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BORDER TRIP tych / TRIP tico de la frontera is a three-part collaborative performance art project about an immigrant’s journey from El Salvador to the United States, funded in part by Creative Capital.
Utopia/Nightmare: The American Dream - Installation - Friday, September 2nd was an energetic night of art, performance and community dialogue at MACLA. The evening began with the opening reception of Utopia/Nightmare: The American Dream (Utopia/Pesadilla: El Sueño Americano) by artist Victor Cartagena with sound elements by David Molina. This installation is a key part of the project A Body Parted: Shrapnel of Present Time (Un Cuerpo Partido: Esquirlas de Tiempo Presente) an interdisciplinary work that takes a multi-layered approach to immigration and border crossing by the Secos y Mojados artist collective: Victor Cartagena, Violeta Luna, David Molina, Antigone Trimis, and Roberto Varea. (Press Release). . Visitors experienced an installation filled with pillows suspended in mid-air and hung by red threads. Video projections of birds migrating and trains in motion filled the gallery walls, while immigrant voices sharing their stories emanate from the pillows. The installation is an imaginary landscape that invites our visitors to feel and think about the impact of immigration on those who leave their homeland in search of a new one. As the night progressed Victor Cartagena gave a gripping artist talk about the installation and the project A Body Parted. He spoke about the fears, dreams and danger of border crossing and how his installation is a projection of those journeys. Victor referred to his work as a “conceptual map, with its use of red thread representing migration routes full of emotional and physical turmoil.” Following the talk Victor invited MACLA’s guests outside for a micro-performance of A Body Parted: Shrapnel of Present Time (Un Cuerpo Partido: Esquirlas de Tiempo Presente. Perfomance artist Violeta Luna gave a hypnotic performance which “examines the immigrant’s moment of crossing as she is compelled to leave her homeland in el Sur (the South), and the process of being divided – by the landscape, memories, dreams, and a new life on the other side - begins to take hold of her” as explained by Secos y Mojados’ member Roberto Vera. The full performance of A Body Parted will be presented at MACLA as a Creative Capital world premier scheduled for September 23 - 25. To purchase tickets please visit www.maclaarte.org
Buried in the Body of Remembrance / Enterrada en el cuerpo del recuerdo
Hemispheric audience Secos y Mojados interdisciplinary performance, Encuentro Hemisférico de Performance y Políticas, premiered PART 1 - LEAVING at a workshop in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Junio 08 al 18 / 2007. A Video of that performance at the Hemispheric Institute. (More photos on flicker) |
CROSSING
LEAVING
Creative Capital DVDs of the performance may be purchased through MCCLA, Multimedia blogspot.com