Tonky's Blog » Public Art/Interventions

GOWANUS CANAL SUPER FUN SUPERFUND

Tonky — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 16:58:20 +0000

Ahoy,

I just redid my Gowanus Canal Tonky Octopus in green and pink and added text referring to how government scientists are determining whether Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal is polluted enough to add it to the EPA’s Superfund list. The EPA published a nifty brief on the neighborhood and the Superfund proceedings HERE.

Giving a site Superfund status gives the federal government the authority to intervene and clean up the toxic contamination whether it be chemical, fissile, biological, or other. A corollary of the process is to force those responsible for the contamination to pay for the clean up via litigation.

I am not a scientist, but I am an artist with a studio in the neighborhood and I can smell the overflow sewage that cascades into the canal after heavy rains, inhale the concrete dust billowing from mixing facilities, and meditate on the prismatic oil-slick rainbow floating out to sea. The Gowanus Canal area is an unhealthy place for New Yorkers to live and work and I hope it gets cleaned up soon. It seems that adding the area to EPA’s Superfund list is the most expeditious way to do so.

Here are some links to thorough news coverage:

WNYC – Brian Lehrer Show

Brownstoner.com

Gothamist.com

First And Court.com

-Tonky

New York Times Hoax: The YES MEN See Our Future

Tonky — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 06:24:40 +0000

Thankfully I got my hands on a hard copy of the document at the center of the elaborate hoax reported to have been staged by The Yes Men today in NYC and apparently across the county.

According to Steve Lambert -who responded to my email query addressed to the hoax website’s owner registration on the WhoIs- told me that other groups involved in planning include: the Anti-Advertising Agency, CODEPINK, United for Peace and Justice, Not An Alternative, May First/People Link, Improv Everywhere, Evil Twin Publications, and Cultures of Resistance.

The Pranksters handed out thousand of fake New York Times in subway stations across the city and over 1.2 million copies nationwide.

The Yes Men is a group of performance artists that stages interventions of the mainstream media in order to expose and elucidate topics pertinent to social justice. Or in their words, the Yes Men takes pride in, “Impersonating big-time criminals in order to publicly humiliate them. Targets are leaders and big corporations who put profits ahead of everything else.”

The Yes Men’s fake NYtimes “special edition” is dated Saturday, July 4th, 2009 and features such headlines as IRAQ WAR ENDS and advertisements such as the one from Exxon Mobil that takes responsibility for the Iraq War. The issue is printed on genuine newsprint and it is remarkably detailed and well crafted.

For those who didn’t get to see the analog version of the hoax, I have scanned the whole damn thing for your viewing pleasure. There are hidden gems throughout.

View gallery by clicking below.

Download 14 page Hi-Res PDF (12 MB)

also

Visit the NYtimes Hoax Website Here

READ more in WIRED’s Blog

In 2006, The Yes Men famously duped the BBC into airing a live interview of their fictional Dow Chemical Representative. They did so with this hoax website: http://dowethics.com/

Dow Chemical owns Union Carbide, the company responsible for the chemical spill in Bhopal, India that killed 8,000 people and has since sickened tens of thousands more. So, the Yes Men went on air with their fictional PR wonk from Dow Chemical proclaiming they would liquidate Union Carbide in order to :
-pay for reparations
-clean up the disaster site
-provide medical care for those effected

This prank sparked a world wide plunge of Dow Chemical stock and in turn forced an embarrassed Dow Chemical to issue an official press release stating in effect: We do not accept responsibility, we will not clean up the spill, we will not provide medical attention, we will not compensate the victims.

Let’s hope some day they will. The Human Element my ass.

See video below. Pure genius.

GIANT Tonky Octopus Stalks Gowanus Canal (Brooklyn, NY)

Tonky — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 05:43:21 +0000

I labored most of this Friday (9/20/2008) installing a huge Tonky Octopus under the elevated “F” train tracks in the Gowanus Canal Area of Brooklyn. It is intended to ward off evil spirits of gentrification.

Gowanus Canal is home to Tonky Designs and a ton of other artist studios.

The piece measures 12′ by 8′

If you New Yorkers want to visit the site it is located at 9th Street (btwn. 2nd Ave/Smith Street)
Here is a Google Maps link

Special thanks to Greg owner of Mr. Rubbish who gave me permission to put this up on his fence.