A Press Release from Think Again

From: AGITART@aol.com

Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2001 17:46:49 EST

Subject: POP THE QUESTION -- THINK AGAIN needs your help!

Dear Friends

In a matter of weeks, THINK AGAIN kicks off its roving billboard campaign, "Popping the Question" which takes on the institution of marriage. Please distribute this press release as widely as possible. You'll find attached some of the final billboard images.

Any help you can contribute during the week of February 10 is greatly appreciated, as we rove around the City. As always, your word-of-mouth enthusiasm is most important!

Best

THINK AGAIN

Press Release: JANUARY 2001
Mobile Billboard Pops the Question in San Francisco and Boston

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR PRESS READY IMAGES CONTACT THINK AGAIN -- AGITART@AOL.COM

Lately, it seems like everyone's getting married -- from game show grooms to Gloria Steinem. THINK AGAIN, an artist-activist collaborative, is turning the proposal around. The campaign entitled Popping The Question asks, why do the elderly and low income families often loose vital benefits if they legally marry? Who profits from the wedding industry? How are singles penalized by preferences offered to married couples? Why are domestic partners left out of what constitutes a family?

THINK AGAIN, will kick-off Popping The Question in San Francisco during Valentine's week (February 12-16.) A 24 foot truck with billboards on three sides will circulate throughout the city. Popping The Question will bring the debate to street level interrupting advertising culture and posing questions in an unexpected, yet accessible visual form.

Popping The Question reconsiders what the media often ignores -- that the average person leads most of their lives unmarried and that the institution of marriage is still the primary way the state grants economic benefits and legal rights. Despite this, the media continues to interrogate single parents, chastise unwed teens, and question whether gays and lesbians should marry. Furthermore, while the press may currently debate the status of marriage, advertising culture continues to idealize it.

By roving billboards through neighborhoods, Popping The Question will speak to diverse families who live in close proximity to one another and for whom definitions of family are in flux. THINK AGAIN acknowledges the complex challenges that people face as they construct non-traditional families and seeks to broaden the terms in which we think of loving, partnering and family.

THINK AGAIN's Organizational History

THINK AGAIN is an artist-activist collaborative that talks back to mainstream ideas that perpetuate injustice. Conceptually, THINK AGAIN's work covers a broad array of progressive political themes: from racism to gender inequality, from economic injustice to queer rights. Their work combines humor, cultural theory, and hard sociological evidence in posters, postcards, and billboards. All of their artwork is distributed at no-cost and given out through exhibitions, events, direct mail, non-profit organizations, and the web.

THINK AGAIN was founded in 1997 by Boston-based S.A. Bachman, a nationally renowned artist and educator, and San Francisco-based D. Attyah, an artist, anthropologist, and community activist. To date, THINK AGAIN has completed over thirty-five projects. THINK AGAIN's work is included in "Sex, Lies and Stereotypes" and "No Human Is Illegal," two traveling exhibitions organized by the Center for the Study of Political Graphics in Los Angeles. In 1999/2000 THINK AGAIN exhibited in the "Culture of Class" at The Maryland Institute Art Gallery and a retrospective exhibition of their work traveled to Hampshire and Bates Colleges. THINK AGAIN's "Economic Boom For Whom" billboard campaign received widespread media attention in the spring of 1999. Their work has been published in the book Economic Apartheid in America and reproduced in various journals including Ms. Magazine, Teen Voices, and the Boston Globe. Additionally, their postcards have been distributed in the U.S., Europe, Australia and Asia.

THINK AGAIN has received grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the LEF Foundation, the Resist Foundation, and the Puffin Foundation.