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environments to expose the arbitrariness of geo-political lines, and peel away the meaningless signsthat cloud our perception of the real. They lay bare theidiosyncratic practices that have become ingrainedin our day-to-day interactions with society. Culturalwrinkles are necessary elements in provoking changeand revolution; they are the situations that can, for amoment, whisk away the preconceived notions thathave become associated with a particular space, andmake new environments by skewing its context. Theyoffer glimpses of uncharted worlds in the shadowsof capital’s simulacra, and, like the universal sort of wrinkles, traversing through them can lead to a betterunderstanding of our perceived environment as itexists within the larger context of our physical space.All traveling, though, begins with choosing the propervessel for the journey. Suburbanites have cars, NASAhas shuttles, Critical Mass has bicycles, and paradeshave floats. Determining which vessel will suit thevoyage best requires careful planning and foresight.If we were to construct a ship that could voyagethrough these cultural wrinkles, we can envision nocraft more space-worthy than that of a pirate ship.Pirates hijacked open spaces and claimed them fortheir own, lived like parasites on the back of fledglingcolonialism, and fought battles to the death againstwhole fleets of Monarchial warships. It was theirships that spread word far and wide of their triumphsagainst the hierarchy, and it was their ships that becamesymbols synonymous with danger, independence,and the most exciting kind of freedom.Artists, philosophers, explorers, and architects area few of those among us who have begun to re-examine the way our collective “public” space isdivided, categorized, accessed, and restricted. Eachspace we move through—the morning commute, ourday at school or the office, eating out at restaurantfor dinner—is designated to serve a purpose, andstrives to never deviate from its assigned behaviors.This assassination of free space spawned a thrivingsubculture of people who were interested in re-negotiating the terms of the space with which theyhad been left. Acts of spatial defiance became knownas “interventions”, and rumors began to circulateabout the happenings that caused traffic to stop,people to pause, and memes to be spread. Flashmobs, free cooperation, open source learning, andstreet reclamations began to multiply in number, andso the space to freely exchange information becamethe new booty for today’s pirates.Establishing an environment that successfully takesadvantage of the exposed wrinkles in our culturerequires a heightened awareness of both themainstream infrastructure and the idealized questthat inspires the subculture within it. A good pirateis a master of disguise, moving between this shadowand light with surety, and has long left town beforehis victims realize they have been robbed and hiscomrades understand the extent of his heroics.Space can be liberated through direct action andguerilla-style tactics, and it can be freed throughthe spread of cyber cultures and collectivist livingexperiments. It starts by reading an independentlypublished periodical, taking a long walk by the ocean,or re-mapping a forgotten memory. It can spread bycreating new networks of knowledge and experience,and it can inspire others to sail a black flagged shipthrough a wrinkle in pop culture and embark on a journey of discovery.-Meredith Younger, editor& Joan Wyand, guest editor
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