Zen and the Art of Occupy Wall Street

Richard Schiffman writes at Huffington Post:

They may be the first mass movement in history that has been able to bypass the press and frame their own message in their own terms.

Chris told me that OWS has deliberately chosen not to come out with a list of fixed positions
and proposals. "It's a Zen kind of thing, we don't want to give them an easy target," he said referring to how martial artists wear their opponents out by weaving and eluding their blows. Compared to the protest movements of the nineteen sixties and seventies, Chris said, OWS is far less dogmatic and more open-ended. "

"Young people today are more comfortable with uncertainty, with not preaching, with presenting people with the facts and letting them arrive at their own conclusions."


What Does Occupy Wall Street Mean For Art?
... Liberty Plaza, however, became a kind of art object: a living installation or social sculpture made of bodies, animals, alternative barter stations for food, clothes, and books, a kitchen with composting, literature tables, public lectures, assemblies, a "community sacred space," drum circles, protesters, media center, press team, visiting journalists, walkways taped off for tourists, and lots and lots of text—painted, written, scrawled, and printed on every conceivable surface.
How could art—that is, the stuff made in the art world—compare with this? ...

Occupy Art: Protesters Captured on Newsprint
Using the very newspapers where stories of the Occupy movement are being printed, self-trained UK artist Guy Denning has been doing frequent drawings of members of the 99%. Capturing the
spirit of the movement, from sadness to strength and rage, his pieces on newsprint and boxes capture the uniquely global protest which continues to garner attention and raise questions about the roll of corporations in world politics. See more of this excellent artists work (including a host of non-Occupy related pieces) at Flickr or on his Facebook page...