A live performance it wasn't but call it a warm presentation of swell clips of amateur documentary films with comedic, intellectual, creative and humanitarian promise. Although Sunday's event entitled, the "Yes Men" was hardly the theatrical performance showcasing the talents and diverse disciplines of some 300 economic activists across the globe that was promised, the night did deliver highly entertaining clarification of this organization's past endeavors and overall aspirations. Hosted by numerous student groups, including the Radical Student Alliance, Art Attack!, Activist Resource Center, Students for a Just Society, Anti-war Coalition and Pax, the event took place in the Shapiro Campus Center Theater. Andy Bichlbaum, one of two of the organization's original activist imposters opened the casual presentation with the core components of the perspectives opposing globalization and the theories of the World Trade Organization (WTO). This introductory rambling was the low point of the evening and was followed by Bichlbaum's poor attempt to articulate the Neo-realist theory supporting the implementation of the liberalization guidelines strongly suggested by the WTO. However, as his presentation continued, and video of his past impersonations was displayed on screen, his grasp of these complex concepts was clarified.
The visual aspect of Bichlbaum's illustrated the creation of the "Yes Men" from online activism. Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno started as participants in a Web site, remark.com, which seeks to enable individuals to contribute ideas about solutions to social concerns which other viewers of the site are then welcome to seize and implement. Here, Bichlbaum and Bonanno encountered the suggestion of creating a Web site mimicking that of George W. Bush. The two enthusiastic activists ran with the suggestion and, with the subversive success and publicity of that initial endeavor (garnering an official "cease and desist" letter from the White House) the creation of www.gatt.com followed. This Web site mirrored that of GATT, General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade, which later evolved into the WTO.
In mimicking the online presentation of these pillars of international commerce, Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum received invitations from various global business leaders and conference organizers which they used to invade the business realm with borrowed credibility to speak to advocates of globalization about globalization. Business leaders are duped by the imposter Web sites into believing that they are inviting prominent members of the WTO to speak at their various events, when in fact it is Andy masquerading as a credible advocate of globalization in order to critique such big business theories with a voice leaders will listen to.
Funded by two established art entities, the Herb Alpert Foundation and the Guggenheim Museum, the work of the "Yes Men" seeks, according to Andy Bichlbaum, to complete "identity correction" of various world business groups and employ "art to achieve political ends." The Yes Men use the potentially artistic mediums of the Internet, modern media, theatrics and comedy to reach and appeal to large numbers of people. Bichlbaum emphasized the importance of allowing activism and support of activism to be "fun" to enable participants to enjoy their lifestyles while advocating for humanity in an increasingly business-obsessed world. Highlights of the featured invasions into various business realms included truly hilarious displays of unprofitable snoozing Italian bananas, a model of the potential positive profits of democracies creating a market for individuals to sell their votes, and an undercover Bichlbaum parading around the stage of a large lecture hall in a glistening gold spandex suit complete with inflatable phallus and buttocks designed to connect the business leader to his remote laborers. Viewing such provocative content, audiences Sunday were thoroughly interested in the creative brainstorming involved behind these schemes. Bichlbaum describes their artistic approach as basically casual, day-to-day discussion, debate, and laughter between he and Mike Bonnano supplemented occasionally by the genius of random, interested individuals via e-mail suggestions.
Though the "Yes Men" have yet to fully achieve their goals of accurately and effectively informing globalization protesters, random individuals and economics gurus alike of the theories and real consequences of abiding by the standards articulated by entities like the WTO, the complete enthusiasm which their extreme presentations in the business realm are met with do succeed in humorously illustrating that, as Bichlbaum claims, "The people supposedly directing the WTO don't actually know what the hell they're doing." Theories of globalization aside, the artistic endeavors of the "Yes Men" are reminding viewers of the presentation or the upcoming film to always question authority.
