It's not where you're from.

I'm back

2009-06-04T07:24:00.000-07:00

I go back to the studio for the first time in several months today. I am nervous, like seeing a former lover after a long time. Do I look ok? What will I say first? I want to be confident. The difference is, I make my loves by hand, and they are what I want them to be, how I want them to look. They are not ideal, and neither should you be.

ALL trips to the store are fear of the intensity of what I am working on. Classic behaviors. This was not meant to be an interrogation of myself and avoidance techniques, fears of commitment, but alas. Facing one is facing all.

Poke holes in clay and fill with water- 8 bags, then shelve; begin opening boxes and finding supplies and shelving; inflate wheels on cart; replace bulbs; locate working outlets and determine how many orange cords i need; bring 1-2-3 primer and respirator; paint part of the floor in kiln room; bring rolling caster cart for small kiln; make a head;

In order to feel whole, I have to locate all the parts and make, remake, make and remake. they don't need to be a single piece, but the act of meditation brings fragments of ideas together. showing relationships between ideas simply by placing them in proximity on a shelf is the payoff. that delicate broken innards can be translated by hand to crude mud and then transformed by fire into something that is seen as an object on it's own makes me think that this act of translation is more closely related to design than art. Purpose: making the unsexy parts unintelligible invisible and encoded in something so that the subjects aren't taken into the mouths of others freely.

Today i will remake an object, formerly known as an object of my affection, of my love, that i loved. As usual. I’m so excited and happy…

2009-01-04T16:53:00.000-08:00

I want to describe the changes, but I cannot find the proper combination of words. My joy and pain have multiplied. matched by the intense need I feel to regain my center because after the universe took me down, smeared me in dirt, buried me, i will never take anything for granted again. I am very receptive to the good things. And I can let myself feel bad for the past. Healing time. Crying and laughing a lot. And I just ran a mile in 12.5 minutes.

Things could not get weirder. I am sending all the love I am getting back out into the universe.

Happy Holidays from San Antonio

2008-12-06T22:12:00.001-08:00

future christmas card, originally uploaded by beanqueen.killer.

Not what I am most proud of.

2008-11-02T21:09:00.001-08:00

2008-10-22T09:44:00.000-07:00

I'm working on a proposal for a group to travel, mark territory, record and document the spaces between spaces, and then assess the shift in identity when entering one space or another. For youth. Hansel and Gretel meets Jeremy Wood. Resulting in 2 installations in the two sites. Multimedia and exciting! Action Research! Also, local and body knowledge vs the institution.

“what the map cuts up, the story cuts across”
-Michel de Certeau,

2008-10-01T19:55:00.001-07:00

from boing boing again,

Genius! Urinary tract wall-paper. I want it in my bathroom.

via boing boing

2008-09-23T17:54:00.001-07:00

Dear American:

I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.

I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.

I am working with Mr. Phil Gram, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transactin is 100% safe.

This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.

Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.

Yours Faithfully Minister of Treasury Paulson

2008-09-18T21:43:00.000-07:00

Ricardo Dominguez reenacting a 1971 speech given by Cesar Chavez as part of Mark Tribe's Port Huron Project.

Artist doing reenactments has been on my mind. And now this. So that you can relive the moment in which we could FEEL like we were living in a moment that would lead to positive change. Cesar Chavez, Angela Davis, Stokley Carmichal. I am interested in Jeremy Deller and his reenactments and making museums of regular living things. fandom. being strange and living at your parent's house for a long time. Not unrelated to Karaoke and Phil Collins project The World Won't Listen.

I think the it's idea that we can relive the event- and authenticity is not an issue- and that gut feeling attaches us to love and humanity is what we want. And it feels good and exciting. Like eating or making music or fucking or laughing or teaching. and they are all reenactments, never the first time more than once, and we love feeling the same good over and over. We pursue that. Makes sense.

2008-09-18T10:25:00.000-07:00

The perils of indoor artmaking have chased me out of doors again. At this time, I walk and look and research and consider where I am, who I am in this context, and how to negotiate the multiple IDs that are laid upon me.

I found out that the condo I live in was a community print shop that offered free classes to kids. And that the parking lot where I park was a collective artmaking space shared by several local artists. I met a man who has a tattoo of a geometric Aztec sun bursting from an asteroid. He tells me he walked by the mural every day on his way to school as a kid and it had an impact on him. The mural used to be on the building where I now park my car. The parking lot will inspire and empower ZERO young people, I predict.

What is gentrification? What is manifest destiny? What kind of obscuring/erasure of history and local knowledge is happening in my hood? Moving here and introducing myself around has been a series of disasters.

The Pocho Research project is one of a few projects by Sandra de la Loza and she has this down. By researching locales and working with communities facing gentrification, this becomes an intervention in the enormous SILENCE that surrounds these actions of violence against communities in the name of economic development.
One of the most interesting and complex projects I heard Sandra talk about was a plaque to commemorate a lesbian & queer bar in a Latino section of town that was taken over by yuppies moving in to the 'hood, and ultimately closed. It's not on the website.

I saw her speak at the Allied Media Conference. I want to see if she can come to Chicago and talk.

Bi/Lingual

2008-07-12T14:55:00.000-07:00

Curated by Angelica Pozo, this exhibition will be held in Cleveland, Ohio during the month of September at the lovely Spaces Gallery. The opening is the first Friday of September, and Robin and I will have a large collaborative installation in the show. It is open through the first few weeks of October.

2008-07-02T19:06:00.000-07:00

ceramic tiles in the shape of little shipping containers. GENIUS!

from Materialiscious

thanks, the living end, for turning me on to these. Gasp. I luv them.

Get there HERE at the Jason Miller Studio.

2008-06-25T20:26:00.000-07:00

Whoa. The future came way too soon. I've since made tons of new work, changed everything including my life course, location and even my hairstyle. Believe me, you me. I believe you.

When the Future Comes Too Soon

2008-02-18T09:35:00.000-08:00

Future Shock

very funny and wierd

2008-01-26T21:43:00.000-08:00

There is this guy who gives letter grades to flags of every nation based on some strange criteria. I love the internets.

jalapeño tech No

2008-01-11T20:44:00.000-08:00

Class Portrait/ Inverted Nipple

2008-01-06T19:48:00.000-08:00

Holy Vlog

2008-01-06T19:09:00.001-08:00

Somehow this turned from a Blog into a Vlog. Now it takes more time to load and to see, so I thought I'd make an old-fashioned wordy post. An update, but less linear.

My work is making an about-face and the direction I was headed in- surveillance cameras and video- is going on hold or at least on the side for now. i need to concentrate on the objects I am interested in seeing. Yes yes, they will have built-in cameras for eyes and also might be under surveillance themselves, but it is not central. That we are living in a surveillance environment now in real life isn't central either. It is a thing we take for granted. The bodies I want to see get made will be players in this game of "security and safety" and being under surveillance themselves for being suspected criminals. Both.

Also, right now, I'd do anything to get my hands on the footage of Janet Jackson's boob flash/wardrobe malfunction from the superbowl. And I want to see how it looks next to britney's mtv music awards performance and the outrageousness of her not being skinny- the outlaw belly. the outrage a tittie and a belly caused! I want to put them in one object. boil it down a bit.

After saying all this, the dummy dummy camera project is still going on. They have been installed in public and will be installed in a gallery with tiny black and white monitors, connected by pieces of twine. the installation opens at the Work Gallery on Friday the 11th. Oh dear I have a lot to do. And some thesis thing, yah yah yah.

Un panorama desastroso...

2008-01-06T18:45:00.000-08:00

This video is by an artist/musician named Charcko from DF. He is an activist, collective member, an organizer and justice worker which in DF is another way of saying ARTIST. He uses video, music and computers to make his work. Plus, on top of it all, he is a really cool guy. Here is a recent video he made:

Oh and feliz año nuevo, everybody.

2007-12-16T17:23:00.001-08:00

Teams Called Pirates

2007-11-17T14:03:00.000-08:00

Here is a good idea for a cloudy rainy 40 degree day. Specific Things is looking for submissions of images and stories. It was funded by Josh Greene's project called Service-Works in which he, as a curator, donates one month of his wages from his fine-dining waiter job to someone who has won a grant from him to do a project. And the projects are good. Varied, but the way they fit together is terrific.

So back to Specific Things, which collects images of things with themes like, Young Women Holding Koalas

The idea is interesting and reminds me of when I went to Berlin and realized there was not one photo I could take that hadn't been taken. And original ones I could take with ME in them can be broken down into categories that remind me that everything I do may seem unique, but all the urges come from the same animal..

Dulce Pinzon!

2007-11-11T13:42:00.000-08:00

The work by Dulce Pinzon is amazing. Very interesting to me for a variety of reasons: it is participatory as well as about masking and icons, immigrants are the participants, and it is also about the economics of immigrant labor, not jargon or vague blaming. Note that one of the heros is El Santo. Also, my favorite is the delivery man named Noe. I also love the fit of the uniforms, the settings including the people in the backgrounds and the inclusion of how much $ is sent home and when. MEATY. I am a little uncomfortable about her diminunizing them- she says they are tiny- but their efforts are huge. Is that patronizing? I'll have to think on it a bit. The gigolo photo is moving.

I just started working on some shero masks so very timely, this new information.

Thanks, Redheadread for the tipoff. You have an eagle eye.

2007-10-21T09:14:00.000-07:00

Ripstop fabric and blowers makes some lovely and not so lovely forms. Seems that there was an explosion of rather predictable forms, practical, well designed things, and then there is this genius interactive stuff. Aeolian forms? On bikes? aahhhh! love it. Jessica Findley is doing some cool stuff.

Ripstop and video, ahhhh. beautiful.

This isn't really a blog entry. It is a sign of recovery.

Cybraceros and Transnationalness

2007-10-20T20:15:00.000-07:00

Alex Rivera is working on a film called Sleepdealer and you should check it out. All the labor, without the Mexican bodies!

He also made an incredible short documentary called the Sixth Section about a town in Mexico and how some people from the town moved to the US to work. I could never describe it. Just see it and thank me later. It's one of the best things I have seen.

Before he did these projects, he made some hilarious other short film/video oddities, and they are online. Because life is good. My most favorite is Lowdrone. It is a surveillance lowrider car. Well, again, just see it. This is interactive and FUN.

This guy makes me want to be a filmmaker.

taco lessons

2007-09-30T17:49:00.000-07:00

Here, Julio gives a mini lecture about tacos. Because the more we know about tacos, the more tacos can bring beauty and grace to our lives.

Trailer for Gentle Takeovers

2007-09-23T09:32:00.000-07:00

Nameless Collective presents:

Another way of looking at spaces, here. We photographed, explored, discussed to the ends of the earth had tacos upon tacos trying to find a new vocabulary, both visual and verbal, that we could use to work on this space. Empty, abandoned, viaduct, nothing seemed adequate. Liminal, interstitial, littoral and nonprivleged are not so accessible and might work great in a lecture hall but they are not so effective in the real world.

that's right. i said it.

reflection on B.C. 1

2007-09-14T21:15:00.000-07:00

It's funny how breathtaking landscapes can make you feel, especially when it takes you by suprise. I didn't think that Tijuana was sandwiched between rolling hills, enormous skies, cliffs, mountains and overlooks into the Pacific ocean. It's rugged, no doubt, but it was so beautiful that it made me wonder about those big big things. The ones that people search for answers to. Sometimes this is why landscapes like this make me feel uncomfortable. I wonder how seeing this place and these people has changed the course of my life.

The places that were not developed were directly on the fault. There were a few places being built there but I heard the earth moves regularly, so only a long distance buyer would be so stupid. It is very noticable, the undeveloped areas. Trump is building near there, to give you an idea.

This is the van we drove to talk to some people about solidarity and the run. I felt safe when I saw that it was unmarked, except for this.

It was a good ride. This picture is taken from my copilot position. I was terrible at the radio job but that was a good thing because I was able to have some intense conversations with the friend who was driving. This guy knows a lot of things that I wanted to ask him about. He was the kind of person who might make you wish you were stranded somewhere for a few days so you could just HAVE those long conversations. But no time for idleness. He was on a mission.
These folks in the back were also from gabacholandia. I was told that the hosts brought me and A out there because we were artists and they knew artists would do something with what they saw. And that artists don't forget experiences like this. It was great to be recognized for this and to know people who think of artists as having a useful function. It's just not as common as it should be.

Carrera Cermonial Por La Dignidad Indigena

2007-09-07T06:30:00.001-07:00

Carrera Cermonial Por La Dignidad Indigena, originally uploaded by beanqueen.killer.

you can read more here:
http://carreraindigena2007.blogspot.com/

Which side are you on?

2007-09-03T18:56:00.000-07:00

A call for solidarity! Happy holidays, everyone.

next to the beach in Tijuana.

2007-09-01T21:03:00.001-07:00

IMG_5620.JPG, originally uploaded by beanqueen.killer.

Translation from this stone plaque near the beach, next to the border:

Nearby is the beginning place of the border between Mexico and the United States established on October 10 1849. The flag of Mexico here symbolizes the friendship between the peoples of Mexico and the United States and to commemorate the idea of the Natural Collateral Park on the border.

this was pointed out to me by one of my hosts. New heights in irony.

Chilangolandia to Chilango Lite

2007-09-01T19:03:00.000-07:00

This is an image from July. I had intensive taco eating lessons. Yes yes, there is also video footage. At this point I had gotten the hang of it and was moving so fast the camera could not pick up my magic. How complicated, I jump from July to the end of August in one line. But here I go.

It is hard to untangle all of the things that have been going on for the past few days. I am feeling like keeping secret what I am thinking on one hand, and also like moving on to a new phase. Now that I am home and I have interviews, videos, photos and so on, I need to look at spending extended time in the editing labs. also, distribution. Also, finding out what it all means. It is not everything I thought it was, but it sure is much more of other things. The way my personal identity is related to what I am working on is now more complicated, but I will go into that later. For now, paring it down, taming the beast. Summaries!

Tijuana was incredible. The city itself was amazing, and complicated. Ugly and breathtaking at the same time, which I say despite the cliche sound because I don't know a place it applies to better. It has the things I love about Mexico- people, music, foods, radicals in the streets, lotsa heart, and it also has a river of shit running through it.

We stayed in the home of 2 ex-pat justice workers who have figured out the keys to happiness and live directly on the beach. Waking up to see the surfers get some action before work, looking for dolphins and seeing them from the front porch, it was magical. Our hosts were kind, generous, fun and had so much exciting things going on, from the struggle in the maquiladoras to el campo y los indigenas, to water, to early childhood education, bullighting and surfing. Plus, the house was full of incredible ceramics because of course, they had incredible ceramists in the family. I could gush and rave for days, but I will leave some to the imagination. Here is a sunset with surfers. First time I saw surfers in person and you can see they made an impression on me.

At one point we were invited to go out to indigenous communities while a friend of our hosts passed on some information and news. Solidarity work is hard in rural areas because you have to get there, and toll roads are expensive. And it is in the desert and gas costs the same there as it does here, but you make $10 a day (if you got a sweet job) doing construction or $2 in a factory. Hours on the road takes lots of money. Plus, you get there, you hang out, talk, talk, talk. Email had made me forget how communication really works. You see someone in my reality and they ask how you are, and I say, have you not read my blog?

We went out and met with people, sitting down. As a result, in our posession are a few very hot testemonios from people who are not going to take the shit sitting down. Here are speakers in a house in a settlement that has no water, limited electricity (see the wires?) where we did an intense interview. Well, I asked as general a question as I could as part of the ritual of the interview, and these guys went off. From prison and torture in Oaxaca to the border. The margins are all centrally located here. This town was made up of people who were looking for work and either kicked out of the US or had foiled attempts at crossing.

In another location, on traditional ceremonial grounds southeast of Tecate BC, 20 miles from the border, people put trailers down and looked like they were going to try to settle it. Might have been folks from the US, poor Mexicans looking for a home, who knows. But these are tribal burial grounds for a lot of people. So they tied the trailers to trucks and dragged them away. It came to blows as you would expect. We were out there a few days later and the vibe was tense. It is not resolved and there were barbed wire fences everywhere and even an armed guard at one place. People are just settling the land as if nobody was on it. As if other people's spirituality meant nothing. As if their struggle took presidence over the struggles of the indigenous people who live there. Sound familiar?

Which is why solidarity is, to me, above everything.

Tijuana report

2007-08-30T02:24:00.001-07:00

I just got back from Tijuana, the happiest place on earth. Since I am nursing a sunburn/tan and have not slept properly in days, let me catch you up tomorrow.

The happiest place on earth.

san diego o o o

2007-08-24T14:10:00.000-07:00

As if looking perfect doesn't actually come from inside! I am amazed at the exquisite 99% perfect physical shape people are in here. Between colonics and bikram yoga people must be eating their natural fibre organic thongs or just having superior mental conditions. Or something. Where I come from, quitting smoking makes you a health nut.

It is still perfectly sunny and now it is 75 and breezy. sick! It was awesome at first but now I am getting disoriented and annoyed.

Yesterday we went to another level of hell in terms of wealth and plastic people: La Jolla. There we acquired the special battery for a camera and went to a film night at the contemporary art museum. The films were well curated (more than 20 in total) and the set up was very smart- 5 screening areas and you can walk from one to the other, like channel flipping. which we did. We had a fine meal, but all the while we were in this freaky place were everyone looked like Isadora Duarte de Montalvo.

This weekend we will be staying in Tijuana. We will attend a protest as OBSERVERS because we know that participating in any level of politics in Mexico is grounds for being banned permanantly from the country. (but officer, the personal is the political!) After this we will be hosted by people who live there and have graciously offered to host us for a night and give us some grande tours. I will keep my eyes peeled for any activity from the Elvira Arellano camp. For those who don't know, read up! It has been a real outlet for the racists. Awesome!

Tonight though, I am off to visit with a dear pal who is a sister in the struggle at UCSD, also in her 3rd year as a grad, also a single mother of a child the same age so she knows, and we will kick back and talk casual but hopefully also strategy for navagating the institution.

I hope to hit a flea market tomorrow in San Ysidro. Is there any difference between a flea market and swap meet, aside from regional term? I say nay but please let me know if you know. This is a question for that librarian on NPR.

Still dealing with serious neck/face/arm pain. But clearheaded is best, I have decided.

from the corner of our nation and beyond

2007-08-22T14:03:00.000-07:00

Top of the line design here in San Diego. Everything you do everywhere is video taped. Some places it is even taped AND monitered.

skatin soldier. two things they have a lot of here, rolled into one!

Also, TONS of human sacraficing going on. Really, it is nuts.

greetings from bizarro world

2007-08-22T00:45:00.000-07:00

Strange how real things can look so fake. And I still have yet to see a cloud since I left Michigan.

Julia Roberts, Marilyn Monroe and Lady Diana. Why? Because that is the way it is in the Museo de Cera (Wax).

We also went to a mall called Fashion Valley. It was just like a few other new indoor/outdoor un-places I have been to. Simon says we need to get permission but I hear it is better to ask for forgiveness. Ultimately the mall was a drag.

Trolley takers

2007-08-21T22:07:00.000-07:00

Today things were manageable in terms of pain and I was able to check out some remote places. It was hot as hell and pretty overwhelming between all the new smells and noises. I am exhaused but documented plenty and will pass on what is going on tomorrow. Right now I need to wash and sleep.

a pain in my neck

2007-08-17T20:23:00.000-07:00

Here in San Diego, gorgeous weather, great neighborhood, terrific apartment, I have been laid up in extreme pain blown out by muscle relaxants. If all goes well, tomorrow I will begin to tackle my todo list. Otherwise, thank goodness for the lovely convenient place where I am.
I had a puzzling conversation with my doctor on the phone about why I could not have more than 1.5 days of muscle relaxants when I have not slept for the pain in 2 nights. He said I might abuse them. Hello. I am 15 minutes from TJ. Why am I being shamed for going the legit route? Well, I am not going for sainthood, but I would like to not be wincing and walking like frankenstien.
In other news: Destilando Amor is 2 weeks ahead in DF. In other words it is behind in A2. Here it is on a Tijuana television station, and I find out that la Gaviota is Rodrigo's aunt. Here is mas escandalo!

Ain't no particular type I'm more compatable with.

2007-08-14T07:12:00.000-07:00

Michfest provided me with the time and the space to relax and rejuvenate. This summer is packed! I was able to get charged up for another project and eventually the final year of grad school, and I am grateful for the time with my daughter. I am grateful for the utopic seperatist feminist community, even if it is not perfect, and only lasts a week. The nutloaf this year was almost perfect.

Lesbians on Ecstasy are an incredible freak-out of a good time. If you ever ever ever get a chance to see them, RUN, sisters. Run to see them. Be ready to shake it. They were great in the woods. They said they never came before because of the trans exclusion issue- which is keeping so many people from coming to the land. controversy! more on this and other highlights of fest coming soon. Technology breakdowns are keeping the photos from you. I still have the Lucha Libre photos on my phone. Bad Tech Lady! Shame.

The adventures continue. Tomorrow, Tijuana! stay tuned.

Continuous stream of information

2007-07-29T21:41:00.000-07:00

The sticker says something about taking it to the street when politicians talk smack. The artist on the right is Laura (of the Reaccion Directa Colectivo) and the artist on the left is a friend of hers who happens to be driving around Mexico right now with a radio transmitter. I asked him, are you licensed? No. what are your programs about? Science and health. He travels to remote communities and lives there for a while, playing science radio. Amazing.

The most remarkable thing about Coyocan is that it is packed with people on weekend nights until very late. there is live music, performances of all kinds, amazing food, tianguis, and KIDS everywhere. Safe and public. Behind the people in the back is the home, yes the actual house, of Hernan Cortez (the one and only) which casts another light on all the fun and games going on in the foreground. Most of the people I met and great things that happened on my trip happened in public space, on the street.

Parade costuming in Oaxaca looks an awful lot like things I have seen in New Orleans.

early on i went to this museum that had the most incredible paper mache work with enormous and fantastic displays of traditional work.

exotic/domestic charm

2007-07-29T20:51:00.000-07:00

this is what i am writing about today. No news. Reflections to follow.

how to eat tacos

2007-07-28T22:11:00.000-07:00

there have been so many moments that i did not take pictures that i should have, but here, on my last night in town, i had a terrific lesson on how to eat tacos. luckily i was in an advanced group and we went directly to the final round, and we won!!

Still unpacking media, finding disks, wondering what i said on text messages in Spanish that made people stop talking to me, and wishing i was still in Mexico. I was trying to explain to friends why it was so good that I had massive unfulfilled plans there so that I would return.

Goodbye Sarita, Jossy, Carlos, Susana, Juan, Julio, Jasso (y los tres), Said, Charcko, Laura, Miguel, Donovan, Eric, Alfredo, Mooe, Ponk, Conejo, Mojdeh, Marvila, Dona Aurora, Alexis, Sixto, Martin, El Jarocho, and the two guys who told me where I was going in Iztapalapa when I was lost and beyond hope. You all took such good care of me. XOXO

wrap up

2007-07-25T18:55:00.001-07:00

Wish you were here...

I had to kiss all the lovely objects goodbye at at the Anthro museum today. As usual I found several new things, and I am thinking about cosmologies and maps again after feeling very disconnected.

Monday night was an art collective jam session. There was documentation, clearly. The range of artists in this collective really excites me, and they don´t seem to see anything out of the ordinary with my manner of working: equally in clay, live action and technology. They are musicians, net activists, street artists, interventionists and visual artists. Every one of them does social justice work with youth both in and out of schools. None of them think of it as separate from their practice. They have a nonprofit and 3 different collectives. These folks hustle.

This is Charcko. I don´t want to rave too much, but this guy is gonna blow up. He is a math/chem major, does video, takes classes, works nights, has a career in electronic music and jams with youth groups using minimal technology and old computers. 24 years old. He is also extremely generous, and after hanging out with 2 cameras and a firewire at mcDonalds in the Zocalo for an hour, I have copies of a bunch of his work.

Laura describes her projects, one of which was a street project in which she wore this apron. Justice for the murdered women of Juarez!

Said shoots.

Miguel has docu drama, too.
href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_gGmm5Uzs4BM/RqgCO3ne96I/AAAAAAAAAIs/7Q4SUz8F8vg/s1600-h/miguel+docu+drama.jpg">

I was there.

This is an inflatable Japan atop the MUCA museum. From what I hear there are lots of amazing inflatables in the show. SIGH......

On top of the pyramids at Tula, the Toltec city about 2 hours out of DF. This city was active more or less between Teotihuacan and Tenochtitlan. It is really really high and I am scared to be up there but I can´t take the ribbing from my friends, so I climbed.

This is my original Tula photo. You will not find this anywhere else on the internet.

I can´t stop taking pictures of chicken shacks. Amazing chicken paintings on nearly every block. Maximum chicken, here.

Leaving Teotihuacan there was rain. It was good that I couldn´t see out the car windows. My head was overloaded- in a good good way.

tomorrow i fly home. I have about 1000 more images, but they will wait.

torture

2007-07-21T16:25:00.001-07:00

today i went to the torture museum. It was not what I expected, and there was this creepy church music blaring from an unknown location. It was in this super super old building in el centro and i was surrounded by happy couples. hmm. much of the exhibit seemed to be based on hearsay and almost everything in the exhibit was a repleca. Except this thing that looked like a speculum, which was original. torture devices. it was more like so-and-so´s speculation/fantasy. But overall it was good and gross. Light on the contemporary US military methods, though.

I also went to a magical place where Maya, CS3, finalcut and anything else you can imagine is $8. Later I went to a swank cafe to wait for a dear friend and electronic music freak to meet up and connect cameras under the table to copy some mini dvs of him performing live- a multimedia extravaganza- but my pinche phone died and now all i got is a plan to meet up with him later on monday.

i have also had to face the fact that the MUCA show is not going to open just because i keep going back. yesterday i was caught in the rain for over an hour and got mad and sad but came to the conclusion that EVERYONE but me knows that the show is closed till august.

5 more days, and i am booked up. sunday, teotihuacan. monday, graffiti people all day, media exchange and 2 interviews at night. tuesday, Frida. Wednesday, Anthro again, then pack up. Thursday, I get home to see my baby!

Colectivos y mas

2007-07-18T12:28:00.000-07:00

This is one of the projects the collective I described below is working on. They hang out in a park where various groups of indigenous people, many young women, gather to be social. They are offering free photography classes to girls who are domestic workers. Said here is a member of the collective.

Laura is explaining her involvement in various arts collectives, and we have been talking about how some function with institutional support and others need to remain autonomous because of the nature of the work. Yesterday she got more good news about a grant for a research project with one group. It is a group of Interventionists which includes graf writers, political activists, tech people and performance artists. All social justice people. The kind of people who are fun, laugh a lot, like to have a good time, but also know how to write grants and work all night. They are a kind of dream team.

An historic moment of exchange in which detroit music and music from DF pass, mano a mano. There is more to tell on this, but for now, documentation.

The view from the window, Iztapalapa.

catch up report

2007-07-17T22:53:00.000-07:00

I will try to catch up here, but things are rolling along. I remade my secret camera purse. There is more than this to repòrt, but this is a start.

This is Sol. Laura, the performance artist I have been hanging out with told me she would introduce me to her friends at the tattoo shop she goes to. Dermafilia. Super good work going on there. I met some interesting people, and it led to a 12 hour fiesta. One guy is a photojournalist working in Michoacan and he was showing us fotos of small kids with huge guns. Rough stuff, but incredibly moving. Turns out that tattoo artists here also work in printmaking. Woodcut here has a really radical history, so it goes well with tat work. Think Jose Guadalupe Posada. Which in turn has a really interesting effect on the tat style. I was talking with Sol about art, and turns out he lived and worked on some organic farm in Ann Arbor. Small world. Also, he will be at a tattoo convention in Tijuana at the same time I am going to be there. Here he is gifting me a woodblock print of corn. Really great person.

Sol playing guitar and Laura singing at Muerto´s house.

Here we are at 6 am eating birria and pozole at Garibaldi. Muerto, Laura and Christian, and in the back is some movie blasting on the tv with Denzel Washtington and lots of shooting and yelling.

The mariachis en Garibaldi rock.

¡Pinche taxi!

Skeleton on the dashboard

Muerto has a very cute dog.

At 8 in the morning, De Dios.

joke ja ja ja

2007-07-14T17:29:00.000-07:00

People here have been saying :Asustados Unidos: to me for the past few days and laughing. Know what asustado means? SCARED. I get it! hahahah... I have to say, this has been a lovely vacation from fear and the word 'terrorism.' I just realized that I was not feeling it, nor was I missing it.

To try to describe my experience at Lucha Libre would be like trying to explain an ecstatic religious experience. Not just as a witness, either. But I am going to have to.... And to see it here in the most prestigious stadium, where Dr. Wagner (of more than 50 years) beat the hell outta Mistico, well. I just can´t find words, but I get a lump in my throat trying to. The moves were carefully choreographed, the costumes and architypes were clear but not general or boring. I took cell phone pics which I will post later. But you will not be able to hear thousands of people chanting ´culero! culero! culero!´ or hear children screaming curse words that blow your mind. My mouth was wide open for 2 hours. Parts of it were slow and calculated like a slow mo reinactment on a true crime show. One highlight was a wrestler in US army camo with swastikas on his mask. loaded! also, perros del mal (bad dogs)- three wrestlers who look like kid rock. they were in the little wrestlers portion of the match. All shorties. And it was buck wild. There was 10 fights at once at one point. it took seeing the opening acts to see how masterful the real thing is.

today was amazing. I met a graf artist who 1. is working on his thesis, 2. is ahem my age, and 3. is a wrestler!! I have a bunch of things to ask him. He has already connected me to a coop graf gallery (and a guy who lives there) that is like a hall of fame. It is visually stunning. Very public-private combo. (It´s like 3 caps for a dollar here, so lemme know!)

also, i saw some 500 year old maps today but i have not got the energy left. save some for later after I eat a giant cob of corn with chile on it. followed by rice pudding.

the good life

2007-07-12T15:54:00.000-07:00

This is a pambazo. It is a bolillo (little fresh bun) smothered in chile, grilled and stuffed with fried up potatoes, lettuce, chile verde y rojo, crema and onions. It is the star of my meal, but there is also a quesadilla, made from masa on the spot, grilled dry, stuffed with cheese and the regular things. beer and chocolate.

If I didn´t miss my family so much, I´d say things were perfect.

open road

2007-07-11T20:41:00.000-07:00

A whole section of the Templo Mayor museum was dedicated to the original styles of ceramics and the changes that occurred with the new styles and techniques began to show up upon contact.

An 8 or 9´figure found at the Templo Mayor. Ceramics and in 3 sections.

Alfredo Arcos in his studio. A real ¨where did you get that &¬€~@Çª excellent job¨ story. He is the person who does the drawings for the Anthrology Museum. As in, he brings ancient powerful objects to his studio to make drawings of them for catalogs and researchers. He is an incredible person.

I have been busy making contacts. I met with an artist collective here which includes some electronic music and graffiti people, a rad feminist performance artist and a multi media visual artist. (SQUAT- direct reaction) a dance therapist translated. lots of new connections! I did some following up today and it is going as good or better than expected. But I have to say, emailing in Spanish and making plans via TEXT MESSAGING in Spanish has been a big challenge.

Also.... I got super excellent seats for LUCHA LIBRE!!!!!!!!! I am barely able to control my excitement. Tomorrow night it´s on. Mistico, the one and only.

Along with meeting with a very cool artist today in his studio (which overlooks the Templo Mayor (which are the pyramids of Tenochtitlan (which are the central temples of the Aztec empire))) I spent lots of time in the excavation site and in the museum trying to see the layers. Pyramids are generally built in layers.In several cases I have seen, when there is a new epoch or ruler, a structure is built on top oof or over the existing one. bigger is better and newer. the original is an armature, and not just in the structural sense. I am thinking of masks and layers and how one might activate the other or serve as an armature.

templo mayor, from the templo mayor museum, and the cathedral is behind it. note the rocks the cathedral is built with are taken from the pyramids it was built to cover.

wooo! party at Lascaux! or, this is what the national history museum THINKS happened at Lascaux. Quien sabe.

museo de artes populares.

2007-07-09T11:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, my mind is officially blown. This museum has such an amazing collection of ancient through contemporary work, including miniatures, sculptures made of gum, masks, metal, textiles and so on. i can only talk about a few things here at a time, because to review the entire exhibition would take books, which have already been written, so I won't trouble with it. This will come in 4 dispatches.

And we only made it to 2.5 floors out of 4.

This one is bigger that I could wrap my arms around. Like a giant heart. In the window you can see the lovely museum. The burn marks on this one are heavenly.

This is contemporary, but is done in a traditional majolica style. check out the silver trim. this is amazing in person.

The permanant exhibition includes contemporary pottery.

There are so many styles of ceramics that I have seen over the years from Mexico, and it seems like all of them originate in Oaxaca.

a 10 foot tall paper mache devil with terrific paint.

i spy with my little eye

2007-07-09T11:24:00.000-07:00

We are all Oaxaca, and Today Oaxaca, Tomorrow Revolution.

There is a large hipster swap meet near here on Saturdays.

strange growths with strange growths

I found one of probably hundreds of walls of fame.

I have seen some really good stickers and great placement, too.

2007-07-07T17:35:00.000-07:00

This was the theme for my day. I had specific goals but spent most of the day wandering around wondering where i was. Enjoyable but tiring.

sometimes the weather here is intense. but the drama is pleasing to me.

there is a guy here who dresses up as a wrestler, Super Barrio, and he raises awareness, is a fighter for social justice (and Obrador) and a man of the people. There was a huge exhibition of his work, photos and wrestling posters that were very very clever. This photo made me think of Marta y la Brigada.

The museum of the Mexico City was an accidental find, and inside, I got my fill of maps and guides. if you click on this image you can see the key. pretty amazing.

here is where Cortez's woodcut fits. this is a huge floor map that is lit up. superbien.

this is a map which was part of a display on the city's water system. i will spare you from my long sortof obvious list of questions about this.

here a chicken will serve you chicken. cannibal chicken. traitor chicken.

2007-07-06T16:06:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture post, in no particular order.

layers and layers of things. masks upon masks.

Universidad Nacional Autonimo de Mexico is building a HUGE enormous contemporary art museum on campus. It is right next to the Instituto de Investigaciones Esteticas where I met up with people I needed to talk to just as they were packing their bags to walk out the door for a month long summer break. !! muy buena suerte.

Nearly every block has an altar. They are cement and built into the wall. this one is so beautiful.

there is this wall, and i will need to ask around to find out what it is, but it trails behind this sculpture on the left side. it is also near the IIE and there were all these punk kids smoking and looking cool there. it's a pretty remote location to go to smoke and look cool, but walking along the dangerously high rock wall next to mountains and deep ravines was pretty cool. i chickened out and sat down and tried not to die of fear of heights.

across the street from my host's home. it is what i am thinking about. how it might look crazy, but doggone, it works!

I am meeting really nice people, and today when i was walking, lost down the street, someone said, hi! i remember you! I was found.

I was gifted, generously, a book documenting the year that this colonia was built in, and let me say, it has a lot of pictures of women (and grannies) carrying huge rocks. In it is also people I have met, the woman Doña Aurora who cooks in the community kitchen where I have been eating, my host, Carlos, and my "informants," Julio and Oscar. Also, photos of bandas, including punk female groups!

There is no end to the good stuff. Tomorrow, El Chopo and the Zocalo (and the Metro for the first time, which costs 2pesos. yes, 20c to ride.

Huevos

2007-07-05T19:35:00.000-07:00

This is a cartoon that is not on TV because it is off color. I found out about it when I bought some socks with characters on them, and I was really curious about a cartoon about eggs, which, in the image on the socks, appears to be much more like what the word HUEVOS means when you say it here. (when you get to the page, click the bottom option. you don´t need to register to watch them.)

brief briefing

2007-07-05T15:02:00.000-07:00

The past three days have been a whirlwind of new food, people and places. Above is Jasso, but I call him Oscar. He works at La Escuelita in the picture below. I had just tried to buy some peanuts with this cien pesos and the guy at the store told me it was fake. hmmm. i asked around. likely the dude just didn´t want to give me change. The store next door took it just fine.

La Escuelita Emiliano Zapata, Colonia Santo Dominguez, Coyoacan.
this is the inside of the Escuelita, the heart of the largest land invasion of all of Latin America. On September 1, 1971, people came from all around, little towns and villages, and just took spots. in less than a month, 31,000 people had moved in. the people in the neighborhood build all their own houses, cracked up the volcanic rock that they lived on top of to build streets and install water lines. from the pictures, the going was REAL tough at first. since the men had to go to work, women were building these houses themselves, pouring cement, and so forth. Escuelita was the center, where the local governing and organizing took place. There is a book of pictures I was looking at, and when I say tough, I mean, breaking volcanic rock with hammers and getting drinking water in buckets from a truck.

After 6 hours of talking about the differences between ritual and theater, motorcycles and La India Maria (and all the meanings of the name Maria here) these guys put on serious faces. Oscar and Julio are theater people. Oscar made some masks with kids who are in this theater troup- first it is the plaster on the face, then they build this paper mache coating, then it is cut so they can play instruments, sing and act more comfortably. What was really amazing to me was that he called this immitation leather. it is remarkably flexible and strong. there are also pads inside for long term comfort. serious stuff. rrrr.

I had a fruitful meeting with the interim director of a national arts new media center, and he is interested in my idea. At the same time, I got a message from a detroit nonprofit arts group who wants to get something rolling. conectamos! turn on the electricity!

For you foreign news hounds, I was not affected by the massive floods. The two other neighborhoods I almost decided to live in (before I heard the amazing history of this place), the ones in pictures in my first entry, are the ones that were hit.

Tomorrow, I go to the university´s Museum of Science and Art to see the exhibition of photos and work by collectives and agitators after the 68 Tlateloco massacre of students. I´ll get my woodcut on after that. brought my tools...

i have a new phone number if anyone needs to contact me, so email me if you need to. and food pictures are coming.

2007-07-02T11:39:00.000-07:00

There is an arts festival going on here and I think it is a serendipity. Here is the short outline:

Symposium
The symposium will have three general objectives:

1.- Gather together the electronic arts community, to activate certain processes based on its identification.
Observe, recognize, delimit, and describe the artistic practice that exists in Mexico around the electronic arts.
Induce joint reflection and exchange of ideas among the groups involved.
Present the most significant production of electronic arts in the international scene.
Propose some conceptualization and production guidelines to the national artists and collectives.
Analyze and criticize production tendencies registered inside and outside of the country.

2.- Promote a coming together of the communities and institutional organizations that conform the electronic arts scene in Mexico.
Offer the electronic artists a wider perspective on the uses and reaches of electronic technologies in the country.
Promote discussion on the role that arts and electronic media have in the cultural context of the country.
Give rise to contact zones between professionals of the arts with other areas of knowledge as a way to generate collaborative projects around the electronic media.
Make the proposals developed by the electronic artists circulate towards non-artistic venues in which the consumption of digital audiovisual production occurs.

3.- Make the theoretical approach of the festival circulate towards its participants and publics.
Bring about the emergence of a hospitable thought between communities.
Confront, communicate, blur, contaminate, create resonances in the various communities.
Give rise to the creation of a community.
Provoke irruption and enjoyment of the ludic and carnivalesque experience.
The symposium will be developed through three thematic vertical axes and one transversal axis

V1: Politics and public space
V2: Transdiscipline
V3: Play
T1: Complexity, action and appropriation

read more here.

¿bueno?

2007-07-02T10:20:00.000-07:00

I am here.

I arrived and then needed to sleep for 12 hours. Sunday my host took me around the neighborhood, which includes UNAM, a huge campus where we walked and looked and discussed life. Also we went to a beautiful park that had volcanic rock cliffs, more than 10 soccer fields, an amusement park, playgrounds, bike paths, a train for kids and on and on. Really breathtakingly beautiful. We ate tortas the size of footballs. I spoke only Spanish for 12 hours and did not die. I found the exhibition at the MUCA, which I will return to today. But the best part was sitting in the grass in front of the huge library building watching the kids and the clouds and hearing about the political happenings on the campus.

I sleep under the watchful eyes of tiny dogs.

{ It is hard to talk specifics when I am still getting acclimated. I have simple goals today- not to get lost, to get some yogurt and to buy a toothbrush. }

notes and an installation

2007-06-28T07:04:00.001-07:00

a container for the "arrow in the butt" gag and others. it is made of ceramic and contains a 3" moniter that plays 3 very short videos in a loop. By isolating and grouping these common visual comedy gags, I hope to unlock some of the meanings of the imagery that we cling to and fight to defend. It is not mocking or offensive, according to some folks (who have representation in various local, state and federal government branches enough to have their views represented in policy.) "...school mascots "acknowledge admirable characteristics of American Indians and ... reflect a positive outlook and recognition upo n the contributions and the heritage of American Indians in Tennessee.""

Of course, it is no different than blackface and minstrel acts. And the reality on the ground is not reflecting any sort of recognition of any sort of contributions of any people, not even the ones that owned the land we exist on in the US. Karl May was an interesting figure who wrote about imaginary indians. La India Maria is a character in Mexican popular film who is an imaginary indian (who meets "real" indians with feathers in one of her films.) here they describe her :
"La India Maria, also known as Maria Elena Velasco, co-wrote, directed and starred in this comedy/drama. She has specialized in roles where poor and ignorant "Indios", (Mexicans who are very poorly acculturated to the dominant Spanish culture)" It is hard to find information about her, but I know the films, and there are many of them, are beloved. Not unlike 3 Stooges. They are funny and they deconstruct themselves, right before your eyes.

The plot thickens. I am rereading Manifest Manners and trying to trace it, visually, as I go. It is what this dude on the left is doing:

Looking for signs. I sold this piece in the State of the Union exhibition at the Gallery Project on 4th ave, so go see it in person if you get a sec.

Places I Really Want To Go In Mexico City

2007-06-26T20:31:00.000-07:00

The MUCA (Museum of Science and Art), UNAM and the Age of Discrepancies Exhibtion

Tianguis del Chopo

La Basilica de la Virgen De Guadalupe

Anthropology Museum

La Esmeralda, the art school

(more later.)

2007-06-18T20:40:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I was shopping for new socks that wouldn't make me embarassed while I was traveling. I think I found some. Someone asked me, WHO is the target audience for those socks??

I installed some work at the Gallery Project today and I think it is happy to be there. The paintings behind my piece are amazing. I can't wait to meet the person who painted them. Opening on Friday! In the background is this:

See it! Think it! (Superheroes)

I'm still puzzling about the socks. They are made in Taiwan for a company in New York. They were at a chain store I hadn't been to before called Kohl's. They were the last pair of this round of socks because they were lowest on the clearance ladder only above this other set of socks that were 90210 themed. My sister bought those. I became fixated and nothing else I tried on mattered. Once one of my grandfathers told me, watch out for those mustachioed Mexicans when you are in Mexico! The mustache means something. Who bought up the rest of these socks?!

two views from 1521 and one from last year

2007-06-13T19:02:00.000-07:00

The prints are based on drawings by Cortes at the time of arrival in Tenochtitlan. They are reprints- very lovely and rare from more recent editions from the original blocks. The bottom one is a detail of the print based on the drawing that he made the day after they arrived in town. I'm curious why the one at the top is so different.

And this is the city from a satellite in 2006. So many roofs are reddish brown. (If they are ceramic, that would tell me that clay with iron is really common in that area. )

Ximena Cuevas

2007-06-10T08:46:00.000-07:00

Here is a great interview with Ximena Cuevas, Mexican video artist. There are also many clips of her work and a funny spot of her on a talk show here.

I am getting more and more excited. My Guia Roji map has been ordered from Ebay (the most current is not available here yet) and I was led to find out that Guia Roji is a Mexico City company that has been mapping urban areas since 1928. Their only real competition is the national geography and statistics ministry. They sell huge detailed maps of the city, too. They are really expensive, but if you are already saving up for my birthday and can't think of the perfect high price item...

Make it Official

2007-06-05T20:17:00.001-07:00

El planeta es dominado por el sur en el nuevo planisferio
Mapa freak deja a Chile patas arriba y en el centro del mundo
Viernes 11 de mayo de 2007

artist collective

2007-06-05T13:57:00.000-07:00

I found out about this artist collective run by Diego Gutierrez called el despacho
and the cool thing is, they work as a collective with fluxuating membership. Also, video as a primary medium. And also, they do international collaborations. I read about them in the book Shifting Map: Artists' platforms and strategies for cultural diversity. I am convinced that somehow in some interdiciplinary way, artists and activists and educators are going to get together on the web and make something huge. Something for the kids. It might be called art, but maybe not. Here is another article on this model of practice. All in all, it looks like a rockin good time and though the form is less recognizable, it time it will seem like it was there all along. Oh, art.

Leprosy!

2007-05-30T20:26:00.000-07:00

"Well, I can tell you this. If we report it, it's a fact."

"How can you guarantee that to me?"

"Because I'm the managing editor, and that's the way we do business," Dobbs replied. "We don't make up numbers, Lesley. Do we?"

--------------------------

Lou Dobbs reported a few weeks ago that in the past three years, over 7000 cases of leprosy were reported in the US. This he attributed to unscreened illegal immigrants. What is really rich is not that the figures are wrong (more like 7000 in 30 years) but that he got his figures from Madeline Cosman.

In another episode of supposed news, Lou Dobbs showed a map of Aztlan and claimed that he had verified the plot by Mexico to reclaim the southwest. Gas on the idiot fire. But at least the white supremists who are doing the research for CNN are getting credited. Yes, the Council of Concerned Citizens were named right on the tv.

Neighborhoods: Netzahuacoyotl and Ixtapaluca

2007-05-29T19:28:00.001-07:00

These are amazing shots of neighborhoods in DF, Distro Federal, otherwise known as Mexico City. It is the biggest* city on earth. These photos and many more amazing ones were taken by a helicopter pilot. A lot of wealthy folks take helicopters to get around town instead of cabs. Imagine that. This guy must have some incredible stories. He sure has a great eye.
(the greater metropolitan area had the second largest population, 19.4 million as of 2006; most populated city on earth in 1519, earns the biggest city on earth title.)