The Francis Effect by Tania Bruguera

Episode #211: This episode of ART21 "Exclusive" features artist Tania Bruguera collecting signatures as part of her socially engaged performance project "The Francis Effect" (2014). For fifteen weeks Bruguera stood outside of the Guggenheim Museum in New York asking passersby to sign a petition to Pope Francis that requests Vatican City citizenship for undocumented immigrants. "A lot of people know it's impossible," says Bruguera. Yet she believes "the impossible is only impossible until somebody makes it possible." In her engagement of our political imaginations, Bruguera demonstrates the power of art to change perceptions and mobilize political action. Tania Bruguera explores the relationship between art, activism, and social change, staging participatory events and interactions that build on her own observations, experiences, and understanding of the politics of repression and control. Her work advances the concept of arte útil, according to which art can be used as a tool for social and political empowerment.

Learn more about the artist at: http://www.art21.org/artists/tania-br...

Sign the petition at: http://dignityhasnonationality.net/sign

CREDITS: Producer: Ian Forster. Consulting Producers: Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich. Interview: Ian Forster. Camera: Rafael Salazar & Ava Wiland. Sound: Ava Wiland. Editor: Morgan Riles. Translation: Michela Moscufo. Artwork Courtesy: Tania Bruguera. Special Thanks: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum & Rebecca Mir. Theme Music: Peter Foley.

Slave Rebellion Reenactment by Dread Scott

“Slave Rebellion Reenactment is a conceptual community-engaged performance that will restage and reinterpret Louisiana’s German Coast Uprising of 1811. This was the largest rebellion of enslaved people in United States history and took place outside of New Orleans. SRR will animate a suppressed history of people with an audacious plan to organize, take up arms and seize Orleans Territory, to fight not just for their own emancipation, but to end slavery. It is a project about freedom.

The artwork will involve hundreds of reenactors in period specific clothing marching for two days covering 26 miles. It will be reenacted upriver from New Orleans in the locations where the 1811 revolt occurred—the chemical refineries and trailer parks that have replaced the sugar plantations forming its backdrop.” By Dread Scott

John Brown Song! by Laylah Ali

“In spring of 2013, I asked various people I know if they would sing "John Brown's Body," a song that became popular during the American Civil War. (The song was also lyrically transformed in 1861 by abolitionist and John Brown sympathizer Julia Ward Howe into the still-famous "The Battle Hymn of the Republic.") There are several versions of the John Brown song and participants could choose which version they wanted to sing. I gave them little guidance except to ask that they video themselves if possible and sing as many verses as they could. What follows are their responses.” Laylah Ali

Take a Picture with a Real Indian by James Luna

Performance artist James Luna, a member of California’s Luiseño tribe, likes to blur the boundaries of his Native American culture. This past Columbus Day, he stood in front of Washington, D.C.’s Union Station and invited passersby to take his picture.

RAICES #NoKidsInCages

Over 3000 children were separated from their parents at the border. They live in cages. Sleep on the floor. They cry out and are not comforted.

They’ve spent an average of 154 days away from their parents. They’ve been shuttled around between 17 different states. They sleep under $0.68 blankets in freezing temperatures.

This is not history. This is happening now. Hundreds more have been separated. 6 children have died.

#NoKidsInCages is about the children. We cannot be a nation that separates families.

For those who’ve forgotten, it’s time to remember and raise our voices. For those who didn’t know, it’s time to understand the plight of these innocent children.

SHARE their stories online. ACT by telling Congress to pass Bill HR-541 – Keep Families Together Act. And SUPPORT organizations that are fighting to save and reunite children separated at our border.

We’re supporting RAICES, an organization on the frontlines providing free and low-cost legal & social services to immigrant children, families, and refugees. You can donate to them below.