on our way to CELLspace to watch Cardburg get destroyed

— Mission Mission (@missionmission) April 18, 2008

Cardburg, you ask? Why, it was a miniature cardboard city that existed for a short while, here in the Mission:

Pretty cool, right? See more pics here.

And here’s a video I shot. Videos were long back in ’08, I guess. (Where was Vine when you needed it?) But do stick around to hear the cardboard crab shriek at the end:

So heated! If they’re not more careful, somebody’s going to flèche right into oncoming traffic. Parry your buns back onto the sidewalk, you guys!

Previously:

I Love Living in the City (City of Cardboard)

Only it’s in Oakland this time, and there’s a racetrack. Apparently they’ve been racing high-octane cardboard vehicles (?) all month. Last week were the semifinals. Tonight, the finals. And with music by Eats Tapes, our new favorite band!

It all happens at LoBot at 8pm.

Photo by squash.

Previously:

I Love Living in the City: Cardburg Closing Night (Video)

Violence in the Mission Following Cardburg Finale

Cardburg Opening Night Photos

Tonight Soap Gallery hosts a reception for an exhibition featuring Verda Alexander‘s installation Run A Ways:

Transportation systems have evolved to become great feats of engineering that embody our society’s advancement and our anxieties.

Our ability to travel at great speeds gets us there fast, but a wrong turn, technical malfunction, human error or terrorist act manifest the precarious nature of travel.

Yeah we just got back from a road trip to San Diego, and it’s true: travel wouldn’t be nearly so fun and romantic if its nature weren’t so precarious. Also, we like cardboard stuff. The party includes live music and runs from 6-9pm.

Previously on Mission Mission:

I Love Living in the City: Cardburg Closing Night Video

Graying Matt Gonzalez Photographed a lot at Soap Gallery Opening

Lights flashing, they exit the squad car and start demanding IDs. I was not wearing an XXL whitey, so I got away scot free, but is it really so necessary to jump the curb in such a big-body automobile?

Previously on Mission Mission:

Prime Police Parking

Open Letter to SFPD Regarding Mission Wackos

Violence in the Mission

SFPD CrimeMAPS Skimp on Homicide Stats

This music video glorifies violence. It follows a gang of thugs decked out in foncy Justice-logoed jackets as they stalk through a low-income neighborhood beating the shit out of people and property. There are no consequences. I watched it just now and all I could think about was a night I had in the Mission District recently. First I watched a bunch of art types get drunk and turn violent on a cute cardboard art project. And on the way home, I walked past both a fatal shooting and a brutal assault. I felt sad that night, and I feel sad now.

Here’s my video from the final night of Cardburg, the cardboard city built by the Carboard Institute of Technology at CELLspace. It includes King Crab, a ferocious giant crab made of cardboard, as well as Cardboard Samurai, and shots from atop and *inside* Mt. Killamoncardboard. Soundtrack includes aufblasbare wasserrutschen the punk classic “I Love Living in the City” by Fear, as well as the vocal stylings (murderous shriek) of the aforementioned crab.

Not included is footage of Cardburg’s destruction. I watched the carnage and reported on it dutifully, but was not moved to record it.

Complete Mission Mission Cardburg coverage here.

All Mission Mission video-related posts here.

As you can see here, the celebratory closing night of Cardburg became decidedly destructatory after midnight. Shouts of “Fuck yeah!” filled the air as attendees ripped cardboard buildings from their foundations and beat each other with the detritus.

On my way home, I ran into a blockade on Mission Street. Buses were being rerouted onto South Van Ness, police were canvassing passersby, and somebody was shouting about somebody getting shot. SFPD homicide Lieutenant Mike Stasko explains in the Chronicle:

Apparently, there were three prior stabbings in that area – this may be someone coming up, doing retribution. He was a Latin male, on the street, he may have been in the wrong place, or wearing the wrong color. [Link]

I made my way down to 24th Street, and found another ruckus outside Carlos Club. “Get the [expletive] out of here!” said one man, as another was flung out the door. He pulled himself up, pulled his belt off, and whipped it at the one what flung ‘im, buckle first. Man did not take kindly to belt buckle to the face, so he struck his assailant with a bottle. Assailant went down, but got up quick, likely thanks to pure adrenaline. Punches were thrown. This guy was outnumbered; he took hits to the face and gut, was kicked hard in the lower back, and thrown into traffic. He fell, got back up, fell, got back up, steadied himself on a car parked in front of McDonald’s, and tried to make structure gonflable a phone call. I got the fuck out of there.

Cardburg was such a creative endeavor, but it all ended in violence. (Also, there were a hell of a lot of staples in that city; how many destructors came away with tiny staple wounds to their face, arms and necks?) What’s more, what was with all the intricately detailed cardboard shotguns? All these arty white people and their play violence; all these thugged-out brown people and their real violence. What’s the story?

More Mission Mission Cardburg coverage here.

More Mission Mission crime reporting here.

Link.

First, Soap Gallery:

This was opening night for Pull Here To Get Everything You Want, an exhibition of new collages by Green Party vice presidential candidate Matt Gonzalez. The modest little arrangements of scraps appeal to the OCD in all of us, and as far as repurposing found junk into art, a lot of these were a lot better than a lot of the junk at Unmonumental, the ballyhooed found-junk-themed inaugural exhibition at New York’s new New Museum location (which, incidentally, closes in a couple days).

The central element of the opening was Gonzalez. Photographers swarmed, taking lots and lots of low-angle shots of him mingling with attendees. My parents noted that he’s going gray.

Soap Gallery provided goldfish crackers, pretzels, peanuts, M&Ms, wine, three kinds of imported beer, and live music.

Next, Queen’s Nails Annex:

Queen’s Nails Annex has a cool name, this cool picture of chairs, a cool logo on its website, and it’s like right next to Argus Lounge, which is cool.

Previously on Mission Mission: 24th and Mission Art Walk Snakes around All the Best Parts of the Mission.

Cardburg is a miniature cardboard city, temporarily installed at CELLspace. Visitors are invited to walk amongst the skyscrapers and highways, and even tunnel into a hulking cardboard mountain. Note the back-lit residential windows, cargo cranes straight out of the Port of Oakland, and the way corrugated cardboard stands in for corrugated metal on the rooftops of a small hillside favela. Opening night was fun, but closing night will be funner, as attendees get to participate in Cardburg’s destruction. See website for calendar of events, costume inspiration and more.

Link to Cardboard Institute of Technology.

Link to my Flickr photostream.