Readers will recall the Better Burque Tactical Urbanism Team’s (BBTUT) action last week to better reposition an ill-considered “Road Work Ahead” sign sitting square in the bike lane on Atrisco NW.  As part of that action, a 311/SeeClickFix report was filed.

Below is the actual, unaltered thread of communication between Scot at BB and 311/SCF.

You might be puzzled by what road sign placement has to do with “wasted water, and most all other water related issues.” That would be a rational reaction.

But this is CABQ and 311/SCF, a “service” quite obviously imbued with the art and philosophy of Duchamp, Dada, Kafka and other European avant-garde thinkers from the first half of the 20th Century. While one might also question why the City would hire Dadaists to run this “service,” the answer to this question is absurdly obvious to anyone familiar with the tenets of Dada and related philosophies.

As this art auction house puts it (an irony in itself for a capitalist entity to define Dada):

It was the first conceptual art movement where the focus was not on crafting aesthetically pleasing art, but on creating things that challenged traditional art, the role of the artists, and societal issues.

Thus, in keeping with Dada tenets extended through work by writers such as Kafka, 311/SCF satirizes the idea of traditional idea of “being helped” by anyone, government included. Stinging attacks on such bourgeois thinking is perfectly embodied in the “road sign = wasted water, and most all other water related issues” response.

When fully understood, all one can say in reply is “Well played, 311/SCF. Touché.”

In hopes of eliciting further Dadaesque ripostes, BB and its BBTUT will continue reporting poorly implemented roadway infrastructure and accoutrement to 311/SCF as often as needed. We ask no thanks for our small role in providing fodder for your satiric attacks on our modern world.

It’s the least we can do, l’art pour l’art.