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Adam and Rebeca performed a ‘Pecha Kucha’ lecture at the Center for Multimedia Literacy at USC (on Oct 17), organized by Holly Willis, director of the center, and at UCLA, Design | Media Arts (on Nov. 04), organized by the ‘Interactivists’ student group. A+R’s Pecha Kucha responded to the following premise: Americans, especially younger Americans, often feel disenfranchised and disconnected from the political process and the possibility for change. What do you want to change, and how do you imagine making that change happen within our current political climate?

Originated in Japan, Pecha Kucha (translates to ‘chit chat’) is a free-form video art experience set within a fixed framework: 20 slides are shown for 20 seconds each.

When we presented this Pecha Kucha to the students at UCLA, Design | Media Arts and at USC, we discussed the importance of learning and understanding the semiotics of photography, as well as partnering with great documentary photographers such as members of the collective MAGNUM, Eniac Martinez and Michael Powers, and artists, such as Nan Goldin. The lecture was for academic purposes only. The photographs used for the Pecha Kucha are without permission and are not the views of the photographers.

The entire brand identity Adam and I created for the LA based organization Peace Over Violence (formerly Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women), which is the visual language we borrowed for this Pecha Kucha, can be seen here.

Pecha Kucha by Adam Eeuwens and Rebeca Méndez as presented at USC and UCLA, DMA

Truth to Power

R: [1] PEACE OVER VIOLENCE With this election, the country stands for the simplest and clearest of choices: do we choose peace or violence as our preferred method to make our world a better place. My belief is, we’ve given violence more than enough chances to prove itself wrong. Let’s give peace a chance.

A: [2] EQUALITY Over Violence Every year between 113 million and 200 million women go missing from the world population. One in six women in their life-time are sexually assaulted. In the US alone, every 15 seconds a woman is beaten. Only when women are treated as equal can peace exist.

R: [3] HEAL over Violence What if 1% of the $600 billion dollar Defense budget –equivalent to $6 billion dollars– goes to ‘domestic violence prevention organizations’ every year? Real ‘Home Land Security’ starts in the home. Actually, increase that amount to 10% because, some returning Iraq veterans, will be ‘time-bombs’ ticking.

A: [4] UNITED Over Violence So the USA thinks the United Nations is ineffective. This is, perhaps, because it constantly sabotages it? Move the UN headquarters from New York to Jerusalem. Christianity, Islam and Judaism already consider it the holiest of places. Declare Jerusalem the ‘Global City of Peace.’

R: [5] COMMONWEALTH Over Violence When you privatize public services like prisons, no wonder 1% of our population, that is, over 3 million people, is currently incarcerated. When you outsource military duties to private companies like Halliburton, no wonder we are in constant war. War is good business for some.

A: [6] HIGH Over Violence Another war the USA is losing is the War on Drugs. It is a total failure with drug violence worse, and street prices lower than ever. Legalize Marihuana, so you can regulate and tax it. Do the same for cocaine. Again, the war is good business only for some.

R: [7] RESPECT Over Violence Did you know that in our world, 1 woman dies every six minutes from an illegal abortion? Who owns this belly? I do. This belly is mine, and it’s definitely not new territory for you to colonize and control. Respect my right to choose my own fate.

A: [8] LOVE Over Violence There are approximately 1.8 million abortions in the US a year. When abortion is outlawed and all those unwanted babies come into the world, many more people will have to adopt them. In exchange, will gay couples be able to marry then?

R: [9] SEX Over Violence Legalize prostitution and value it as a public health service. Reward, protect, respect and tax it accordingly. It is the oldest profession in the world, as they say. So, might as well, give it a proper and safe place in society.

A: [10] NURTURE Over Violence I would propose for education expenses to be a tax deduction like the mortgage interest is. And, like in Mexico, in exchange for highly reduced tuition fees, it is required for every university student to spend the year immediately after graduation doing social services.

R: [11] FAITH Over Violence I respect everyone’s need and devotion to their religion. But I object to churches acting more like multinational corporations. Take away the tax-exempt status of churches. Give them breaks for social services they perform, but no more tax exemption.

[12] BALANCE Over Violence The USA is not only financially almost bankrupt, but also ethically and morally. The silver lining of the meltdown might be that we will be forced to understand boundaries again. Murray Gell-Mann, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist, once defined sustainability as “living on nature’s income rather than its capital.”

R: [13] NATURE Over Violence More lessons from nature:

1. Nature runs on sunlight. 2. Nature uses only the energy it needs. 3. Nature fits form to function. 4. Nature recycles everything. 5. Nature rewards cooperation. 6. Nature banks on diversity. 7. Nature demands local expertise. 8. Nature curbs excesses from within. 9. Nature taps the power of limits.

A: [14] EARTH Over Violence We just got this compost machine from the City of Los Angeles Department of Public Works, Bureau of Sanitation, Solid Resources Citywide Recycling Division and we are truly grateful for this program. Now we make earth out of trash, and it makes us happy.

R: [15] GREEN Over Violence Let Green serve as the new motor of the world economy. Those banks being bailed out? From now on, 50% of their investments should be in green energy technology, and infrastructure. And should be mandatory.

A: [16] PERSPECTIVE Over Violence This country is lost in scale: a $700 billion dollar bailout. 4,190 dead soldiers in Iraq, 2.21 persons a day. Have you ever met a .21 person? We need to get back to human scale again, do it one on one, one by one.

R: [17] AMERICA Over Violence When you hear someone say or you read somewhere “God bless America” realize this means North, Central and South America, or a total of 38 countries. America is 37 others nations too. No human is an alien. No human is illegal.

A: [18] INDEPENDENCE Over Violence Of every federal tax dollar we pay in California only about 80 cents returns to the state. The states that get the most money are the red states, who are led by pious anti tax crusaders who have the highest divorce and crime rates. If they don’t pipe down and shape up, I say let’s start a West Coast Independence Movement.

R: [19] TRUST Over Violence Hope. Progress. Change we can believe in.

Obama “thinks like a man of action, acts like a man of thought.” I trust Obama, as our new president, is the best thing that could happen to us, right here, right now.

[20] BLANK Over Violence An ancient Greek proverb says: “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” Be a good ancestor.

Note: Photography by: Nan Goldin, Eniac Martinez, MAGNUM photographers and Rebeca Méndez. Individual credits to come.