Choubun, a website of notes from the desk of Oliver Hess.
	The atmosphere of our culture today points toward a need for change. For many reasons people are beginning to feel the need to do things for themselves. The profusion of hobbyists represented by the Do It Yourself culture today are less like the gentry of yesterday seeking an outlet for their excess energy, it's people who have enough presence of mind to do something with their time, but perhaps not enough guidance to do something totally unexplored. We probably aim toward the wholly unexplored category, M&A is about fostering a sense of community. Appealing to the need to galvanize society at a scale someplace between family and city. Their is hardly any neighborhood allegiance in a place like LA, populated by different transitive subcultures every decade, or mainstay culturals which have made themselves difficult to penetrate by those casually living within their perimeters.   By presenting a "beacon" as founder Jenna Didier puts it we create a hub for experimentation and socializing. The experiments operate on two levels, one is as a serious cultural institution devoted to the presentation of cutting edge ideas to the public from the fields of architecture art and design. This is a style that resonates with the community and it is also appropriate to appeal to as large as a group of people who would wander into the courtyard at M&A and wonder what it is. We are as frequently asked if someone can enter the publicly accessible courtyard as we are asked what we sell. Ultimately the lesson that everyone walks away, regardless of their reason for visiting, is that it is a project for the benefit of the community. It is a frank effort to beautify and catalyze a community through the focused organization of volunteer efforts. Directors Jenna and Oliver both came from backgrounds in which the master/apprentice system was still a practical way to learn ones craft. They also came from places where their personal desires creative and cultural were typically satisfied in abstract social experiments within the rubric of art. These types of projects are typically successful and satisfying just because of their rareness and uniqueness. Working at this size and duration art projects are within a sweet spot which is not outside the shape of what can be mastered and it can be applied to many problems in society other then pranks and culture jamming. Creating temporary spaces that are mind blowing and undeniably amazing is the first step.   The "beacon" is used not just to catalyze the community but then also to direct it toward goals that we think are useful to perpetuate. We try to make sure that our projects are educational experiences first and foremost, the less people who build with pvc pipes and plywood from home depot on every home improvement project the longer lasting and better quality the built world will be for the next generation. Beyond the issue of building quality there is the general effect that materials selection and knowledge has on our choices about how the infrastructure of our future will look, a toxic and complex system of chemical dilution into our earth seems almost inevitable the way things are going. The need for breakthroughs is chemistry and nanotechnology make it clear that some sort of rethinking of how we apply ourselves to altering our physical world is in order. From buying better made objects, to not throwing away as much of the things we don't need, to convincing others to do the same. If nothing else we can focus on projects that also enrich our knowledge of nature, of natural systems, and of living off those systems.
	Reference notes for an event.