Contextualisation
Mexicanity
How it started?
Some how everybody assumes that I live close to the ocean, that I drink tequila really quickly; “do shots” (I like tequila but I wouldn’t drink it fast), that my moustache can grow really long (as Pedro said in Napoleon Dynamite) in just a couple of days, people in pubs trying to be friendly say things to me like “ay caramba” (Bart Simpson), or “andale andale arriva!”(speady Gonsalez), “banana” (The Spanish world for banana in Spanish is plátano), “hola amigo”, “taco”, “burritos”, “tortilla”, “Cancun”, “Acapulco” all kinds of stereotypical words etc. People usually ask me “how do you say in Mexican…?” (We speak Spanish in Mexico) and some how I am not American anymore; if I said I am American people interpret that I am from the United States of America.
Artist Alfredo Jaar from Chile, with his piece “a logo for America”, invited several artists to make a 45 second animation, which was to projected on a gigantic screen in Time Square; presented the map and the flag of the united states, and on top of it the inscription “this is not America”. This exposed the alteration of realities and explored the relations between identity and language. 1
I carry an identity, and the rest of the word carry pre-fabricated assumptions of who I am, and what it is to be me, a Mexican.
Whilst living and studying in the UK I have noticed many of the subconscious auto imposed characteristics that as a Mexican I am expected to project, as I said before I like tequila and I definitely like spicy food, and interestingly I find myself fitting many of the categories that describe the stereotype of the Mexican. But, I would like to clarify that we all fit some categories of different sorts; “categories help to give a sense of order to the social world”. I wouldn’t say, however, that I should accept these stereotypes, because this is different from categories; “stereotyping attempts to deny any flexible thinking with categories”. 2 I find funny when people associate me with “tequila”, etc, however, I know it could be offensive or even racist to another Mexican, or even more offensive to another Latino that has simply been mistaken for a Mexican. What I mean when I say I find it’s funny, is not that it is necessarily acceptable, just that I think it is a good chance to express my opinion on the mater, laugh about the mistakes we all make when we stereotype, and even make people aware of the subconscious mistake they could be making.
The Concept
This project explores the relationships between identity and stereotyping; taking advantage of the freedom cyberspace offers, I have developed a web community with the objective to show an identity which I call “Mexicanity”; many individuals with different backgrounds including different nationality, interpret what it is to be a Mexican, the result is solved with the following equation:
[1 web community ÷ (Mexicans + non Mexicans)] x
[1moderator ÷ (own identity + interpretations)] + I space + 2 projectors + sound =
“Mexicanity” a VJ performance = Globalising a non-bias interpretation of a very stereotyped persona, crossing all the boundaries of space, time, culture, cliché, and categorisation
The community
In the past 9 months I have found it very satisfying to discover so many practitioners in the fields of art and design concerned with how the world works and how to make a difference, and how to change the protocols and divert the system.
Web communities such as “RTmark” (http://www.rtmark.com/) are a platform where activism can reach more people in their fight to make a difference on the injustices of economics around the world and “SUPERFLEX” (http://www.superflex.net) is a great place to develop collaborative projects of “experimental models that alter the prevailing economic production conditions.”
Mexicanity began with research into, and finally the construction of the community; I sent an invitation via email making use of three different sources: a Yahoo group “Mexicans abroad”, the Netbehaviour mailing list and Flickr, a photograph sharing website.
“Netbehaviour” “is an open email list community engaged in the process of sharing and actively involving critical approaches, methods and ideas focused around contemporary networked media arts practice.” (http://www.netbehaviour.org/about.htm)
Flickr is a photographic community that aloud you to have your own page for your photos, other members can leave comments or make notes on them.
Flickr provide you tools to customize your photos on line
You can set different privacy level on each or your photos.
You can tag other photographs
You can form and subscribe to different groups and join into their discussion lists.
The invitation
The invitation I sent out via these communication networks read:
“You have been invited to the Mexicanity web community. For this project you are requested to input any kind of information and media (videos, sound, illustrations, photos etc.) referencing what it is to you to be a Mexican. You do not have to be Mexican to be part of the project. The idea is to collect different points of view, and opinions on the Mexican reality of life. All this information will be part of the University College Falmouth Interactive Art and Design exhibition.
You are granted with complete access to the community blog, feel free to add anything you want. Please don't destroy the blog or other people inputs, but you are welcome to change the colours, the fonts, add images, and links, etc.
Any offensive material will be removed by the artist.
Welcome and enjoy
How does it work?:
To see the blog Go to:
http://mexicanity.blogspot.com
to sign in:
username: mexicanityproject
password: mexicanity
or:
if you are a flickr user you can add your pictures to the group Mexicanity: http://www.flickr.com/groups/mexicanity/
Or simply e-mail me anything you want to be part o the project.
Mexicanity@gmail.com.”
The feedback from this invitation was very satisfactory: the input included; more than 400 original photographs from 100 different participants collected through the Mexicanity flickr group in a period of two months, more than 40 videos, both original and taken from the web were uploaded on the Mexicanity web blog, several quotations of important Mexican writers, several songs and artists were suggested to be played during the exhibition, were either submitted on the blog or e-mailed. I was overwhelmed by the response from so many people from different places in Mexico and the rest of the world; a community really began to take shape through the sharing of incredible images and information of places, people, political movements, art, and crafts.
Why VJ performance?
Following the invitation and the many responses, I found myself with a vast compilation of SAMPLES, “the bricks that can then be used to construct new meanings”. 8 These are strong representative media of Mexican culture, amazingly rich and diverse, but they only work as a collection because they could be seen as stereotypical images if they are displayed individually. Mexicanity is playing with the possibility to show trough sound and visuals the globalize image of a nation that is a lot more than a ‘exotic land’ (whatever that means) and that is why I needed to create an environment In which I could dislocate the images from their stereotypical connotations to create a personal language” 3
“In the VJ project memories by d-fuse he uses old photographs with the intention to play with memories and associations” 9 in the beginning they seem to be no more than old photos as time goes by I started to give them some kind of meaning as if I was seeing images of my own family, I was mixing my own memories with the images presented, I was reconstructing realities in the back of my mind.
Why live performance?
I wanted to allow for natural spontaneity; if I was to decide what is representative of Mexican culture there would be no collaborative element to the work, and I would have no way of knowing if I was acting in a non-bias way. The main interaction takes place in the web community, as I have discussed, however, the audience in the gallery space, during the exhibition, will also have the chance to interact. They will be able to do this by selecting prints of the images submitted by the community, and placing them under a video camera, once they do this, it will be mixed with more images, and subverted by the VJ. Integrating these into a more inclusive image and trying to find an understanding with the user, blurs our prefabricated assumptions to compose and decompose and recompose an identity. 4 The result: a broader view; a combination of images that inform the cultural diversity of the Mexican reality.
The place
“To move something from one place to another might seem the most insignificant of the actions … The avatar of cultures and, of course, of their frontiers, can be woven into that apparently dull act of moving something from one place to another … the traces of mobility are left in those frontiers and end up by themselves been influenced by the inertia of the initial impulse” 5
Mexicanity is trying to find all the traces of mobility: the mobility that happened in physical and mediated systems; what you saw on TV; the postcard you received; the video on you tube; the book you read; the food you ate; the trip you made etc. Mexicanity re-defines the places to create an environment, in which consciously we can get a sense of place, not based on geographical fixations, instead with the objective to provoke a feeling of a wider world free from geographical boundaries. 6 I like to think that we can all construct our identity a construction a process never completed always in process.7
How it started?
Some how everybody assumes that I live close to the ocean, that I drink tequila really quickly; “do shots” (I like tequila but I wouldn’t drink it fast), that my moustache can grow really long (as Pedro said in Napoleon Dynamite) in just a couple of days, people in pubs trying to be friendly say things to me like “ay caramba” (Bart Simpson), or “andale andale arriva!”(speady Gonsalez), “banana” (The Spanish world for banana in Spanish is plátano), “hola amigo”, “taco”, “burritos”, “tortilla”, “Cancun”, “Acapulco” all kinds of stereotypical words etc. People usually ask me “how do you say in Mexican…?” (We speak Spanish in Mexico) and some how I am not American anymore; if I said I am American people interpret that I am from the United States of America.
Artist Alfredo Jaar from Chile, with his piece “a logo for America”, invited several artists to make a 45 second animation, which was to projected on a gigantic screen in Time Square; presented the map and the flag of the united states, and on top of it the inscription “this is not America”. This exposed the alteration of realities and explored the relations between identity and language. 1
I carry an identity, and the rest of the word carry pre-fabricated assumptions of who I am, and what it is to be me, a Mexican.
Whilst living and studying in the UK I have noticed many of the subconscious auto imposed characteristics that as a Mexican I am expected to project, as I said before I like tequila and I definitely like spicy food, and interestingly I find myself fitting many of the categories that describe the stereotype of the Mexican. But, I would like to clarify that we all fit some categories of different sorts; “categories help to give a sense of order to the social world”. I wouldn’t say, however, that I should accept these stereotypes, because this is different from categories; “stereotyping attempts to deny any flexible thinking with categories”. 2 I find funny when people associate me with “tequila”, etc, however, I know it could be offensive or even racist to another Mexican, or even more offensive to another Latino that has simply been mistaken for a Mexican. What I mean when I say I find it’s funny, is not that it is necessarily acceptable, just that I think it is a good chance to express my opinion on the mater, laugh about the mistakes we all make when we stereotype, and even make people aware of the subconscious mistake they could be making.
The Concept
This project explores the relationships between identity and stereotyping; taking advantage of the freedom cyberspace offers, I have developed a web community with the objective to show an identity which I call “Mexicanity”; many individuals with different backgrounds including different nationality, interpret what it is to be a Mexican, the result is solved with the following equation:
[1 web community ÷ (Mexicans + non Mexicans)] x
[1moderator ÷ (own identity + interpretations)] + I space + 2 projectors + sound =
“Mexicanity” a VJ performance = Globalising a non-bias interpretation of a very stereotyped persona, crossing all the boundaries of space, time, culture, cliché, and categorisation
The community
In the past 9 months I have found it very satisfying to discover so many practitioners in the fields of art and design concerned with how the world works and how to make a difference, and how to change the protocols and divert the system.
Web communities such as “RTmark” (http://www.rtmark.com/) are a platform where activism can reach more people in their fight to make a difference on the injustices of economics around the world and “SUPERFLEX” (http://www.superflex.net) is a great place to develop collaborative projects of “experimental models that alter the prevailing economic production conditions.”
Mexicanity began with research into, and finally the construction of the community; I sent an invitation via email making use of three different sources: a Yahoo group “Mexicans abroad”, the Netbehaviour mailing list and Flickr, a photograph sharing website.
“Netbehaviour” “is an open email list community engaged in the process of sharing and actively involving critical approaches, methods and ideas focused around contemporary networked media arts practice.” (http://www.netbehaviour.org/about.htm)
Flickr is a photographic community that aloud you to have your own page for your photos, other members can leave comments or make notes on them.
Flickr provide you tools to customize your photos on line
You can set different privacy level on each or your photos.
You can tag other photographs
You can form and subscribe to different groups and join into their discussion lists.
The invitation
The invitation I sent out via these communication networks read:
“You have been invited to the Mexicanity web community. For this project you are requested to input any kind of information and media (videos, sound, illustrations, photos etc.) referencing what it is to you to be a Mexican. You do not have to be Mexican to be part of the project. The idea is to collect different points of view, and opinions on the Mexican reality of life. All this information will be part of the University College Falmouth Interactive Art and Design exhibition.
You are granted with complete access to the community blog, feel free to add anything you want. Please don't destroy the blog or other people inputs, but you are welcome to change the colours, the fonts, add images, and links, etc.
Any offensive material will be removed by the artist.
Welcome and enjoy
How does it work?:
To see the blog Go to:
http://mexicanity.blogspot.com
to sign in:
username: mexicanityproject
password: mexicanity
or:
if you are a flickr user you can add your pictures to the group Mexicanity: http://www.flickr.com/groups/mexicanity/
Or simply e-mail me anything you want to be part o the project.
Mexicanity@gmail.com.”
The feedback from this invitation was very satisfactory: the input included; more than 400 original photographs from 100 different participants collected through the Mexicanity flickr group in a period of two months, more than 40 videos, both original and taken from the web were uploaded on the Mexicanity web blog, several quotations of important Mexican writers, several songs and artists were suggested to be played during the exhibition, were either submitted on the blog or e-mailed. I was overwhelmed by the response from so many people from different places in Mexico and the rest of the world; a community really began to take shape through the sharing of incredible images and information of places, people, political movements, art, and crafts.
Why VJ performance?
Following the invitation and the many responses, I found myself with a vast compilation of SAMPLES, “the bricks that can then be used to construct new meanings”. 8 These are strong representative media of Mexican culture, amazingly rich and diverse, but they only work as a collection because they could be seen as stereotypical images if they are displayed individually. Mexicanity is playing with the possibility to show trough sound and visuals the globalize image of a nation that is a lot more than a ‘exotic land’ (whatever that means) and that is why I needed to create an environment In which I could dislocate the images from their stereotypical connotations to create a personal language” 3
“In the VJ project memories by d-fuse he uses old photographs with the intention to play with memories and associations” 9 in the beginning they seem to be no more than old photos as time goes by I started to give them some kind of meaning as if I was seeing images of my own family, I was mixing my own memories with the images presented, I was reconstructing realities in the back of my mind.
Why live performance?
I wanted to allow for natural spontaneity; if I was to decide what is representative of Mexican culture there would be no collaborative element to the work, and I would have no way of knowing if I was acting in a non-bias way. The main interaction takes place in the web community, as I have discussed, however, the audience in the gallery space, during the exhibition, will also have the chance to interact. They will be able to do this by selecting prints of the images submitted by the community, and placing them under a video camera, once they do this, it will be mixed with more images, and subverted by the VJ. Integrating these into a more inclusive image and trying to find an understanding with the user, blurs our prefabricated assumptions to compose and decompose and recompose an identity. 4 The result: a broader view; a combination of images that inform the cultural diversity of the Mexican reality.
The place
“To move something from one place to another might seem the most insignificant of the actions … The avatar of cultures and, of course, of their frontiers, can be woven into that apparently dull act of moving something from one place to another … the traces of mobility are left in those frontiers and end up by themselves been influenced by the inertia of the initial impulse” 5
Mexicanity is trying to find all the traces of mobility: the mobility that happened in physical and mediated systems; what you saw on TV; the postcard you received; the video on you tube; the book you read; the food you ate; the trip you made etc. Mexicanity re-defines the places to create an environment, in which consciously we can get a sense of place, not based on geographical fixations, instead with the objective to provoke a feeling of a wider world free from geographical boundaries. 6 I like to think that we can all construct our identity a construction a process never completed always in process.7
posted by Alex García at 2:48 PM
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