Video Art from the The Necropolis Politic: Mourning, Remembrance, Reclamation and Preservation in BIPOC Sacred Spaces
These two artistic interventions were commissioned for the conference “Necropolis Politic.” The works of performance/ video art act as a stand-in for collective ritual during pandemic times. Through their practice and creative intervention they offer new strategies for remembrance and commemoration. Both works engage with Cementerio San Jose as their main site of interest and speak to the systemic negligence of the cemetery by various official entities and act as offerings for alternative paths of recognition.
Sin Titulo by Francisco Gonzalez Castro
As a creator, Francisco Gonzalez Castro works in different artistic practices, such as visual arts and writing, but also carries out research projects, curatorships and works related to education. He has worked with several collectives including Grupo Cruze and Charco Collective and has carried out a number of interventions and performances in his native Chile and now in Austin where he currently resides. He holds a PhD in Art from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Santiago, Chile.
Francisco uses the everyday act of walking as an intervention in the cityscape as he films himself walking the distance between San Jose and the Texas State Capitol. Given the impossibility of collaborating communally during the pandemic, this work seeks to realize an action in which one can visibilize the cemetery to political power at the state capital, building a link through the two sites and bringing the cemetery to the state capitol.
Ni Hablar by Michael Anthony Garcia
Michael Anthony is a multidisciplinary artist & independent curator claiming both Mexican and US citizenship, while based in Austin, Texas. He predominantly focuses his practice around photography/ video, sculpture/ installation & performance. He is also a founding member of Los Outsiders curatorial collective & has curated large-scale exhibitions of international artists, in & out of the US. He participated in the 2011 Texas Biennial & has won awards both for his curatorial & 3D work. He co-hosts an intersectional conversation podcast named El Puente and is publisher for POCa Madre Magazine. García has premiered work for The Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Experimental Action Performance Art Biennale in Houston, The Contemporary Austin, SoundSpace at The Blanton Museum of Art, Mexic-Arte Museum, El Museo de la Ciudad de México, and ThreeWalls in Chicago.
Ni Hablar, is a ritual of voice and manifestation through the lens of time, as a way of connecting the present and our contemporary understanding of the time and circumstances surrounding El Cementerio San Jose. Through a Latinx Futurism act of bilocation, the ritual will connect our empathy as a performative act of retroactive intervention.
(Re)claiming Memories 