I would like some feedback on what you think?
This is art protesting political matters. Guillermo is protesting the treatment of aliens when really they do so much so that people can live comfortable lives. If one person works so hard for another, should they not be afforded some dignity? Due to economic marginalization certain societies are denied empowerment. So many restrictions are put on them and then they are blamed for their lack of progress.
Classism, racism, immigration laws and so many other factors have oppressed so many. When we look back at the history of America, it seems absurd that after all the crimes committed against humanity there is still a need to further oppress people.
Again here is an example of a dialogue that is long overdue where Guillermo is telling the truth and it will make many uncomfortable. I read about a time when Guillermo Gomez-Pena and James Luna were doing a performance together at the Smithsonian and during a break they went to their dressing rooms to rest. While they were resting, James lit some sage and Guillermo lit a cigarette. Minutes later the security guards break in and try to bust them for smoking “dope”. When they finally realize that it is just sage they leave embarrassed. Guillermo Gomez-Pena writes in the margins of his script: “The performance is never over for us. No matter how much we understand that ethnic identity is a cultural and ideological construction, and that as performance artists we have the power to alter it at will, nevertheless, we are always confronted in the most unexpected moments by the guardians of fetishized identity and the enforcers of stereotype”
When Aleta Ringlero, the curator finds out what happened she is furious and calls each and every Smithsonian undersecretary and lets them have it. James and Guillermo decide to have a drink at the bar instead. For them, it’s just another day in the never-ending pilgrimage towards the ends of Western civilization.
Works Cited:
James Luna: Emendatio/Truman T. Lowe and Paul Chaat Smith. Catalog of an exhibition at the 51st Venice Biennale presented at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice, Italy, June 12 -Nov. 6, 2005.
In all the artists work, (James Luna, Guillermo Gomez-Pena and Marina Abramovic) I see some neo-dadaism. Their work fits in well with the description of Dadaism “include arts in the fight for a new Ethic”. There are more things I am sure and as I come across them I will update the information.
Not in your Museum 
sinartificios said,
July 5, 2010 at 8:09 pm
I absolutely LOVE this performance. This hits close to home in so many ways. “When we talk back, you become tonta y pendejo, the people you call ‘aliens’ are the original inhabitants of this earth.” If you sit and think about principal and history you’ll come to realizations. Take a second to think about what is going on in AZ right now with new legislation. To have somebody tell you, as a child, “why don’t you go back to where you came from?” Gomez-Peña basically convey’s what Mexican migrants have been saying for decades. “We’re here!” This is where we came from. We may have hoofed a few miles in fields or took a swim across a river to get BACK.
bomayangu said,
July 5, 2010 at 9:52 pm
Thanks for your comments.
I am so glad that there are people willing to speak out at any cost. This is art taken to a higher level. This is a dialogue expressing our inhumanity towards one another. One wonders, how does one person or group of people get to think that they are better than another and they are the ones that get to detrmine the fate of others. Who is their God? Obviously he/she did not make all humans equal. What a strange creator!!!!!!
jennie kiessling said,
July 6, 2010 at 10:15 pm
At this point in time, after watching so many years of Gomez-Pena’s work. It still makes my heart race. I am biased in that i think that he along with Abramovic and Luna are the greatest Performance artists of our time. What
what i would like you to address is the technical aspect of this work. Where do you see influences from art history, more specifically, what is happening technically with this work. What elements is he using from the lineage of performance and happenings and what are techniques of his own? What does he say about his process? This is important. We will view this in week 8 of class.