About the Festival

Operation How, Now, Wow
A Festival of Dissent

Between April 25-27 the Festival will be taking place in numerous cities and places. In each location, artists and other cultural workers are invited to organize events, activities, actions that address, consider and contest the ongoing "war on terror", attacks on civil liberties and human rights violations at home and abroad.

Like most festivals, there will be screenings, performances, exhibitions, online projects, panels, discussions as well as less traditional activities taking place; the festival initiated by 16beaver group as an open call to other groups and individuals with similar concerns.

We invite individuals, groups, collectives, organizations, museums large or small to organize at least one activity or action that can add a dimension, meaning, relation to why we oppose and question what is being done in our name or in the name of our security.

Participants are asked to use different parts of the city and utilize
expected and unexpected spaces to realize their projects. for example, for the events iniated by the 16beaver group, the financial district will be used as a place where  performances and public works will take place on saturday afternoon. there is no curatorial process in the classical sense. There is only a common interest in expressing our dissents.

Noting the differences, we hope to also learn from these interventions, from each other's strategies, so all the more reason to work separately together.

The scope of the festival is broad and inclusive and part of its intent is to form the basis for ongoing coalitions and the framework for an enduring or endurable socio-political engagement.  An engagement that does not end or begin with the next bombing campaign, but is involved, considered and directed toward the underlying conditions producing or responsible for the current situation.

The unifying element of the festival is the timeframe and  this website which will list and later attempt to document all the events, projects and the different ways people can  participate.

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