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Toasting the End of Capitalism
collage and photography by Maria Gilardin
July 23 – August 23, 2008
Press Coverage : East Bay Express and 96 Hours

Hard Rain, Monticello Opens for Business

Some of us
no longer waiting
to see which will fail first

the economic system that feeds on us,
or the natural system
that nourishes us

sever our ties to the status quo,
declare our independence from things,
and raise our glasses . . . to the end of capitalism!

                                        -Maria Gilardin

Toasting the End of Capitalism features a photo and sound collage installation presenting Bay Area artist Maria Gilardin's collaboration with poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Earwax Productions. In the original audio compositions, Ferlinghetti juxtaposes autobiography, commentary, and poetry in a highly personal acoustic exploration of what he terms “the current state of American consciousness.”

The exhibit also features photography and vivid Giclee prints of hand cut collages by Gilardin. Her work ranges from spoofs on automobile culture, to corporate takeover of farms and dreams of escaping techno-economic absurdity. “It takes me a long time to find just the right pieces for each image. None of the elements are altered or scaled via Photoshop. Each of these 'quotes' from pop culture, in their new context, may inspire a smile or a recognition that so much of what we take for granted is not as it seems.” Describing herself as a neo-Luddite, the Oakland native speaks softly with a Swiss accent, an accent she says she inherited, along with her anti-technology streak, from her Swiss grandmother. “I was raised by my grandmother who was born in the 19th century and I grew up without television.”

Gilardin did projection design for Nightletter Theater and performance photography for the Bread and Puppet Theater before earning a Master's degree in Inter-arts at San Francisco State University. Her thesis was a multi-media performance of the 1929 play, Life of the Automobile, co-directed with Mime Troupe founder R. G. Davis. Maria learned photo collage techniques at the California College of Arts and at the Academy of Art.

Biography

Gilardin is an investigative journalist, peace and social justice worker, radio producer and host of Time of Useful Consciousness (TUC) radio. Gilardin is known in the Bay Area for her cultural and political critique of current events and currently lives in Project Artaud, an artist cooperative in the San Francisco Mission District. She has spent the last six years building a straw bale house near Orr Springs in Mendocino County. Recent days she has been fighting fires that threaten her home and those of her neighbors.