Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Ghana Think Tank in Liverpool, UK



The Ghana Think Tank is coming to Liverpool, to be part of the Climate for Change show at FACT, the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology.

Tenant Spin has generously provided the Ghana Think Tank with use of their 12 second booth for the recording of liverpool problems.




Here are the first to come out:

    From the Tenantspin 12-second videos:
  • Tracy of Tenantspin: The dogs use the pavements as a toilet, and it has gotten worse lately.

  • Tracy of Tenantspin: Epedemic of young people harming each other with knives and guns.

  • Tim: Motorcars park on the pavements (sidewalks), so it is hard for pedestrians.

  • Jen: I'd like some advice on how to grow potatoes on a east-facing terrace, please.

  • J: All the fun things I want to do involve it being sunny and nice outside, and its not, its miserable all the time here in England. Can you think of anything you'd like to do if it were rainy and cold. Maybe some inventive ideas...

  • J: Just in case there's a chance of solving that problem, I'd like to do a swap. I live where you live and you can live here in the miserable weather for a little while... do a little bit of a swap for awhile.

  • Kenny: Can you explain a way that people from liverpool can make musical instruments rather than being charged extortianate prices for instruments from Ghana.

  • And from the Tenantspin chat:
  • Rachie B: i think it's important that Liverpool is known for more than just the beatles






You can view the videos yourself. Go to http://www.mogulus.com/tenantspin, then into the 'On demand' feature at the bottom of the player. There is a folder in the 'On Demand' Player called 'Ghana Think tank Questions'.

Ghana Think Tank at the Arsenal

The Ghana Think Tank was part of the 2009 RISD New England Almuni Biennial at the Arsenal Center for the Arts.





Ghana Think Tank in Westport, CT



During the Autumn of 2008, the Ghana Think Tank came to Westport, CT, as part of the Optimism show at the Westport Art Center, curated by Michael Connor. Using "man on the street" interviews and anonymous mailboxes distributed throughout town, we collected problems form the residents of Westport, CT, and sent them to think tanks we established in Ghana, Cuba, El Salvador, Mexico, Ethiopia, and Serbia. These problems included pesticide use, barking dogs, lack of diversity, and speeding traffic.





Actions included renaming a dog “love”, dog-tags and all; hiring immigrants to attend social functions in a wealthy Connecticut suburb; combating pesticide use through a dandelion promotion campaign including dandelion recipe-books and replanting workshops; taking families to meet their neighbors, and projecting slides of local traffic accidents caused by speeding, onto public structures.



You can see tons more photos here.