Tadej Pogacar presents CODE: RED USA

[oskar]

Tadej Pogacar, FF Fund for Performance art winner 2002, presents CODE:
RED USA actions and performances through May 8th; live discussion at
Apex
Art on May 8th; and an ongoing website at http://www.parasite-pogacar.si

CODE:RED USA
Tadej Pogacar  &  P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E. Museum of Contemporary Art
New York,  April 23rd - May 9th 2002
htttp://www.parasite-pogacar.si
PMCA, P.O.Box 2711, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
T +386 040 636 011  e-mail: tpogacar at yahoo.com

CODE:RED (1999-2004) is an on going project which investigates and
discusses the aspects of prostitution and sexual work as a specific form
of
parallel economy. It researches analogue economic models: those of
isolated
groups and social minorities. The project uses real and virtual spaces
and
takes the form of an open dialogue between artists, sex workers and the
public in selected urban environments and local contexts. Above all the
CODE:RED project intends to offer an introduction of economic and
political
ideas to new social practices and artistic applications. It is a model
of
cognitive mapping that gives the sex workers  who are among the most
marginalised and deprived population groups in the urban environment - a

chance to speak out and be seen in a new context. The CODE:RED project
represents a prototypical attempt to open and co-create a common ground
for
communication and dialogue between the public, artists and the sex
workers
community.

The CODE:RED USA project is the newest phase of a CODE:RED project. It
actively  involves local New York organisations for protection and
helping
sex workers as well as artists, activists, organisers and sex workers.
The
CODE:RED USA project consists of public actions, interventions,
discussions, a public performance and a special homepage.

P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E. Museum of Contemporary Art (PMCA) is a symbolic virtual

institution and critical formation. Its location and identity are
unclear
and for most even today still completely unknown. PMCA became renown
with
the reusing of the logo of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and
the
theft of the introductory speech of the director of the Guggenheim
museum
from its homepage. These actions became the trademarks of the
P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E. museum. Numerous interventions into the following
museum
collections followed: Boijmans van Boyningen, Rotterdam; Museum of
Contemporary History, Ljubljana; Naturmuseum, Rotterdam, Museum of
Modern
Art, Ljubljana; Mucsarnok, Budimpesta; Moderna Museet, Stockholm, etc.
Extreme media attention and fame was reached at the 49th Venice Biennial

with the organisation of the 1stt World Congress of Sex Workers and New
parasitism in Giardani in the frame of the CODE:RED, Sex Worker project.
In
the most recent projects  PMCA deals with the research and analysis of
parallel information strategies and parallel economic models in selected

urban areas. PMCA co-operated at numerous manifestations and events such
as
Manifesta 1 in Rotterdam; After the Wall in Stockholm, Berlin, Budapest;

49. Venice Biennial; Steiricher Herbst 2001 in Graz; Museo de Arte
Carrillo
Gil in Mexico City; ZKM Karlsruhe.

CODE:RED USA homepage
http://www. parasite-pogacar.si

The new project homepage will be officially accessible to the public on
the
Internet as of 17th April 2002 from 00.00 hours Central European time or

16th April 2002, 6 p.m. New York time. The homepage will contain the
basic
information on the project, a forum and a short history. The page will
be
actualised and supplemented  with information on realised actions and
interventions.

Actions and performance  /  29th April  8th May 2002
Between 29th April and 8th May a series of anonymous conceptual actions
on
the narrower territory of New York City will take place. Most actions
and
interventions will take place unannounced, in public areas.  All
activities
will be documented and represented on the project homepage. The series
of
actions will be concluded with a public performance, which will be
organised in co-operation with the local organisations for sex workers'
rights and organisations for decriminalisation of prostitution and
activists. The location and time of the performance will be published in

the next announcement.

CODE : RED Discussion Evening  /  8th May 2002
APEX, 291 Church street, New York City , 7 p.m.
The discussion will present the genesis of the CODE:RED project. The
following themes will be discussed by the participants: public space and

its control, human rights and the sex industry, the influence of
globalisation on the practice of sexual work, parallel economies and
marginal communities, etc. Amongst others the following individuals will

participate in the discussion: Carol Leigh (San Francisco, BAYSWAN),
Tadej
Pogacar (Ljubljana, director of the P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E. Museum of
Contemporary
Art) and Pablo Helguerra (Mexico City, New York).

This project was made possible, in part, by funds from the Franklin
Furnace
Fund for Performance Art, supported by Jerome Foundation and the New
York
State Council on the Arts. The project was partly supported by Ministry
of
Culture of the Republic of Slovenia.