and strike organization. We are of the mindset that a holistic training in these areas will foster a commitment to change and revolution that will be our only way through the coming zero hour. Our current way of life is coming to an end, and we must be prepared to be the agents that will escort society into a more just, equitable, and regenerative future.
The school is run by the Seventh International, a collective which aims to create a neo-proletarian union which is of utmost urgency in our current global situation. Tapping in to the legacy of the previous five, we skip the sixth and look forward to a new and dynamic future, distancing but not disconnecting us from the past.
A VIEW OF OUR CAMPUS
Our campus is located on the pristine ex-military land of Roosevelt Roads, Ceiba, Puerto Rico. Our institute occupies 68,000 square feet of reclaimed and decolonized land. Consisting of sculpted landscape, semi-permeable plazas and paths, small groves, and emancipatory platforms - there is space for anyone and everyone to congregate and create.
SCHOOL FACILITIES AND CURRICULAR AREAS
Our main building is equipped with a comprehensive set of educational spaces and provocational areas. Pictured below from left to right:
- Hall of Consciousness
- Atelier of Anti Propaganda
- Exterior of the Institute
- Area for Occupation, Chambers of Reflection (left)
- Laboratory for Political Reconfiguration
- Theater of Provocation
- Workshop for Demonstration Materials, Monolith of the Seventh International (right)
- Classist Elevator
- End of the Passage of Capital and Labor Equalization
-
Area for Occupation, Chambers of Reflection (right)
- Guerilla Training Center
- Dissatisfaction Management Terrace
HARDCORIST HYPERBUILDING STUDIES
A hyperbuilding, as defined by OMA, is a self-contained city for 120,000. It combines the ambition of a hyperscalewith a de-escalation of its technicality. It is structured as a metaphor of the city, towers constitute streets, horizontal elements are parks, volumes are districts, and diagonals are boulevards. The Hyperbuilding can be read as the integration of several buildings into a larger whole. The different elements support each other in every sense: architecturally, they form an integrated complex; technically, issues of stability, access, circulation and servicing are organized collectively; urbanistically, the entire building becomes an urban quarter of a new kind.
