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17 June 2011

From: "michael gurstein" <gurstein[at]gmail.com>
To: "Nettime-L" <nettime-l[at]kein.org>
Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2011 11:57:36 -0700
Subject: <nettime> Riot as Performance Art

Datapoints re: the Hockey Riot in Vancouver observed after the game finished for about an hour.

1. The gender ratio was roughly 50-50.

2. Women seemed as aggressive as men.

3. At least half the folks had cameras of one sort or another and were constantly taking pictures.

4. The crowd overall was cheerful.

5. Lots of alcohol and marijuana but not a lot of falling down drunk people.

6. Almost no one was covering their faces.

What does that sound like.  To me it seems rather more like a concert audience than the makeup of a serious riot.

I think the key things though was the gender equality, the cameras, the general good cheer and the uncovered faces.

What made this different from a rock concert was the presence of the police. They were costumed differently from normal rock concert security-kitted up in riot gear complete with black uniforms, shields, weapons etc.etc.

But nor was this Seattle, the G20 Toronto or Tahir Square.  These folks weren't afraid of being seen and recognized, they were going out of their way to be recognized and they wanted that recognition, captured and presumably re-presented to the world via SMS, Facebook or Youtube and the tv news.

This wasn't a riot. It was a performance with much of the violence as far as I could see it being done for photo capture and transmission rather than out of deviltry, rage or simple youthful destructiveness.  On one of the news shows a reporter passed along a story that the original truck which was burned near the hockey rink had been deliberately brought to the site and left exposed there so that it could be torched should the Canucks lose.

What is televised will not be the revolution.

[Michael Gurstein, June 17, 2011]

A couple of futher points...

As several of the commentators on your most interesting blogpost noted, I don't think the "riot" had very much to do with the game/loss/Canucks... My guess is that it would have happened in much the same way had the Canucks won although the age demographic might have shifted slightly with more older folks going into the streets (and then rapidly retreating...

Also, the set pieces with the police--them attacking and folks running/resisting/fighting was most certainly "spectacle". However, the role of cameras and their links into broader FB/SMS/Youtube distribution-- the posing, the self-posing, the staging and so on and so on was I think, a very significant (new) element broadening out the notion of the spectacle -- this wasn't just about the gaze it was equally about the self-regard involved in taking a totally exposed (to the world) picture of yourself with a cell phone in front of a burning police car (the half page size picture on the Vancouver section of the nationa newspaper -- the Globe and Mail). It is "spectacle" but I think a good deal more.


Vancouver Riot as Performance Art

[Image]

Police officers push back revelers after a riot broke out following the Vancouver Canucks being defeated by the Boston Bruins in the NHL Stanley Cup Final in Vancouver, British Columbia, Wednesday, June 15, 2011. Angry, drunken revelers ran wild Wednesday night after the Vancouver Canucks' 4-0 loss to Boston in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals, setting cars and garbage cans ablaze, smashing windows, showering giant TV screens with beer bottles and dancing atop overturned vehicles.
[Image]

Police officers hold back the crowd after rioters burned police cars following the Vancouver Canucks being defeated by the Boston Bruins in the NHL's Stanley Cup Final in Vancouver, British Columbia Wednesday June 15, 2011. Angry, drunken revelers ran wild Wednesday night after the Vancouver Canucks' 4-0 loss to Boston in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals, setting cars and garbage cans ablaze, smashing windows, showering giant TV screens with beer bottles and dancing atop overturned vehicles.
[Image]

A Vancouver Canucks fan jumps from a police car that was overturned by rioters following the Vancouver Canucks defeat by the Boston Bruins in the NHL Stanley Cup Final in Vancouver, Canada, Wednesday June 15, 2011. Angry, drunken revelers ran wild Wednesday night after the Vancouver Canucks' 4-0 loss to Boston in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals, setting cars and garbage cans ablaze, smashing windows, showering giant TV screens with beer bottles and dancing atop overturned vehicles.
[Image]

Rioters burn police cars after the Vancouver Canucks were defeated by the Boston Bruins in the NHL's Stanley Cup Final in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Wednesday June 15, 2011. Angry, drunken revelers ran wild Wednesday night after the Vancouver Canucks' 4-0 loss to Boston in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals, setting cars and garbage cans ablaze, smashing windows, showering giant TV screens with beer bottles and dancing atop overturned vehicles. (Darryl Dyck)
[Image]

A car burns behind a police officer following a riot that broke out after the Vancouver Canucks were defeated by the Boston Bruins in the NHL Stanley Cup Final in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Wednesday June 15, 2011. Angry, drunken revelers ran wild Wednesday night after the Vancouver Canucks' 4-0 loss to Boston in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals, setting cars and garbage cans ablaze, smashing windows, showering giant TV screens with beer bottles and dancing atop overturned vehicles.
[Image]

Riot police look on as two police cars burn during a riot in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia Wednesday, June 15, 2011 following the Vancouver Canucks 4-0 loss to the Boston Bruins in game 7 of the Stanley Cup hockey final. Angry, drunken revelers ran wild Wednesday night after the Vancouver Canucks' 4-0 loss to Boston in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals, setting cars and garbage cans ablaze, smashing windows, showering giant TV screens with beer bottles and dancing atop overturned vehicles.
[Image]

Vancouver Canuck hockey fans take part in a riot in downtown Vancouver, Canada on Wednesday, June 15, 2011 following the Vancouver Canucks 4-0 loss to the Boston Bruins in game 7 of the Stanley Cup hockey final. (Ryan Remiorz)
[Image]

Vancouver Canucks fans watch a car burn during a riot following game 7 of the NHL Stanley Cup final in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, on Wednesday, June 15, 2011. Parked cars were set on fire, others were tipped over and people threw beer bottles at giant television screens following the Vancouver Canucks' 4-0 loss to the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. (Geoff Howe)
[Image]

Vancouver Canucks fans jump onto a burned and overturned pickup truck in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia while police stand nearby during rioting after the Canucks lost Game-7 of the Stanley Cup playoffs to the Boston Bruins June 15, 2011. The crowd of more than 100,000 Canadian hockey fans turned violent after the game.
[Image]

People write messages on plywood covering the windows of the damaged Hudson's Bay Company store in Vancouver, B.C., on Thursday June 16, 2011, after the store was damaged and looted by rioters following the Vancouver Canucks loss to the Boston Bruins in the NHL's Stanley Cup Final Wednesday night. (Darryl Dyck)