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Month June 2011

Political Timing

Being a political artist is functioning in the political timing of things. But art seems to always be running after the events to catch up in a sort of reacting manner. As valid as this may be for some, it brings up some ontological problems in terms of the relationship between art and politics.

The first would be that the ability to be in sync with what is political and what is politically happening makes you trustworthy to the people relating with your project (at any point in time and from any distance.)

Also that what is generated as a reaction to something which has already happened and that, moreover, was already defined by politicians, locks away the artist at an archaic position of a difficult passivity, even when its intention is to be analytical and critical. Being an observer is closer to be resentful than to be creative.

Creating knowledge from a data source (whether from the news, books, lectures, etc.) already delivered as a result of several filters of information’s manipulation makes it harder to go beyond the representational. It is working with already censored information, which makes extremely hard to find intentions and realpolitik.

Political art is uncomfortable whether made by a commentator or by a generator of what is political. It is so because it is generating knowledge in the process of formation and it calls for responsibility. Political art is uncomfortable because it is denied the luxury of indifference. Political art is inopportune because policymakers are in their own timing zone and have their own long-term plan. And artists are very much blamed and guilt-tripped with the consequences of the disruption on the overall plan, even when this may be only a possibility.

It is uncomfortable and inopportune but it is necessary.

An artwork with political aspirations that is conceived and/or arrives at the wrong political time makes the existence of what constitutes the political within almost non-existent. Arriving at the wrong time generates an expiration date of what works as the political within from the moment it is conceived, whether coming from an emotional or a pragmatic place.

It is a question of catching up or leading the way.

Working with what is social has to do with understanding what your position is regarding chaos. Working with what is political has to do with understanding what the future is.

Art can’t be solely a mental state or an emotional decision. Art is beyond guaranties.

 

——-

(Version en Espanol)

Momento Político
por Tania Bruguera

Ser un artista político es funcionar con el momento político de las cosas. Pero el arte parece estar siempre corriendo tras los sucesos para alcanzarlos en una suerte forma reactiva. Con todo lo válido que esto pudiera parecer a algunos, plantea algunos problemas ontológicos en función de la relación del arte y la política.

El primero sería que la habilidad de estar en sincronía con lo político y con lo que se produce desde el punto de vista político hace que quienes se relacionan con el proyecto (en cualquier momento y desde cualquier distancia) lo consideren a uno digno de confianza.

También, lo que se genera como reacción a algo que ya ha ocurrido y que, además, ya había sido definido por políticos, encierra al artista en una posición arcaica de difícil pasividad, incluso cuando su intención sea ser analítico y crítico. Ser un observador está más cerca de ser rencoroso que de ser creativo.

Crear conocimiento a partir de una fuente de datos -sean noticias, libros, conferencias u otros- ya difundida como resultado de diversos filtros de manipulación de la información dificulta aún más trascender lo representativo. Es trabajar con información ya censurada, lo que hace difícil en extremo encontrar intenciones y lo realpolitik.

El arte político es incómodo hágase como comentarista o como generador de lo político. Lo es porque genera conocimiento en estado de formación y exige responsabilidad. El arte político es incómodo porque no se le permite el lujo de la indiferencia.

El arte político es inoportuno porque quienes elaboran la política se encuentran dentro de su propia zona temporal y tienen sus propios planes a largo plazo. Y mucho se culpa al artista de los trastornos en el plan general o se le achacan las consecuencias de estos, incluso cuando esto sea sólo una posibilidad.

Es incómodo e inoportuno, pero es necesario.

Una obra de arte con aspiraciones políticas que se conciba o llegue a destiempo hace casi inexistente lo que constituye lo político que lleva en su seno. Llegar a destiempo genera una fecha de expiración de lo que funciona como lo político que lleva dentro desde su momento de concepción, independientemente si viene de un lugar emocional o pragmático.

Es cuestión de ponerse al día o guiar el camino.

Trabajar con lo social tiene que ver con comprender cuál es la posición propia con respecto al caos. Trabajar con lo político tiene que ver con comprender cuál es el futuro.

El arte no puede ser únicamente un estado mental o una decisión emocional. El arte está más allá de las garantías.

 

Photo Credit: Hans Haacke, “Moma Poll,” 1970

Join us for: United Immigrants of America BBQ/Inmigrantes Unidos de America BBQ

Migrants decry new US legislation

Migrants decry new US legislation

Like thousands of undocumented people across the US, Alicia Torres waits apprehensively as a new bill which she thinks will lead to racial profiling and employment discrimination sits on the North Carolina governor’s desk waiting for the stamp of approval.

Immigration policy is generally considered to be a federal responsibility in the US, but North Carolina is the latest state to make its own rules.

House Bill 36, which has been passed by North Carolina’s state congress and senate, will institute an E-Verify system, demanding some employers match social security numbers against the names of people they hire.
Critics like Torres say the computerised system is based on unreliable data and its implementation will make it harder for immigrants to find work, as business won’t want to risk the trouble or oversight of hiring people of colour or those whose English isn’t perfect…

 

Museums Take up Civil Rights, Immigration Issues and Their History

Museums Take up Civil Rights, Immigration Issues and Their History

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Do the issues of civil rights and immigration intersect? According to the mission of the Civil Rights Sites of Conscience Network, they do. The group of museums from the Southeast recently met over four days in Charlotte. Emily Zimmern, president and CEO of the host Levine Museum of the New South, lamented “what passes as dialogue” in the immigration debate, words that don’t acknowledge “the long sweep of history.” But she was hopeful that the stand-off can be advanced with informed community engagement. “That’s what museums do.”

At the Levine, that means pairing African-American and Hispanic groups to discuss two museum exhibits: “Courage,” which explores the Carolina roots of the Brown v. Board of Education decision that outlawed segregated schools, and “Para Todos Los Niño,” which chronicles the landmark legal anti-discrimination struggles of Latino families in Southern California almost 10 years before Brown. Another program aimed at high school and college students will ask: “Where is courage needed today?”…

 

Unión Europea: Amnistía Internacional denuncia la hipocresía intrínseca de las políticas migratorias y asilo

Unión Europea: Amnistía Internacional denuncia la hipocresía intrínseca de las políticas migratorias y asilo

Londres/Madrid.- Hace unas semanas se encontraron los cadáveres de 150 personas frente a las costas de las islas Kerkennah, pertenecientes a Túnez. Eran personas que habían huido del conflicto de Libia buscando seguridad en Europa. Su muerte pasó a engrosar la cifra de personas refugiadas y migrantes que han perdido la vida tratando de llegar a Europa: más de 1.400 en lo que va de año.

No es un problema nuevo. Desde hace años, refugiados y migrantes emprenden esta misma travesía. Sin embargo, mientras que Egipto y Túnez, en medio de su propia agitación política, admitieron sin titubeos a cientos de miles de refugiados procedentes de Libia, los Estados miembros de la Unión Europea (UE) no tomaron medidas creíbles para tratar de impedir que miles de personas que huían de este país murieran en el mar”, asegura Sherif Elsayed Ali responsable del Equipo sobre Derechos de Personas Refugiadas y Migrantes de Amnistía Internacional…

 

What Every Immigrant Needs To Know

What Every Immigrant Needs To Know: Practical information for living and succeeding in the United States

This 45-page guidebook provides practical information about living and succeeding in the U.S. Offered in Spanish and English, the guide provides immigrants and refugees with information about 170 essentials including health, finances, housing, education, insurance, laws, and social values…

EL OJO SENSIBLE Cine Club at Immigrant Movement International

No Order

NO ORDER

Migration Without Borders. Essays on the Free Movement of People

 


MIGRATION WITHOUT BORDERS, ESSAYS ON THE FREE MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE

The right “to leave” a country, laid down in Article 13 (2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, has no corresponding right “to enter” a country. This apparent contradiction has produced a publication, edited by two UNESCO programme specialists on international migration.

 

A Contract of Moral Commitment to Promote Immigrant Rights