An overdue post, this video is from the Manure and Poetry Nr. 4: Out Loud, In Alphabetical Order performance by @laborcamp that focused around the activation of Metrodome. The basis of the performance was the 197 words and phrases banned by the current administration. A recorded reading of these words and phrases was continually built on during a 4 hour improvised sound piece.
Piotr and I had been scheming on this activation for over a year and a half. It was delayed for various reasons, but finally came to fruition earlier this month. It was an honor to have Piotr—my friend, colleague, and mentor—activate the sculpture with his continually evolving vision.
Thank you as always to the @visualartsfund and the @warholfoundation for their support with this project.
Photos of the performance to come in a separate post, but some already visible in a post from @laborcamp .
Here are a few pictures from “Manure And Poetry Nr. 4 : Out Loud, In Alphabetical Order” event last Sunday! I called this 4 hour continuous improvised sound event “Out Loud, In Alphabetical Order” because the structural basis of it was the reading of 197 words and phrases banned by the fascist Regime: a form of mantra for collective resistance.
This wild structure was built by my friend, amazing artist Nick Chatfield-Taylor, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to set up Camp in it! The space facilitates a unique and intimate, multichannel immersive sonic experience delivered by more than 160 audio speakers! Thank you to all who came by to sit with me for a while. And thank you to Alex, Alexa, Ben, Evan, Isa, Jenny, Meher, Nick, Pamela and Pete for sharing your images and videos with me. Special thanks to Banner and Zephy for performing with me, and of course to @nickseetee for his vision, creative energy, and friendship!
December 7, 2025
4:00–8:00pm
at the Metrodome
An evening with
Labor Camp Orchestra
Manure & Poetry Nr. 4 :
“Out Loud, In Alphabetical Order.”
Message @nickseetee for location information
The new year is here! And, festive-like, we are officially sliding into fascism. The Regime, emboldened by support of millions of Americans, and propped up by the ruling class of billionaires, no longer hides its diabolical intentions. It’s all out there for us to see. From one year to another, we are stumbling backward, blindly drifting into oblivion.
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How will we find ourselves in this new landscape? Is resistance possible? Will togetherness survive? Will it be us against them, you vs. me? Will there be us?
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With all that in mind, perhaps even because of all that, I am sending you wishes of love and tenderness. May the resilient spirit be with you! Stay soft my friends!
This is my newest work. A massive 6x60 foot drawing entitled “Model Collapse”. The composition is assembled out of 14 separate drawings, which were then printed on 28 sheets of paper, and wheat-pasted to a gallery wall to form one cohesive landscape. I made exactly 104,657 strokes to render this piece, and it took me a month to complete.
There is a lot going on in this space, marked by a sense of loss, but also hope. The environment is ruined, homes crumbled, washed away by floods, burned to the ground. Death, wearing a combat uniform, brandishing a scythe and an assault rifle, oversees a massive explosion. A woman reads to two children. A man nearby sits on an unexploded missile, staring at his phone. Piles of books are engulfed in flames. There is rubble and viscera everywhere.
But there is also birds, flowers seem to grow through the broken bones, buffalo graze nearby, and an artist, who sees it all, sings into the wreckage.
Unlike the Reports, which responded to specific events or ideas, this drawing attempts to capture a much broader landscape. A space that is both internal and external: Acknowledging a literal, emotional, intellectual, and visceral storm engulfing us, and perhaps one that is silently brewing inside of us.
I want to tell you about how I installed two exhibitions in the same space within one month. One before, and one after the catastrophe.
Last moth, before the election, I installed an exhibition of War Reports at NE Sculpture Gallery Factory in Minneapolis.
It was the first exhibition of this work in the United States. And like with a lot of my work recently, all prints were wheatpasted directly to the wall. I worked with my friend Ben, and it took us a day to install.
Few days later we had an opening reception, Alex played amazing drone set to a bonfire outside.
Then a month passed, during which America took it’s flirtation with fascism to an “in a relationship” status.
So, Jade and I scraped the War Reports off the walls, and just in time for the “closing reception” with the help of good old friends Nancy and Johnny, we installed a brand new exhibition, of a brand new work.
We had the event, Alex played another amazing 3 hour drone in the gallery, and two days later we scraped this new exhibition also.
This new, massive project, I am super proud of,, and which was on display only that day, is entitled “Model Collapse”, and I will tell you all about it, in the next video. @iosisdrone@northeastsculpture
This Lawmaker will keep us safe from all our enemies. Especially the enemies from within. Thank you Mr. Lawmaker, sir, for all you do for us, for all the laws, and all the making you so tirelessly do on our behalf.
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(From “The Lawmakers” series, 2024—ongoing)
We hear the words. They slither out, and take form. None of them are true, yet they come back two, three-fold in force. Mind and memory closing further. Darker and stronger, the current sweeps everything in its path. As he speaks, new ones come forward, devouring our world.
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(From “The Lawmakers” series: “Senior Congressman Spawns Three New Representatives”)
This Senior Lobbyist Aide works hard to make sure the economy is strong, that we continue to build and expand our industry. We are grateful for his efforts, because thriving economy means that the produced wealth will eventually raise our living standards, and therefore contribute to our general happiness. We look forward to the inevitable trickling down of the prosperity and power. Our country, and indeed the world, is a better place thanks to his relentless commitment to profit.
Welcome to the ranks of “The Lawmakers”!
