Immigrant Movement International

Open Invitation for Actions

On December 18, designated “International Migrants Day” by the United Nations, we are mobilizing artists and cultural producers across the world to develop projects related to the issues and experience of migration. Through artistic actions, we want to help highlight the fact that human migration is an increasingly central phenomena of contemporary global existence, and to assert and promote the fundamental human rights, freedoms, and dignity of migrants and their families.

A Filipina domestic worker in Hong Kong, a Bangladeshi construction worker in Dubai, a Mexican day laborer in Los Angeles, a Chinese scientist in Toronto, an Algerian philosopher in Paris and a Cuban artist working in New York might not have race, language or religion in common. But the contemporary migrant challenges traditional notions of identity based on common nationality or culture and instead points us to a new shared experience and condition of migration itself. Each of these human beings has crossed borders to a new environment where their basic human rights are often minimally recognized, where their contribution to society is sometimes undervalued, where they are not asked to feel “at home.”

We, Immigrant Movement International, Creative Time, and the Queens Museum of Art, call on artists to stand up and act in response to International Migrants Day. Let us act in recognition of the concept of transnational migrants as a “global class” united across continents and cultures by common political and social conditions as well as by the human experience of being a migrant. By engaging artists across the globe, we hope to promote understanding of the specificity of local migration issues and the political interconnectedness across nations and regions that migration engenders. While human rights groups and the media have participated in December 18 activities, we feel that artists have unique communication tools that will be useful in this effort. It is time to call artists to this important cause.

OPEN INVITATION FOR ACTIONS

• We are inviting artists, curators, activists, organizers, and everyone who wants to be involved to propose and create an artwork, art project, or action of any scale or format in relation to immigrant issues and migrant rights.
• Participants can simply join us by reading the Manifesto of Immigrant Rights that we stand by – publicly or in the solitude of their studios – and documenting it.
• They may also organize and carry out an action in their area that fits within the local context of immigrant issues.
• The participants should affirm their engagement in the project by registering their name and location on the map now, while also describing their future action or sharing the proposal.
• They will then conduct these projects or present their works at 2PM of their local time, document the action, and upload their reports on the global map right after the action.
• On December 18, this will unfold as a rolling international action for 24 hours.

The December 18th Call for Actions is supported by the United Nations. Read their official letter of support here.

For questions email united@immigrant-movement.us.
To follow the actions go to www.immigrant-movement.us/december18

Invitación Abierta para Acciones

El día 18 de Diciembre, designado por las Naciones Unidas como el “Día Internacional del Migrante”, vamos a movilizar a los artistas y productores culturales alrededor del mundo, para desarrollar proyectos relacionados con experiencias y temas en torno a la migración. Por medio de acciones artísticas queremos ayudar a resaltar la migración humana como un fenómeno central y de gran crecimiento en la existencia global contemporánea y a la vez reafirmar y promover los derechos humanos fundamentales, tales como la libertad y dignidad de los inmigrantes y sus familias.

Una empleada domestica Filipina en Hong Kong, un constructor/obrero Bangladés en Dubái, un jornalero Mexicano en Los Ángeles, un científico Chino en Toronto un filosofo de Alergia en Paris y una artista Cubana trabajando en Nueva York pueden no tener una raza en común. Pero los inmigrantes contemporáneos retan  las nociones de identidad tradicionales basadas en una nacionalidad común y nos indican una nueva experiencia compartida y una nueva condición migrante en si misma. Cada uno de estos seres humanos ha cruzado fronteras hacia un nuevo ambiente donde sus derechos humanos básicos a menudo no son reconocidos en su totalidad, donde su contribución a la sociedad a veces es menospreciada y donde no son invitados a sentirse en casa.

Nosotros, El Movimiento Inmigrante Internacional, Creative Time y el Queens Museum of Art, hacemos un llamado a los artistas a levantarse y actuar en respuesta al Día Internacional del Migrante. Actuemos en reconocimiento del concepto de inmigrantes transnacionales como una “clase global” unida a través de continentes y culturas, tanto por condiciones políticas y sociales, como por la experiencia humana de ser un inmigrante. Mediante la participación de artistas alrededor del mundo, esperamos promover el entendimiento de temas específicos de migración local y la interconexión política que la migración genera a través de regiones y naciones. Si bien grupos en pro de los derechos humanos y los medios de comunicación han participado en las actividades del 18 de Diciembre, es nuestro sentir, que los artistas tienen herramientas comunicativas únicas, valiosas y útiles en este esfuerzo. Es hora de hacer un llamado a todos los artistas en pro de esta importante causa.