Situational Tour: Internal Revenue Service Building

On Wednesday March 19, 2008 the streets of Washington, D.C.
rang with the cries of protest.
Protesters were chanting for America to wake up.
That Wednesday marked the 5th year anniversary of the Iraq War.

At eight o'clock in the morning, outside of the IRS building,
The protest was supposed to begin.
Yet, at ten minutes past eight there were only a handful of people.

The presence of authority was obvious given the large amount of police officers, yet
there were only a handful of protesters.
At a quarter past eight they were still largely outnumbered.
One reporter jokingly said that there were going to be more police officers and reporters,
than there would be protesters.

People were starting to wonder if the protesters were going to come,
myself included.
When all of the sudden in the distance,
at twenty past eight,
there came the sounds of a marching band,
cymbals crashing, trumpets sounding and a drum being pounded,
announced the oncoming march.

Everybody rushed to watch the march,
reporters, spectators, and myself.
Their voices grew louder as they came closer,
as they voiced their ideals and the change they believed in.
They were marching with a purpose.
For a few moments they blocked traffic,before moving on to their final destination,
the IRS building.

Outside of the IRS building the groups held their signs up,
so that reporters and passing traffic could see.
The group that stood out most was CODE PINK, and
before the protest began they were some of the few people there.
Going through the ritual of putting on their pink attire,
and writing slogans across pillowcases and umbrellas.

The protest was calm at first, and then the arrests began.
Protesters attempting to cross the security barrier in front of the IRS building,
were immediately arrested.
However, the arrests, rather then discourage the protesters, only served to spur them on.
With the arrests came the chant:
This is what democracy looks like,
that is what hypocrisy looks like.

The protesters were thrown on the ground,
their hands were grabbed and tied behind their back with plastic ties.
To an onlooker it may have seemed that they had failed,
but in reality, they made their point.

Amongst the protesters there walked a masked man
his mask was that of Bush, with horns.
The "torture president" stated the poster the man holds.
He was welcomed, and many people sought to get their picture taken with him,
almost as if he were a tourist attraction.

Throughout the entire protest,
the reporters documented every motion, every chant, every arrest.
It was their presence that ensured that the protest would be seen,
and heard throughout the nation.

The arrested sat behind the barrier,
waiting for the homeland security truck to come and take them away,
while they waited they chanted, they still contributed to the cause.
The main chant throughout the protest was:
Money for jobs and education,
not for war and occupation.
It was a cry of protest against the billions of dollars in tax money
that had gone into a war that so many have protested.


The protesters did not just protest what the IRS building stood for.
They also protested the interest in oil,
as their chant became louder the words became clearer:
Exxon, Mobil, BP, Shell
Take your money and go to hell

During the protest the authority of the police
kept the protesters from spilling into the streets.
They stood as spectators, not amused by the protest,
they were simply there to do their job.

Before the protest ended, I looked up at the doors and saw a man standing there,
he was inside, looking out,
safe behind the railing and the protection of the police officers,
and I could not help but wonder, what does he think of all this?

Situational Tour Location

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The location for the situational tour that I chose was the IRS building where the War Resisters League, and CODEPINK would be protesting the funding of the war. The reason that I chose this location for my situational tour was because it was one of the earlier events, as well as being conveniently located on the mall.


The way that I plan on photographing this event is that I plan to capture the action of the protest, as well as as taking pictures of the banners that they will be holding up. If there are police officers there I plan to take pictures that will show the contrast between the protesters and the police officers.


The way that the four key words ritual, security, authority and ideology will play a role in this event is not very apparent because I do not know what to expect as I have never been to an event such as this one. However I can hazard a guess and say that there will be a sense of authority with the presence of law enforcement. There will also be ritual if there are any chants that the protesters shout out. As for the ideology of the protesters, that is apparent as I suspect that they object the funding of the war with billions of taxpayer dollars.

The Impact of Certain Key Concepts on Art

One concept that was developed that created an impact on the multimedia arts was that of the graphical user interface. The concept of a graphical user interface was influential becuase it facilitated things for people who did not have extensive computer knowledge. The development of the graphic user interface allows for the ability to have things more readily available to one, as well as giving one the option of having various windows open, whether it be for the purpose of referencing or just for the intention of working on various things at the same time. It was the creation of the graphic user interface that allowed for artists to have an easier time to create art.