Don’t you miss the days when artists believed in something, and shouted it out for the whole world to hear – or wrote it down articulately and assertively in a manifesto? Well, if you’re like Artsweek, you’ll be excited to hear that there’s a small group of folks right here at UCSB who are putting the excitement – and manifestos – back into art.

The class is organized by Alisa Ochoa, who recently received her MFA from the Department of Art and is currently teaching courses in the College of Creative Studies. The class is predicated on the goal of starting an art movement as a group, developing a manifesto and creating projects that build upon their collective ideas and goals. While individual students and groups within the class have developed their own manifestos and projects, they consider themselves to be a collective group, unified under the label DIT (Do It Together) Style, which plays off of the 1920s art movement De Stijl.

DIT’s projects take on various forms.

“Fluxit,” organized by Loie Hollowell and Chris White, combines elements of Yoko Ono’s “Cut Piece” with their own research on the Fluxus art movement. It involves the interaction of the audience with the artists as they are asked to cut their clothing until the clothes become completely disassembled. “Fort” by Ander Mikalson is a room-occupying installation in which she creates a large play fort based on ones made as a child.

DIT Style seems to have found the right blend of fun and games combined with fervent ideology and manifestos. Because what’s one without the others, right? The class demands that working together with energy and creativity be the norm, which is a great lesson for us all to learn.

Be sure to check out Do It Together: One-Night Art Situation this Saturday, May 22, 6 to 9 p.m. at 1770 Glendale Blvd. in Los Angeles – otherwise known as Echo Park. It is sure to be an enjoyable evening of collaborative projects from DIT Style students.

For more information, check out www.ditstyle.org.