19 Nov 2010

Forum: Proyecto Juarez at Museo Carrillo Gil, Mexico

SESSION 1: Wednesday November 24th, 2010 6 p.m.
Artistic projects in zones of political and social conflict: are they opportunistic or appropriate? with Mariana David (curator Proyecto Juarez), Héctor Bourges (director and theater producer), Sergio González (Proyecto Trueque), Yoshua Okon (artist) and Ruth Estévez (chief curator Carrillo Gil)

SESSION 2: Wednesday November 24th, 2010 8 p.m.
Ciudad Juarez: laboratory of our present with Isabel Vericat (lawyer and activist), Jorge Romero Leon (security expert), Paulina Garcia (sociologist), Alejandro Paez (writer and journalist) and Mariana David (curator Proyecto Juárez)

SESSION 3: Thursday November 25th, 2010 6 p.m.
Juarez Rezizte with Ivonne Ramírez (activist), Funky Bless (hip hop musicians from Juarez), Verónica Corchado (Juarez activist), Francisco Arce Ramirez (Comic 656) and Florencia Magaril (curator Estudio Abierto Carrillo Gil)

Closing ceremony: Funky Bless live and video projections
Thursday November 25th, 2010 8:30 p.m.
Free entrance

The Forum is parallel to the exhibit Proyecto Juarez
(October 6th 2010 through January 2nd 2011)

Artists: Artemio, Carlos Amorales, Gustavo Artigas, Paco Cao, Jota Castro, Democracia, Ivan Edeza, Antonio de la Rosa, Enrique Jezik, Ramon Mateos, Yoshua Okon, Santiago Sierra, and Artur Zmijewski.
Curator: Mariana David

Ciudad Juarez, considered part of the largest border community in the world, has gone through considerable social transformation in recent decades. Once an attractive destination for its job opportunities in the livestock and cotton industries, and later in the manufacturing business, the city now experiences mass exodus and strong military presence. Within a few years, the whole urban landscape has changed; a large number of downtown buildings have been demolished making way for shopping centers and real estate speculation.

The numerous cases of women murdered with impunity have deeply marked the city, turning it into a synonym of crime. Not even the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has been able to ensure justice. Moreover, since the beginning of the so-called war against drugs, the citizens have had to endure violence that resembles that of a battlefield. The mass media reaffirms this perception based on a utilitarian logic that only wants to portray spectacular, entertaining images and stories. By simplifying the conflict, confusion and terror grow, diminishing the people's critical and responding abilities. Ironically, the most dangerous city in Mexico coexists with one of the safest cities in the U.S., one with a huge military air base. Furthermore, the completion of the manufacturing industry (maquiladoras) as an economic model has had a negative social impact, becoming a nightmare for a whole generation of young people whose employment opportunities are reduced to assembly plants, the police lines or those of organized crime.

The starting point for Proyecto Juarez has been to think on such modes of domination and discrimination, interested in investigating the relationship between masculinity and the implementation of violence. One of the project's objectives was to make these issues visible outside of Ciudad Juarez, by turning them to the interest of all. At the same time, to make a public art project working closely with the people from Juarez and its institutions. In the process we discovered an organized society, active in peaceful resistance. Finally, the local situation is symptomatic of a collective reality that goes beyond geopolitical limits, especially since globalization was established.

Within a patriarchal tradition, there are established hierarchies; always above and below, north and south, master and slave. In spite of speeches for democracy, freedom, and equality, the law of the strongest governs everything. In this sense, the artists selection matches an approach to gender issues from a male perspective. Masculinity is defined by a set of attributes associated with the traditional role of man, such as strength, virility, victory, courage, safety, and competition.

An art residence was established in Ciudad Juarez from 2006 to 2007; over ten artists from different latitudes went there to live and work. Flexibility in timing and formats for the works was given, generating a variety of methods and perspectives. Some results are displayed in museums while others thrive on the Web.