In 2015, Denver’s Westword newspaper – the entity that organizes Artopia – sought to freshen up the brand by inviting renowned Denver street artist JOLT to curate the event. JOLT sent an RFQ text message to this agent which we responded to with links to reports detailing coordinated public art interventions. His response was curatorially prescient, “We’ve got some t-shirt cannons. Can do anything with those?”

OAF was formed by a cadre of special agents of the Institute of Sociometry, or (at the time) IS. IS assigned a case agent and put together a spreadsheet budget with the following line items: 1 dozen black turtlenecks, 1 dozen French style black berets, 6 black shotgun shell bandoliers, inkjet canvas matte 24”x40’ – 1 roll. The t-shirt cannons weren’t panning out so an IS technician began welding spare stainless steel handrail parts from their commercial construction day job into bike pump powered air cannons.

After watching the stylish German revolutionaries in The Baader Meinhof Complex trailer get gunned down by a jack-booted tactical response unit we contacted security at the Artopia venue with a notification that a dozen black-clad artists with face coverings and shoulder sling stainless steel pipe contraptions were part of the evening’s art showcase and under no circumstances were to be shot.

Coming down the stairs in formation from the third level of the Artopia venue, an annoyed patron with a sloshing full drink yelled, “YOU LOOK LIKE ISIS!!” The reference, of course, being to the middle east militia, terrorist group and quasi governmental organization Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. ISIS (an acronym preferred by mainstream media) is also known as ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, preferred by President Obama and the US security and military apparatus), Daesh (a derisive word-play which is the acronym ISIL translated into Arabic, “al-Dawla al-Islamiya al-Iraq al-Sham”, but sounds like two Arabic words; daes, ‘one who crushes something underfoot’ and dahes, ‘one who sows discord“. Both Arabic words have the popular synonymous connotation of jackass. Daesh is preferred by The State Department, David Cameron, François Hollande, and the governments of Iraq and Syria). The organization itself identifies as IS for The Islamic State (this acronym has been picked up by wonkish media like The Economist magazine). Not only did we look like ISIS or ISIL or Daesh but OAF was in fact a product of The Institute of Sociometry – we WERE IS…

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On November 13, 2015, three ISIS terrorists armed with military grade automatic weapons and suicide detonation belts stormed the 1,500 capacity Bataclan concert hall in Paris as part of a city wide attack planned by ISIS central command in Raqqa, Syria. 90 of the 130 total victims in the Paris attacks died in the Bataclan. As part of the horrified international populace, this agent was also faced with the acronym IS everywhere I looked – tied to twenty years of art-intervention pranks by myself and my fellow agents in The Institute of Sociometry. My hard drive was named IS. My business cards said IS. My life’s work was brought to you by IS. I spent the rest of the month, and continue to this day, changing every instance of IS to is – lower case – as not to be confused with an organization who has hijacked our acronym. The type of organization that inspires a small group of actors to cover their faces in black and storm an entertainment venue to enforce their views on an unsuspecting crowd…

When JOLT sent an RFQ text for Artopia 2016, “You got anything for Artopia this year?” we begged off citing some other projects. In truth, the age of OAF and borderline threatening art pranks post-Bataclan is over. Terrorists, if we are to believe George W. Bush, “hate freedom”. Now and never again in the future will is (i.e. the post-2015 styling of the acronym for the Institute of Sociometry) have the freedom to do another intervention like OAF. With the heightened state of fear, and an armed-to-the-teeth American populace, an OAF agent in 2016 would become a martyr for a laugh. Dead on the dance floor, clutching a mini canvas reproduction of an elk painting someone on Craigslist uploaded to a website. When IS comes to is…the terrorists have won.