Frank Chu - Performance/protest Technique

Performance/protest Technique

Frank Chu protests daily, or nearly daily, typically walking throughout the daytime hours in downtown San Francisco (particularly along Market Street and Montgomery Street) holding one of his serial protest signs, on which he displays codified rows of text in his characteristic lexicon. If engaged, Chu supplements the public presentation of his signs with spoken remarks about their terminology, about his campaign to reveal his exploitation as an intergalactic television and movie star and to be compensated financially, and about his recent news coverage. He is also known to protest elsewhere, for instance in downtown Oakland and at the University of California, Berkeley campus.

Chu will deviate from his usual rounds in the pursuit of a larger audience, and he is frequently seen at street fairs and protests. Although he claims to be a Republican himself, he seems equally at home at protest demonstrations representing all shades of political opinion. Occasionally, people who oppose a protest group will single out Chu as an example of the protest group's incoherent message not realizing that he is not protesting on the same terms as the other protesters in the group.

Although the form of Chu's actions is that of a picket-sign-carrying protester, it is misunderstood if interpreted merely as a protest or picket. He sometimes refers to "a live performance of my protest" rather than simply "my protest".

Chu also likes to appear in the news media, and will try to position himself in view of television news cameras and to offer himself to be interviewed. He pays close attention to the local news media scene and keeps tabs on where he has received good coverage. He will depart from his usual parade ground to attend media-magnet events, for instance the Scott Peterson trial, the BALCO grand jury hearings, or the court case deciding on the timing of the California recall election.