Car Stories is coming once again to the Buffalo Infringement Festival! Created in Montreal in 2001 and promptly kicked out of the so-called St. Ambroise Fringe Festival after a corporate sponsor was offended, Car Stories had to quit the corporate Fringe and redesign the game. As such, the infringement festival was born in 2004 to […]
Every activist knows that even the most anti-corporate jam can be co-opted by commercial interests. Usually this involves some sort of subversion or re-appropriation of the techniques used but every now and then, the co-option is nothing more than sticking a corporate identity where it doesn’t belong. A few years ago OTL culture-jammed PartyPoker.net who […]
Buy Nothing Day is an international challenge to our oversaturated, unsustainable consumer culture. For the past five years, Optative Theatrical Laboratories has challenged this glut with guerilla theatre culture jams at places like McDonald’s, Starbucks and more recently Chartwells. Mass consumption wouldn’t be possible without the banks and this year, the greed of those institutions […]
Before the recent Canadian federal election, Stephen Harper visited Longueil, not far from Montreal, OTL and others were there to meet him, including Melanie Kal, who files this report I, Melanie, performed in a jam for the first time in my life wearing an Official Man’s outfit. needless to say – this included his face […]
by Cassandra Witteman I have been getting involved in theatrical experiments commenting on global culture and consumerism. This recent Buy Nothing Day, Optative Theatre Laboratories planned a performance at the flag-ship American Apparel store on St. Laurent. Unfortunately, American Apparel didn’t think very much of our statement and tried to shut us down before we […]
