Saturday, December 1, 2012

Teresa Margolles wins prestigious prize

Our very own (ok, not really "ours") Teresa Margolles has won the prestigious art prize Artis Mundi in the UK.
Click here to see the video and hear what she has to say about her project.
It's powerful.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Is this art?

Jackie has shared a video and wants to spur on this debate.
Click here to see a video of the painter horse.
Then, let the discussion begin!

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Niña Yhared

Post your comments on Niña Yhared here.

Since the readings are so short -and decidedly less demanding academically than usual- this week (mostly because so little is written about this young artist, and even less is written in English), you can feel free to keep your blog posts shorter than usual.

But, make sure to edit your posts to avoid typos and grammatical mistakes.

And let's get an interesting discussion going!

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

...

"Action is the foundational key to all success" -Pablo Picasso

MAK

Post your thoughts and ideas here for your performance. Explore the topic of women's reproductive rights here...

The End Group

Please continue the discussion here. Brainstorm. Keep pushing that idea of how to get people to experience creativity in their daily lives. Keep the discussion going here...

AAAJ

Post your discussion topics here for your discussion on the performance against human trafficking.

Kim Navarro, “Post-9/11 Public Terror in Art from Latin America” (paper presented at the University of Texas at Austin, Conference on Latin American Art, 2009).

Christopher Michael Fraga, “Todos somos narcos: Mexican Necropolitics at the 53rd Venice Biennale” (paper presented at the International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association, San Francisco, California, May 23-26, 2012).

Amy Sara Carroll, “Muerte Sin Fin: Teresa Margolles’s Gendered States of Exception” TDR 54:2 (Summer 2010): 103-125.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Femicides in Mexico explored in staged reading

Femicides in Mexico explored in staged reading

las muertas de juárez




Lorena Wolffer, Mientras Dormíamos (El Caso Juárez), [While We Where Sleeping (The Juarez Case)], 2002.



Hannah Wilke, SOS, 1974.


Hannah Wilke, Intra Venus, 1992-1993.






Regina José Galindo, Recorte por la línea (Cut Through the Line), 2005.

Maya Goded, Missing

Click here to see Maya Goded's images of absence from the Missing series

Maya Goded

Monday, October 8, 2012

A "Columbus Day" share, from Howard Zinn


"Arawak men and women, naked, tawny, and full of wonder, emerged from their villages onto the island's beaches and swam out to get a closer look at the strange big boat. When Columbus and his sailors came ashore, carrying swords, speaking oddly, the Arawaks ran to greet them, brought them food, water, gifts. He later wrote of this in his log:

'They ... brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks' bells. They willingly traded everything they owned... . They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features.... They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane... . They would make fine servants.... With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.'

…The Indians, Columbus reported, 'are so naive and so free with their possessions that no one who has not witnessed them would believe it. When you ask for something they have, they never say no. To the contrary, they offer to share with anyone….' He concluded his report by asking for a little help from their Majesties, and in return he would bring them from his next voyage 'as much gold as they need ... and as many slaves as they ask.' " 

- Howard Zinn, A People's History of the United States

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Food for Thought


















Food for Thought is a research-as-art performative component to a larger work conceived of by a collective of students in the Department of Visual Arts at California State University Fullerton, and comes out of the collective's study of social practice art in general and, more specifically, their study of performance in Mexico and Central America in a seminar taught in the fall of 2012. On a sunny afternoon in early October, students gathered, in a shaded quad in front of the Humanities Building of the university, to trade their homemade baked goods for their fellow students’ thoughts on art, performance, and their larger concerns about their place in the world. Volunteers filled out written surveys and some agreed to be interviewed on camera. The action was documented with photographs and videos. Upcoming events include processing the data, followed by an analysis, and, eventually, decision-making regarding the next step to be taken in this larger performative project. 


Food for Thought Results




Thursday, September 27, 2012

Food For Thought

I hope everyone is getting ready for Tuesday.

To recap jobs:

Table Supplier:
Karla

Bakers (please remember to individually wrap):
Angelena
Claudia
Matthew

Sign & survey maker (don't forget to add a consent line with a space for signatures):
Ariel

Cinematographers:
Angelena
Matthew

Cheerleaders:
Alex
Tim
Linda


If you do not see you name on the list and would like to participate, or if you've got an idea for something to add or some other way to participate, sound off in the comments below.


Any ideas for the survey questions?
Remember that the answers will drive the larger performance project.
Here are the notes I jotted down on Tuesday:

What makes something art?
What is performance art?
Do you recognize this as performance art? Why or why not?
What concerns do you have in your daily life?
How might you address these concerns?





Tuesday, September 4, 2012

the latest on Galindo...

for Galindo's newest project, click here

Productive Bodies

For more information on Productive Bodies ("artists working with people and communities to engender social change", [2] Productive Bodies positioned itself as a politically engaged aesthetic project...), read this.

blue overalls

here, we can start discussing our performance art collective and the art action that we will carry out later this year. i think we should start by discussing what our concerns are. what are we interested in? where is our manifesto? who's writing that???

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

on violence and peace in Central America

I just read something very interesting on the topic of a gang truce in El Salvador. 
If you're interested, read this article in the NY Times.

inspirational piece?
precarious peace?

my favorite quote, from a particularly industrious and diplomatic reformed gang leader:

"We have shown good will," said Victor Antonio García, a Barrio 18 leader deported from Los Angeles. "But now the government has to get involved. We need, like, an affirmative action law here for gang members who quit and need jobs." 





Virginia Pérez-Ratton, “Performance and Action Work in Central America, 1960-2000: A Political and Aesthetic Choice,” in Arte No Es Vida, ed. Deborah Cullen, (New York: El Museo del Barrio, 2008), 204-213.


Virginia Pérez-Ratton, “Performance and Action Work in Central America, 1960-2000: A
Political and Aesthetic Choice,” in Arte No Es Vida, ed. Deborah Cullen, (New York: El
Museo del Barrio, 2008), 204-213.

Maja Horn, “Bodily (Re)Marks: The Performance Art of Regina José Galindo,” in Artpulse Magazine (June, 2009).


Maja Horn, “Bodily (Re)Marks: The Performance Art of Regina José Galindo,” in Artpulse
Magazine (June, 2009).

Francisco Goldman, “Regina José Galindo,” in BOMB Magazine 94 (Winter, 2006).


Francisco Goldman, “Regina José Galindo,” in BOMB Magazine 94 (Winter, 2006).

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Bienvenid@s al blog

Bienvend@s CSUF students!
This is where we will be posting our thoughts and concerns about the assigned readings and the art we will be discussing this fall in our seminar on performance art in Mexico & Central America.
Who's excited?