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The patriots act
Tea Party at the Hatch Shell, ‘Peace?’ at the Zeitgeist, ‘Presidents’ at the MFA
BY RANDI HOPKINS

Putting on costumes and running around causing trouble is a respected tradition in American politics, one that stretches back beyond the yippies at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago to the Boston Tea Party staged by our own rowdy colonials in 1773. This summer, two Pittsburgh-based artists residing in Boston as Artists in Research at the lively Berwick Research Institute in Dudley Square and inspired by our history of political unruliness have donned powdered wigs, three-cornered hats, and black flip-flops and taken to Boston Common to spread their grassroots message. Carolyn Lambert and Fereshteh Toosi are the founders, as well as the entire staff and campaign crew, of the newly established Tea Party, a political party with a snappy sense of style and four platforms: "Tea, MobiliTea, SecuriTea, and CommuniTea." As their party’s two candidates for this year’s presidential election, they’ve been busy campaigning over the past months; you may have spotted them at Park Street Station distributing sachets of SecuriTea in protest of the MBTA’s baggage and ID checks, or at Bunker Hill Monument running workshops on designing environmentally friendly vehicles.

Next Friday, Lambert and Toosi invite the public to an experimental Tea Party at the Hatch Shell from 5:30 to 7 p.m. The event is free, though they do ask you to bring "your finest tea cup, if possible." The invitation evokes Alice and the Mad Hatter as well as Samuel Adams and his Sons of Liberty, but the event is meant as a serious challenge to Politics As Usual and an opportunity to air and explore fresh ideas.

No slouches themselves when it comes to participatory democracy, the feisty folks at Zeitgeist Gallery in Inman Square are offering two weeks of opportunities to express yourself. If you’re dismayed about the goings-on in Iraq, outraged with the current "leadership," and worried about the state (and the future) of our civil liberties, hook up with the roving band of activities that is "13 Days of Creative Dissent." On July 17, a two-part opening party featuring portions of the national touring exhibition of peace and anti-war posters "Yo! What Happened to Peace?" kicks off at the First Congregational Church in Harvard Square at 7 p.m., then moves to the Zeitgeist at 10 p.m. The evening promises posters and paintings, video, and sculpture by local and national artists, as well as special appearances by anti-war activists, performers, and journalists; it’ll be capped off by a big parade. Walking tours and happenings of all sorts are planned for the following 12 days, and they’re all free, so you can get in there and dissent with the best of them.

But maybe we need a little gravitas as well? No problem: the Museum of Fine Arts is bringing out some of its presidential portraits for "American Presidents," which will be on view July 19 to 29 for the edification of convention delegates and the brave few Bostonians who venture out of their homes that week. And never mind the knee breeches: some of these guys invented American dissent.

Carolyn Lambert and Fereshteh Toosi are Artists in Research at the Berwick Research Institute, 14 Palmer Street in Roxbury, through July 30. Their "Tea Party" takes place at the Hatch Memorial Shell, on the Esplanade, July 23 from 5:30 to 7 p.m.; call (617) 442-4200. "Yo! What Happened to Peace?" is part of "13 Days of Creative Dissent," with events throughout Cambridge, including at the First Congregational Church, 11 Garden Street in Harvard Square, and Zeitgeist Gallery, 1353 Cambridge Street in Inman Square, July 17 through 29; call (617) 876-6060, or visit www.zeitgeist-gallery.org. "American Presidents" is at the Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Avenue in Boston, July 19 through 29; call (617) 267-9300, or visit www.mfa.org


Issue Date: July 16 - 22, 2004
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