For over two decades the Yes Men, the “culture-jamming” duo of Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno, have engaged in high-stakes performative hijinks against government and corporate entities to reveal the hypocrisy behind the organizations’ official policies and pronouncements about environmental issues. The SurvivaBall, for example, was Halliburton’s practical solution to disasters caused by global warming: a personal inflatable bubble that contains everything one needs to survive catastrophic floods, fires, hurricanes, or droughts, and thus to “enjoy a safe and happy stay on our changing planet.” A recent project has the global oil company Total unveiling RéHabitat, a “habitat equivalency assisted migration program” that will transport animals living in the way of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) to a safer place in France on a large carefully acclimatized carbon-neutral cargo ship. The Yes Men’s absurdist subterfuge of power structures and media systems offers an inspiring model for arts activism in response to capitalist greed and public complacency around the accelerating degradation of our planetary ecosystems. For further background about the Yes Men, see the current exhibit about their work at Carriage Trade (277 Grand St., second floor).

Jacques Servin, a co-founder of the Yes Men, is the author of six books, including two award-winning collections of short stories, and numerous articles for international publications. His software art pieces have been featured in exhibitions throughout the world. As Andy Bichlbaum, he has starred in the documentary hit The Yes Men, and wrote, directed, produced, and starred in the award-winning feature documentary The Yes Men Fix the World, official selection at Sundance, Toronto, Berlin, and other international film festivals, as well as theatrically distributed and broadcast on television worldwide. A third film, The Yes Men are Revolting, was released in 2014. Servin’s individual work, as well as his collective projects with the Yes Men, have been shown in art exhibitions including the Whitney Biennial, the Venice Biennale, and ARS Electronica. In 2010, Servin co-founded the Yes Lab, an institute aimed at facilitating creative activist projects and the development of creative activism worldwide.

Organized by Ivan Raykoff.

This event is part of PRACTICING THE ENVIRONMENT, a virtual, public-facing event series with artists, curators, activists, and scholars across the world who explore and engage in various aspects of environmental concern. This series reconsiders the supposed distinction between humans and nature; it is a distinction that has impacted notions of cultivation and place, as well as our relationships with plants and with each other. Focusing on visual arts and performance-based projects that engage notions of environment, these events consider the ecological implications of the materials that we work with, as well as the environmental frameworks and atmospheres that we work within. Hosted by faculty from the Department of the Arts at Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts at The New School. All events are free and open to the public, but prior registration is required.

Zoom link will be sent in advance of the event.