Tactical Ice Cream Unit art truck shares treats and thoughts with willing patrons

The Tactical Ice Cream Unit, or TICU (pronounced tee-coo) for short, is a hybrid vehicle — not because of gas mileage, but because the truck serves two very disparate functions.

“It’s both ice cream truck and urban assault vehicle,” said Aaron Gach, director of the Center for Tactical Magic, the creative force behind the TICU. Brain freezes

Tactical Ice Cream Unit art truck shares treats and thoughts with willing patrons

October 13, 2005
Kansas City Star

By THERESA BEMBNISTER

Special to The Star

The nonprofit Grand Arts gallery had to purchase some unusual insurance for its latest art exhibit—automobile insurance.

Every Thursday through Saturday since the opening weekend of Sept. 2, the Grand Arts staff has started the engine of the Tactical Ice Cream Unit and guided the one-of-a-kind set of wheels the short distance from the gallery’s garage to its tiny parking lot.

The Tactical Ice Cream Unit, or TICU (pronounced tee-coo) for short, is a hybrid vehicle — not because of gas mileage, but because the truck serves two very disparate functions.

“It’s both ice cream truck and urban assault vehicle,” said Aaron Gach, director of the Center for Tactical Magic, the creative force behind the TICU.

The truck is equipped to hand out free ice cream and literature from progressive organizations. The treats are ice cream bars from Tropicana on Southwest Boulevard, including flavors like honey vanilla, hibiscus and chili mango. The TICU also has a strategically located expanding file folder filled with papers and pamphlets about effective and legal picketing, green cleaning recipes, brochures for town hall meetings and political summits, and information from organizations such as the Black Panther Party, PROMO and ACLU.

Visually, the former plain panel truck has a Mr. Softee meets contemporary propaganda aesthetic. The TICU logo, which appears on the vehicle’s exterior as well as on a patch adorning the crew uniforms, features a fist clutching a melting chocolate and vanilla ice cream cone with a cherry on top.

“There is something really appealing about a raised fist heralding a potential for something as innocent as ice cream to create positive change,” Gach said.

The artist said the TICU is filling a void and providing a needed service.

“People really like frosty treats, and this is a way to get frosty treats and information into people’s hands.”

But distribution isn’t the only maneuver the TICU handles. The vehicle is also equipped with supplies of gas masks, first aid kits, sidewalk chalk, batteries and flash lights, toilet paper, towels, hand warmers and a disguise kit. It’s also a technical marvel, with 24/7 360 degrees video coverage and 16-channel video surveillance system and remote control dish microphone, more than 1,000 GB of onboard data storage, a Global Positioning System and Wi-Fi.

Unfortunately, technical glitches did come up.

“The most difficult part was figuring out how everything was going to be powered,” Gach said. He ended up seeking advice from an expert in Texas who designs mobile power systems for the United States Marine Corps and oil companies. A generator and detail batteries power the TICU.

“Trying to synchronize the power sources has been a task, but I think the TICU will always be a work in progress,” said Grand Arts artistic director Stacy Switzer. “It’s not like a sculpture, where you can put a finishing touch on it and say it’s done. It’s a vehicle, and anyone who owns a car knows that’s where art and life gets exciting, but also messy.”

With the help of some local contractors, the TICU was completely customized at Grand Arts. Unfortunately, with the exception of an ACLU fund-raiser last month, the ice cream truck/urban assault vehicle has yet to venture off the parking lot and into the Kansas City streets.

Gach and Switzer agreed that viewers don’t have to see the truck in action to appreciate it as a work of art.

“The truck is designed for different kinds of experiences depending on how you encounter it,” Switzer said. “Someone who encounters it on the street and doesn’t go inside is going to have a different experience than someone who goes to see it at Grand Arts.”

Switzer encourages viewers to have a conversation with gallery staff about what different TICU encounters might be like.

Gach said the TICU stands as a large sculpture or an installation piece as well as a performance piece. He wants to drive the truck out into the city for a week following the close of the exhibition this weekend. Then Gach wants to take the TICU on tour to Chicago; Athens, Ohio and New York.

The artist said that in the future, other Center for Tactical Magic Agents and various organizations will put the TICU to a number of good uses.

“It’s important to understand that it is a tactical ice cream unit, (as) opposed to a strategic ice cream unit,” he said. “Tactics change depending on the theater of conflict. Depending on who is using it, there are a myriad of uses for the TICU.”

Switzer said she was happy to work with Gach and the Center for Tactical Magic on the TICU.

“For us, and this has always been the mission of Grand Arts, projects begin here and we know that the TICU has a life well beyond Grand Arts. I’m excited to see where it goes after this.”
‘Center for Tactical Magic Tactical Ice Cream Unit’

The truck can be seen at Grand Arts, 1819 Grand Blvd., through Saturday. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call (816) 421-6887.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/entertainment/12883899.htm