In 2000, the collective Together We Can Defeat Capitalism held a “Guerrilla Tea Room” at e://MISSION gallery. Twelve years later, in the midst of another tech boom and bubble creating outlandish rents, and with another hotly contested election on the horizon, TWCDC revisits this project. Updated for an era when Capitalism (and its discontents) are daily news, when Occupy provides “free” food for its own cultural guerrillas, and when “tea party” has taken on a whole new meaning, the Guerrilla Café offers free tea and cake in an environment that encourages students and passers-by to discuss the upcoming election and radical thought of all sorts.
The Guerrilla Café was held in the SFAI Quad outside of the McBean Gallery from 12-5 on Saturday September 22 and Wednesday, October 10.
Together We Can Defeat Capitalism (TWCDC) is a loose collective of cultural guerrillas whose aim is to raise questions about early 21st Century Capitalism. TWCDC has been creating provocative public projects and installations and participating in exhibitions since 1996. Their most recent project is "Das Vegetal," Marxist Motorsport's number 68 car powered by waste vegetable oil. Previous projects include: creating "Bush Stops" using road paint and stencils, and the Stop Bush video game; holding a "Bed-in-for peace" after the events of 9/11; and reprogramming a traffic warning LED sign to question the excesses of Capitalism on May Day, 2000. Main TWCDC members include Amy Berk (b. 1967) and Andy Cox (b. 1961).
The Guerrilla Café was a part of the exhibition Temporary Structures curated by Glen Helfand and Cydney Payton.
Catalogue can be accessed here: Temporary Structures brochure