17.5.09

Bienal Arte Nuevo InteractivA/09

International Biennial of the New Arts
Museo de la Ciudad de México
Mérida, Yúcatan, México
Inaug. Mayo 28, 2009

Curador Ejecutivo / Director Académico:
Raul Moarquech Ferrera-Balanquet
Director Creativo:
Jose Luis Garcia Perez
.
Contacto:
Tel.: 52-999-983-27-21
E-Mail: ani09@cartodigital.org
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http://www.cartodigital.org/interactiva


. .
Mayra Barraza participa en la categoría de "Metanarrativas" con la obra del 2006 en formato de blog en el internet titulada: “100 días en la República de la Muerte”.


Sinopsis de la obra: Conteo diario de los asesinatos ocurridos en El Salvador durante 100 días y reportados por los dos principales medios escritos. Incluye imágenes escaneadas de los reportajes, comentarios y debate generado alrededor del tema de la violencia.

Url de la Obra: http://repblicadelamuerte.blogspot.com/



La quinta edición de este encuentro bienal internacional de las Nuevas Artes, Artes Mediáticas y Electrónicas y Laboratorio Experimental Interdisciplinario ha comenzado sus actividades, la cuales culminan con la apertura de una exposición sobre Arte con Tecnología de Internet a inaugurarse en el Museo de la Ciudad de Mérida el 28 de mayo del 2009, Mérida, Yucatán, México.

Arte Nuevo InteractvA es organizado por el Laboratorio Interdisciplinario Cartodigital, un proyecto de las nuevas artes originario del Centro Yucateco de Escritores A.C. y cuenta con el apoyo de la Dirección de Cultura del Ayuntamiento de Mérida, la Dirección de Artes Visuales del Instituto de Cultura de Yucatán, la Fundación Prince Claus de Holanda, Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana (UTM), Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán (UADY), y la Escuela Superior de Artes de Yucatán (ESAY).

Arte Nuevo InteractivA: Bienal Internacional, Mérida_MX es considerado un proyecto de vanguardia en México, Latinoamérica y el mundo. Ha sido presentada en el Portal Cultural de la UNESCO, el portal de Internet ArtPort del Museo Whitney de Nueva York además de ser reseñada en periódicos y revistas de arte y cultura como El Universal (México), ArtMedia (Costa Rica), Art Forum (Estados Unidos), LuxFlux Arte Contemporáneo (Italia), Diario de Yucatán (México), Arte Al Límite (Chile), NetArt Review (Estados Unidos), Teknokultura (Puerto Rico) y Fine Art Online (Australia). En abril de 2008, la bienal fue presentada en el museo Tate Britain de Londres durante la conferencia anual de historiadores de arte de Inglaterra. El Evento Teórico de la X Bienal de La Habana invitó a Arte Nuevo InteractivA: Bienal Internacional, Mérida_MX a presentar su proyecto curatorial por haber marcado una ruptura dentro de los procesos de redes sociales artísticas y curadurías independientes en Las Américas.



The fifth edition of the international biennial exhibition of New Arts, Media and Electronic Art, and Interdisciplinary Experimental Laboratory has initiated activities which will culminate in the inauguration of the exhibit Art with Internet Technology, at the Museo de la Ciudad de Merida, Merida, Yucatan, Mexico on May 28, 2009.

Arte Nuevo InteractivA ’09 is organized by the Cartodigital Interdisciplinary Laboratory , a project of the new arts originated in the Centro Yucateco de Escritores, A.C., with the support of the Direccion de Cultura del Ayuntamiento de Merida, the Direccion de Artes Visuales del Instituto de Cultura de Yucatan, the Prince Claus Foundation of The Netherlands, the Universidad Tecnologica, and Escuela Superior de Artes de Yucatan (ESAY).

Arte Nuevo InteractivA: Merida Biennial, Merida, MX is considered a cutting edge project in Mexico, Latin America and the world. It has been presented in UNESCO’s Cultural Portal, the New York Whitney Museum’s Internet ArtPort, and it has been highlighted in newspapers and art and cultural publications such as El Universal (Mexico), ArtMedia (Costa Rica), Art Forum (United States of America), LuxFlux Arte Contemporaneo (Italy), Diario de Yucatan (Mexico), Arte al Limite (Chile), NetArt Review (United States of America), Teknokultura (Puerto Rico), and Fine Art Outline (Australia). In April, 2008 the biennial was presented at the Tate Britain Museum in London during the annual conference of British art historians. The Evento Teorico of the X Havana Biennial ( 2009), hosted the presentation of the curatorial project of Arte Nuevo InteractivA: International Biennial, Merida, MX. This project has marked a break within the processes of artistic and independent curatorial social networks in the Americas.


<<>>

Curaduría para Arte Nuevo InteractivA 2009 (en progreso)

Curador: Raúl Moarquech Ferrera-Balanquet

Narrativas en Fuga

Wordtoys (2006) Belén Gache (Argentina)

http://www.wordtoys.com.ar

Juego de Estafa (1998) Santiago Echeverri (Colombia)

http://www.santiago-e.com/congame

Taboo: Módulo_Suck (2008) Carmen Olmo-Terrasa (Puerto Rico)

http://www.carmenolmo.com/taboo/taboo_modulo_suck/

H20, Playing with water (2005) Regina Celia Pinto (Brasil)

http://www.arteonline.arq.br/h2o

Meta Narrativas

Republica de Muerte (2006) Mayra Barraza (El Salvador)

http://www.repblicadelamuerte.blogspot.com

Remix theory (2006-2008) Eduardo Navas (El Salvador/USA)

http://remixtheory.net/

Don Quijote (2007) (Brasil)

http://www.permitidopermitir.blogspot.com

Visual Matters (2007-2009) Christopher Cozier (Trinidad y Tobago)

http://christophercozier.blogspot.com

23 + Interrogantes (2008) Teresa López (Puerto Rico)

http://www.lasinterrogantes.blogspot.com

Cheapness (2006-09) Pablo Batelli (Colombia)

http://chipcheapness.blogspot.com

La Mareadora (2005) Eugenio Tissilli (México)

http://mareadora.motorhueso.net/

Mor>fo_Lo/gia . EZ.pon>Ta"ne>A (2007-2009) Arcangel Constantini (México)

http://www.bakteria.org/morfologiaespontanea

Poéticas Digitales

Poetic Dialogues (2005) Yucef Merhi (Venezuela/EEUU)

http://www.poeticdialogues.com

Untitled Documents (2005) Ciro Múseres (Argentina)

http://untitledocument.museres-ciro.com.ar

Dreamlines (2005) Leonardo Solaas (Argentina)

http://solaas.com.ar/dreamlines

Poem to the Present Century (XXX) Joéser Álvarez (Brasil)

http://br.geocities.com/poem_to_the_present_century/index.html

Tempo: una experiencia em web poesia (xxx) Marcelo Frazão (Brasil)

http://br.geocities.com/web_poesia

Gramarobótica Experimental

Esferas (2006) Santiago Ortiz Herrera (Colombia/España),

http://moebio.com/spheres

Newsmaps (2004) Marcos Weskamp (Argentina)

http://www.marumushi.com/apps/newsmap/

El drama del lavaplato (2007) Eugenio Tiselli (México)

http://motorhueso.net/text/el_drama_del_lavaplatos.pdf

Versos Versus Versos (2008) Yucef Merhi (Venezuela/EEUU)

http://www.versosversusversos.net

Buenos Aires Word (2007) Juan Pintabona (Argentina)

http://www.buenosairesword.com.ar/

Philosophy of the Silverbox (2008-2009) Giselle Beiguelman (Brasil)

http://desvirtual.com/silverbox/

IP-Poetry (2007) Gustavo Romano (Argentina)

http://ip-poetry.findelmundo.com.ar

MixedTransmición interactividad

.soundToys (2002-2003) Jorge Haro (Argentina) + Brian Mackern (Uruguay)

http://netart.org.uy/haro/flash6.html

Videos por correo electrónico (2000-06) Fernando Llanos (México)

http://www.fllanos.com/VMesp.html

Traveling Corners/Esquinas Rodantes (2002-06) Raúl Moarquech Ferrera-Balanquet (Cuba/USA/México)

http://www.digipopo.org/content/esquinasrodantes

Mutación A[gramatical]

Nettime-lat (2000-03) moderada por David Casacuberta (España), Ricardo Domínguez (USA),

Fran Ilich (México) y Ana Viseu (Canadá).

http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-lat

Esfera Pública (2001-2009) Jaime Iregui (Colombia)

http://esferapublica.org

Interrogando las tecnologías mediáticas

Ablución (2001) Maris Bustamante (México) y Juan José Díaz Infante (México)

http://www.altamiracave.com/abd.htm

Net Art World 1.0 (2003) Eduardo Navas (El Salvador/USA)

http://www.navasse.net/netartworld

The Bull of Indiction (2005) Antonio Mendoza (Cuba/USA)

http://www.subculture.com/indiction/

Particles of Interest: Tales from the Matter Market (2006-08) Particle Group (USA)

http://pitmm.net

Virus (2001) Juan José Díaz Infante

Moment of Silence (2007) Wilfredo Prieto (Cuba)

http://www.diacenter.org/prieto

Media Locativa

The Transborder Immigrant Tool (2008) Electronic Disturbance Theater (Ricardo Domínguez,

Brett Stalbaum, Micha Cárdenas y Jason Najarro)

http://bang.calit2.net/xborder/

Merida T’Ho_MX (2009) Raúl Moarquech Ferrera_Balanquet

http://www.cartodigital.org/meridatho

Autoría en Colaboración

Presente Continuo (1999) Lara Rivera, Reyna Echeverría, Roger Metri Ferrera-Balanquet,

http://tracearchive.ntu.ac.uk/writers/sanford/my_millennium/presents.html

Estética y Utopía, la herencia de las ideologías (2007) E-fagia (Canadá)

http://www.e-fagia.org/subversionProjObj.html

Uma versao erótica dos 7 pecados (2003) Marcelo Frazão + Paulo Villela + Regina Célia Pinto

http://arteonline.arq.br/pecadoscapitais/

Territorios Habitados

Mi cuerpo/tu cuerpo/and the space in between (2000) Dalida Maria Befield (Panama/USA) - Esta obra se encuentra offline-

Liquid Mexico (2003) Víctor Martínez Díaz (México)

http://www.bereda.com/losos/L%2DM/

Desplazamiento (2006-08) Antonio Domínguez (México)

http://www.betabelle.org

Observatorio (2005) Jaime Iregui (Colombia)

http://www.elobservatorio.info

34s56w_Temporal de Santa Rosa (2002) Brian Mackern (Uruguay) http://netart.org.uy/xtcs/archivos.html

Desertesejo (2000) Gilbertto Prado (Brasil)

http://www.itaucultural.org.br/desertesejo

Postcards (2000) Lucas Bambozzi (Brasil)

http://comum.com/diphusa/postcards/

Espacios de Transformación (2002) Bela Rosemberg (Venezuela)

http://www.geocities.com/belarosem

Lago Mar Algo Barco Chuva (2002) Jorge Luis Antonio (Brasil)

http://www.ociocriativo.com.br/guests/lagoalgo/

The cry (xxx) Indira Mariam Montoya (Argentina)

http://www.thecry.org

Mundo (2007) Santiago Echeverri (Colombia)

http://www.santiago.cn/world

Navegación Secuencial

Vagamundo (2003) Ricardo Miranda Zúñiga

http://www.ambriente.com/cart/index.html

Crosser (2000) Rafael Fajardo (Colombia / EEUU)

http://www.rafaelfajardo.com/projects/crosser.html

La Migra (2001) Rafael Fajardo (Colombia / EEUU)

http://www.rafaelfajardo.com/projects/migra.html

Corridos (2005) Anne-Marie Schleiner (EEUU) y Luis Hernández (México)

http://www.ungravity.org/corridos/

GUEMBOI (2007) Christian Edgardo Oyarzún Roa (Chile)

http://www.error404.cl/guemboi/index.htm

Scripted Interacción

Meio Digital (2001) Guto Nóbrega (Brasil)

http://br.geocities.com/gutonobrega/meiodigital.swf

Inf>ek/TAdo (2003) Arcángel Constantini (México)

http://bakteria.org

Anima Alice (2003) Guto Nóbrega (Brasil)

http://www.narrativasdigitais.eba.ufrj.br/animaalice

War Game (2003) Joéser Álvarez (Brasil)

http://www.enter-net.com.br/linealvarez/WarGame/WarGame_.htm

Mini-art – dance(2004) Isabel Aranda (Chile)

http://www.escaner.cl/yto/net-art/art-dance.html

Cyber Birds Dance (200x) Isabel Aranda (Chile)

http://www.escaner.cl/yto/cyberbirdsdance

Re[mezcla] transmisora

Colectivo AltRed (Colombia)

http://www.altred.net/altred.cgi

Nomade (2005– 09), (Argentina)

http://nomade.liminar.com.ar

El Agente Omnisciente (2005) Gabito De Souza

http://www.geocities.com/gabitodesouza2/setdehumor2.html

Tejidos Históricos

Voces desde Ravensbrueck (2000) Pat Binder (Argentina/Alemania)

http://pat-binder.de/ravensbrueck/index.html

Búsqueda en proceso (xx) Fabian Taranto (Argentina)

http://www.busqueda-en-proceso.org

Muerte en 30 tiempos (2007) Claudia Salamanca (Colombia)

http://laclau.templeofmessages.com/30tiempos/

Conceptualismo crítico

>¿netart or notart?< (1999-2005) Brian Mackern (Uruguay)

http://netart.org.uy/latino/index.html

Compartiendo Capital (2005) Fabricio Caiazza e Inés Martino (Argentina)

http://www.compartiendocapital.org.ar

Spacebank (xxx) Fran Ilich (México)

http://ficcion.de

Teatro de la Resistencia Electrónica (EDT) Ricardo Domínguez (EEUU)

http://www.thing.net/~rdom/ecd/ecd.html

Cyberbracero (2005) Alex Rivera (Perú/EEUU)

http://cybracero.com

Invisible América (2003-09) Alex Rivera (Perú/EEUU)

http://www.invisibleamerica.com/index2.html

Ciberfeminista (XXX) Cindy Gabriela Flores Dávalos (México)

http://ciberfeminista.org

American Hypnosis (2007) Alejandro Quintero (Perú/Puerto Rico)

http://www.alejandroquinteros.net/american_hypnosis/index.swf

Coconututopia II (2008) Teresa López (Puerto Rico)

http://coconututopia.blogspot.com/

Dentimundo (2005) Ricardo Miranda Zuñiga (Nicaragua/USA),

http://www.dentimundo.com

Telepresencia, performancia e

Parla (2006) Guto Nóbrega (Brasil)

http://www.narrativasdigitais.eba.ufrj.br/parla.swf

Dolores from 10th to 10th (2001) Coco Fusco (Cuba/EEUU) + Ricardo Domínguez (EEUU)

http://www.thing.net/~cocofusco/subpages/performances/performancepage/subpages/dolores/dolores.html

Poetrica (2003-2006) Giselle Beiguelman (Brasil)

http://www.poetrica.net

Depositorio / Noise Dimension (2008-09) Tropical Effect (Claudia Salamanca + Leonardo Gonzalez + Malcolm Smith)

http://tropical-effect.templeofmessages.com/

DE·SOL·ACCIÓN (2006) Sara Malinarich (Chile/España)

http://www.intact01.net/actions/festival00/action03.htm

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Programa de Actividades
Laboratorio Interdisciplinario Experimental
Arte Nuevo InteractivA 2009
(Tentativo)

Sábado, 2 de Mayo
9:00 AM Taller
Guión y producción de narrativas digitales
Raúl Moarquech Ferrera-Balanquet (Cuba/EU/México)
Escuela de Creación Literaria del Centro Estatal de Bellas Artes
Ave. Itzaés S/N x Calle 59, Centro

Sábado, 9 de Mayo
9:00 AM Taller Inauguración
Laboratorio Interdisciplinario Experimental
Secretaria de Educación del Estado de Yucatán
Calle 34 #101, Colonia García Ginerés


Sábado, 9 de Mayo
10:00 AM Conferencia
Educación Artística en la Era Digital
Raúl Moarquech Ferrera-Balanquet (Cuba/EU/México)
Calle 34 #101, Colonia García Ginerés
Escuela de Creación Literaria

Martes, 12 de Mayo
8:00 PM, Taller
Curaduria y Gestión Cultural con los Nuevos Medios
Raúl Moarquech Ferrera-Balanquet (Cuba/EU/México)
Escuela Superior de Artes de Yucatán (ESAY)
Antigua Estación de Trenes, 55 x 48, Centro.

Sábado 24 de Mayo
9:00 AM, Taller
Narrativa de Autorepresentación en Video
Arlan Londoño (Colombia/Canadá) y Julieta Marie (Colombia/Canadá)
Escuela de Creación Literaria del Centro Estatal de Bellas Artes
Ave. Itzaés S/N x Calle 59, Centro

Miércoles, 27 de Mayo
5:00 PM, Taller
Análisis y Estética de la Narrativa del Video Arte
Guillermina Buzio (Argentina/Canadá)
Escuela de Creación Literaria del Centro Estatal de Bellas Artes
Ave. Itzaés S/N x Calle 59, Centro

Jueves, 28 de Mayo
11:00 AM Taller /Conferencia
Inteligencia Distribuida y Movilidad
Giselle Beiguelman (Brasil)
Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana (UTM)
Calle 115 (Circuito Colonia Sur), Col. Santa Rosa

Jueves, 28 de Mayo
6: 00 PM Performance Mediático en Las América / Conferencia
Coco Fusco (USA/Cuba)
Escuela Superior de Artes de Yucatán (ESAY)
Antigua Estación de Trenes, 55 x 48, Centro.

Jueves, 28 de Mayo
9:00 PM Inauguración de la exposición
Arte Nuevo InteractivA 2009
Museo de la Ciudad de Mérida
Calle 67 x 56, Centro

Viernes, 29 de Marzo
10:00 AM Sesión de Trabajo Cerrada
Artistas y Críticos de Arte Nuevo InteractivA
Sala Audiovisual, Museo de la Ciudad de Mérida
Calle 67 x 56, Centro

12: 30 Presentación
Identidad colectiva
José Luis García Pérez
Sala de Exposición, Museo de la Ciudad de Mérida
Calle 67 x 56, Centro

1:00 PM Performance
El Inventario de Sombras,
Joeser Alvarez (Brasil)
Pasaje, Museo de la Ciudad de Mérida
Calle 67 x 56, Centro

7:00 PM Muestra de Video / Presentación
Guillermina Buzio (Argentina/Canadá) y Ariana Boaventura (Brasil)
Escuela de Creación Literaria del Centro Estatal de Bellas Artes
Ave. Itzaés S/N x Calle 59, Centro

8:00 PM Presentación
Video de Autorepresentación por estudiantes de la Escuela de Creación Literaria
Arlan Londoño (Colombia/Canadá) y Julieta Marie (Colombia/Canadá)
Escuela de Creación Literaria del Centro Estatal de Bellas Artes
Ave. Itzaés S/N x Calle 59, Centro

9:00 PM Performance,
Merida Tho_MX,
Raúl Moarquech Ferrera-Balanquet (Cuba/EU/México)
Escuela de Creación Literaria del Centro Estatal de Bellas Artes
Ave. Itzaés S/N x Calle 59, Centro


Sábado, 30 de Marzo
10:00 AM Panel
Acercamiento crítico al arte con los nuevos medios
Dannys Montes de Oca (Cuba), y Gustavo Romano (Argentina)
Sala Audiovisual, Museo de la Ciudad de Mérida
Calle 67 x 56, Centro

11:00 AM Conferencia
Literatura Digital y Creación Literaria
Verónica García (México)
Sala Audiovisual, Museo de la Ciudad de Mérida
Calle 67 x 56, Centro

12:00 PM Presentación
El Drama del lavaplatos, libro de Eugenio Tiselli (México/España)
Jorge Lara Rivera (México)
Sala Audiovisual, Museo de la Ciudad de Mérida
Calle 67 x 56, Centro

12:30 PM Conferencia
*Nombre por definir
Pablo Batelli (Colombia)
Sala Audiovisual, Museo de la Ciudad de Mérida
Calle 67 x 56, Centro

8:00 PM Performace,
Depositorio / Noise Dimension
Tropical Effect (Claudia Salamanca (Colombia) + Malcolm Smith (EU) + Leonardo González (Colombia)
Sala Audivisual, Museo de la Ciudad de Mérida
Calle 67 x 56, Centro


Junio 1, 2009
10:00 AM – 1:00 PM, Taller / Conferencia
Conceptualismo Crítico y la obra de arte en la Era de la Información
Miguel Rojas Sotelo (Colombia/EU) y Pedro Lasch (México/EU)
Licenciatura en Artes Visuales, Facultad de Arquitectura, UADY

4.5.09

JUSTICE Scrabble










Art Action by Mayra Barraza
with the participation of
CSUN Central American Studies Faculty and Student Volunteers

Production: Beatriz Cortez
Photographs: Nelson Lemus


Immigrant Workers March
Echo Park to Placita Olvera
Los Angeles
May 1st, 2009

Description
“JUSTICE Scrabble” is an art action that took place with several groups of eight people, each person wearing a white T-shirt stamped front and back with one of the letters that form the word JUSTICE and JUSTICIA.

The participants joined the protesters and spontaneously arranged themselves in different configurations and sites in line next to each other to make the word legible while viewed from both back and front.

The words JUSTICE/JUSTICIA shouted out where the cues for groups to scrabble, dissolving, rearranging and then regrouping themselves spontaneously to make the written words legible again. The action took place repeatedly every 10-20 minutes along the march towards Placita Olvera.


Rational

“JUSTICE Scrabble” is an art action that seeks to make visible key aspects of social organization, civil rights and economic inequities.

This art-action has as its main objective to serve as a visible public act in solidarity with workers in the world and specifically in support of the roughly twenty million undocumented immigrant workers in the United States.

Rinku Sen, co-author of "The Accidental American: Immigration and Citizenship in the Age of Globalization," references a report by the William C. Velasquez Institute at UCLA, which says legalizing undocumented immigrants would create up to $5.4 billion in net tax revenue, a million new jobs and up to $36 billion in personal wealth.

“JUSTICE Scrabble” alludes to how random human acts can bring forth collective social consciousness. The scenario for this to take place in a natural way is during the immigrant rights march when a group of people coming together for a cause opens up the possibility of meaning through the display of letters on the shirts of the participants. Each letter/person on its own means nothing. In contrast, all letters/people grouped together in the correct sequence are coherent and legible and stand as a symbol.

The theorist Nancy Fraser considers justice to be a complex concept that comprehends several dimensions: wealth distribution, recognition and representation.

In this art action, the word chosen – JUSTICE or JUSTICIA in spanish- recalls all personal, collective and historical references possible and aims at being a visible claim for social recognition of justice’s voids through its symbolic representation within the Immigrant Workers Rights March in Los Angeles.



The Central American Studies Students at CSUN are part of the only university program in the United States of its kind with an interdisciplinary and trans-national dimension and an emphasis on Central American ethnic regional diversity and its migratory experience. CSUN students from the Public Art class, as well as other CSUN students, faculty, and members of the Central American community at large have also been invited to participate.

Mayra Barraza has presented her work in public places and international and regional exhibitions since the nineties. The fundamental basis of her work deals with spaces of power: the human body as personal space and public spaces which make up the social body; deeply exploring her subject matter through a wide array of media and aesthetic standpoints. She lives and works in El Salvador. Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) Drawing Award 2008.

For more information please contact:

Dr. Beatriz Cortez, Program Coordinator, Central American Studies Program, California State University, Northridge at (818) 677-3585 or by e-mail at beatriz.cortez@csun.edu


Special thanks to Beatriz Cortez for making everything happen at an incredibly smooth pace, to Kim Aberle for helping us out with letters and printing, to Nelson for running everywhere taking such great pictures, to Diana, Douglas, Claudia, Sherezade, Roberto and all the incredible people that made this possible!



24.4.09

California State University Northridge




The Central American Art Week
presents
Salvadoran Artist
Mayra Barraza

Thursday April 30, 2009

Art Building AC 300 (Purple Critique Room)

Overview of her artwork
12:30pm

Public Art
3:00pm

This event is sponsored by the Central American Studies Program, Art Department,
Liberal Studies Program, Chicana/o Studies Department, College of Humanities Academic
Programming Fund, and the Central American United Student Association (CAUSA).

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


Friday May 1, 1:30pm

JUSTICE Scrabble

Art Action

Mayra Barraza + CSUN Central American Studies Students
Production: Beatriz Cortez

Immigrant Workers March leaving Echo Park towards Placita Olvera, Los Angeles


Description


“JUSTICE Scrabble” is an art action that will take place with several groups of eight people. Each person will be wearing a white T-shirt stamped front and back with one of the letters that form the word JUSTICE and JUSTICIA. They will all meet at the march for immigrant workers rights to take place on May 1st in the city of Los Angeles.

The participants will join the protesters and spontaneously arrange themselves in a front line standing next to each other so the word can be legible while viewed from both back and front.

The words JUSTICE/JUSTICIA shouted out will be the cues for groups to scrabble, dissolving, rearranging and then regrouping themselves spontaneously to make the written words legible again. The action will take place repeatedly every 5-10 minutes for as long as the group of participants stays together. There is no time limit established.



Rational

“JUSTICE Scrabble” is an art action that seeks to make visible key aspects of social organization, civil rights and economic inequities.

This art-action has as its main objective to serve as a visible public act in solidarity with workers in the world and specifically in support of the roughly twenty million undocumented immigrant workers in the United States.

Rinku Sen, co-author of "The Accidental American: Immigration and Citizenship in the Age of Globalization," references a report by the William C. Velasquez Institute at UCLA, which says legalizing undocumented immigrants would create up to $5.4 billion in net tax revenue, a million new jobs and up to $36 billion in personal wealth.

“JUSTICE Scrabble” alludes to how random human acts can bring forth collective social consciousness. The scenario for this to take place in a natural way is during the immigrant rights march when a group of people coming together for a cause opens up the possibility of meaning through the display of letters on the shirts of the participants. Each letter/person on its own means nothing. In contrast, all letters/people grouped together in the correct sequence are coherent and legible and stand as a symbol.

The theorist Nancy Fraser considers justice to be a complex concept that comprehends several dimensions: wealth distribution, recognition and representation.

In this art action, the word chosen – JUSTICE or JUSTICIA in spanish- recalls all personal, collective and historical references possible and aims at being a visible claim for social recognition of justice’s voids through its symbolic representation within the Immigrant Workers Rights March in Los Angeles.



The Central American Studies Students at CSUN are part of the only university program in the United States of its kind with an interdisciplinary and trans-national dimension and an emphasis on Central American ethnic regional diversity and its migratory experience. CSUN students from the Public Art class, as well as other CSUN students, faculty, and members of the Central American community at large have also been invited to participate.

Mayra Barraza has presented her work in public places and international and regional exhibitions since the nineties. The fundamental basis of her work deals with spaces of power: the human body as personal space and public spaces which make up the social body; deeply exploring her subject matter through a wide array of media and aesthetic standpoints. She lives and works in El Salvador. Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) Drawing Award 2008.

For more information please contact:

Dr. Beatriz Cortez, Program Coordinator, Central American Studies Program, California State University, Northridge at (818) 677-3585 or by e-mail at beatriz.cortez@csun.edu




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