University & State 2019-20 Speaker Series:
Tomando/haciendo espacios
Queremos pensar en trabajos artísticos modificados para sitios particulares. Pensamos que estos tipos de producción artístico frecuentemente desafían o evitan los modos de representarse ofrecidos por espacios institucionales. Estos espacios, desde el estado hasta la universidad, vienen con sus propios lenguajes y exigencias. El mantenimiento de los espacios autónomos dedicados a la producción cultural se ha vuelto más difícil a lo largo de la frontera entre los Estados Unidos y México. El ambiente de las ciudades fronterizas ha cambiado a través de la violencia narco, la migración, la militarización y recientemente el blanqueamiento y gentrificación para el turismo. Estos factores y otros contribuyen a este contexto por lo cual es muy importante pensar en la línea entre trabajo comunitario y trabajo artístico.
Taking space/making space
We would like to think about how locally-oriented and site-specific work can challenge or evade the kinds of representation offered by traditional and State institutions, which come with particular expectations and demands. For example, when grant funding brings with it expectations of what diversity, advancement for women, or national identity might mean, is it possible to strategically use those resources while resisting their conceptual frames? Maintaining autonomous spaces for cultural production has become more difficult in urban spaces in recent years. In Tijuana and Juárez this might have to do with militarization, migration, drug-related violence, and the kind of cleansing and gentrification again for tourists that is still going on now. Maintaining autonomous spaces in cities like Los Angeles and El Paso is also difficult, due to the pressures of gentrification, urban expansion, institutional power, and the requirements that must be met for organizational legibility and sources of funding. It is both possible and necessary to think about the line between community and artistic work in this context. This series will also offer reflections on the specificity of negotiating the line between the State and the University in Latin American contexts.