FringeArts Presents The Proposition Tent During First Friday, 5/3

On display during First Fridays from May through July 2013, The Proposition Tent is a laboratory and social space that features a range of compelling ideas rooted in local Philadelphia neighborhoods and the international stage. Shaking up the format for what an art show can be and who can be in it, The Proposition Tent isn't just an art show - it is a convivial space for the communication of ideas. For each event, four sets of participants make their propositions: a local artist, an international artist, a local business or nonprofit, and the words of a thinker/philosopher.

On Friday, May 3, the tent will stage propositions around the theme of CASH MONEY, the idea that financial systems possess a malleable form, able to be shaped to do different things like artwork and community-building. The tent will feature a looped film installation by Julieta Aranda and Anton Vidokle of e-flux; a project originally conceived by Miranda July; and a statement by former Mayor of Bogota Antanas Mockus, read aloud by Philadelphia urban planner Ariel Vasquez. In addition, Ithaca HOURS creator Paul Glover, the South Philly Food Co-op and Mariposa Food Co-op will discuss their work.

CASH MONEY Participants

Time/Bank is a platform initiated by Julieta Aranda and Anton Vidokle of e-flux, where groups and individuals can pool and trade time and skills, bypassing money as a measure of value. Time/Bank is based on the premise that everyone in the field of culture has something to contribute and that it is possible to develop and sustain an alternative economy by connecting existing needs with unacknowledged resources.

Paul Glover is the founder of Ithaca HOURS local currency, the Ithaca Health Alliance, Philadelphia Orchard Project, Citizen Planners of Los Angeles and a dozen more organizations. After 35 years of community organizing on behalf of grassroots economic development and ecological repair, he started a consultancy called GreenPlanners.

Miranda July is a performance artist, musician, writer, actress and film director. July and Harrell Fletcher created the participatory website "Learning to Love you More," which offered a fresh take on how people think, act and love. The web-based project, which lasted from 2002 to 2009, offered more than 60 assignments that could be completed by anyone. Completed assignments were posted on the website; more than 5,000 people participated; and the website was acquired by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Antanas Mockus, philosopher and mathematician, formerly president of the National University of Colombia and twice Mayor of Bogota, pioneered artful interventions to revive civil society and has advised countless statesmen on civic culture. Mockus is a model for multiplying the number of co-artists/citizens in urban revivals. His creative interventions manifested in all aspects of city life, from mimes directing traffic to a vaccine against domestic violence. Ariel Vasquez is an architectural researcher and urban planner from Philadelphia and founder of TRANSforma Studio. Currently he is participating in Taller Puertorriqueño's CP Lab, a creative and urban research project. In his Lost Lots project, he is researching how the open spaces in North Philly either hinder or promote community.

South Philly Food Co-op is a group of community-minded South Philly residents committed to bringing a member-owned grocery store that carries local, high-quality foods at a fair price to the neighborhood. While the end result will be a food store, it will also serve as a center for community action, opportunity and sharing. The Co-op will be owned by the local community.

Mariposa Food Co-op is a cooperative grocery store open to the public and owned and operated by its membership, with 1,500-plus members. As such, the Co-op strives to provide residents of West Philadelphia and beyond with access to and information about food, especially healthy, locally grown or otherwise sustainably produced products.