Projects

TAM Projects

Motels of the Mother Road
A community project that brings artists, writers, historians, city planners, and business owners together to celebrate the historic motels of Route 66.

Artists Go Lightly
A community event, art exhibition and fundraiser for the San Francisco Tenants Union.

Upcoming: Michael Wong’s Leaf Encounters Project

TAM-Approved Projects

These projects all display elements of temporary autonomy, where "autonomy" refers to a person's capacity for self-determination in the context of moral choices, freedom from external authority, and informed consent. We hope that autonomy-supportive social contexts, however short-lived, will facilitate self-determined motivation, positive development, and generalized (if momentary) well-being. While all these projects are TAM-Approved, they are all imperfect and "impossible," all ever-shifting, all temporarily hitting upon autonomous moments.

Burning Man
Although with each passing year Burning Man becomes more of an institution, it has had a remarkable rate of autonomous retention because it banned corporate and commercial interests despite the fact that the organizers could have probably earned themselves more money.

Andrea Zittel
Among other things, Andrea Zittel is the organizer of High Desert Test Sites, a series of experimental art sites located along a stretch of desert communities including Pioneer town, Yucca Valley, Joshua tree and 29 Palms. These locations provide alternative, free space for experimental work by both emerging and established artists.

The HDTS mission is to challenge traditional conventions of ownership, property and patronage. Most projects will ultimately belong to no one, and they are intended to melt back into the landscape as new ones emerge.

World Without Oil
World Without Oil is an alternate reality event and game that invites everyone to help simulate a global oil shock. People participate by contributing original online stories, created as though the oil shock were really happening. The game also places value on player-created communities, collaborative stories, and collective efforts. Each contribution helps the game arrive at a larger truth. No team of experts knows better than a given individual what effect an oil shock would have upon that individual's life, or what action he or she will take to cope.

Creative Commons
Creative Commons provides free tools that let authors, scientists, artists, and educators easily mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry. OER Commons provides open educational resources for teaching and learning that are freely available on-line for everyone to use.

Slideluck Potshow
The Brooklyn-based Slideluck Potshow is a non-profit gathering of artists to share food and watch each other's slides. The even has been so successful in generating positive community that is has spread to places like Berlin, Mexico City, and Minneapolis. Begun in 2000, the web site now advertises exposure to curators and touts brand name artists to generate publicity, we nonetheless applaud the effort to build a generous community among artists.