{"id":1033,"date":"2019-11-01T01:13:44","date_gmt":"2019-11-01T01:13:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/melybarragan.com\/portfolio\/?p=1033"},"modified":"2020-01-10T20:57:12","modified_gmt":"2020-01-10T20:57:12","slug":"chris-kraus-on-borders-racism-and-staying-put","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/melybarragan.com\/portfolio\/chris-kraus-on-borders-racism-and-staying-put\/","title":{"rendered":"FRIEZE: Chris Kraus on Borders, Racism and Staying Put"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"mm-0\" class=\"page-wrapper mm-page mm-slideout\">\n<div class=\"page page with-main_image with-main_menu\">\n<div class=\"container\">\n<div class=\"ds-2col node node-article node-promoted node-publish_rss_feed node-publish_google_news view-mode-details clearfix\">\n<div class=\"group-right\">\n<div class=\"field field-name-title-field field-type-text field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<h1>Chris Kraus on Borders, Racism and Staying Put<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field-name-field-intro field-type-text-long field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<p>A roundtable with Mexicali and Tijuana artists Mely Barrag\u00e1n, Pablo Casta\u00f1eda, Fernando M\u00e9ndez Corona and collector Alonso Elias. With a poem by artist Guillermo G\u00f3mez-Pe\u00f1a<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"container\">\n<div id=\"main-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"landscape-image\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/frieze.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/main_image\/public\/main-images\/ckhero.jpg?w=530&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"site-main container\"><main class=\"body\"><a id=\"main-content\"><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"region region-content\">\n<div id=\"block-frieze-mapplic-frieze-mapplic-map\" class=\"block block-frieze-mapplic\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<div class=\"frieze-mapplic mapplic-dark\">\n<div class=\"frieze-mapplic--map\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"block-system-main\" class=\"block block-system\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<div class=\"ds-2col-fluid node node-article node-promoted node-publish_rss_feed node-publish_google_news view-mode-full group-one-column clearfix\">\n<div class=\"nested-container\">\n<div class=\"group-right\">\n<div class=\"field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<div class=\"article-part active\">\n<p>I discovered the work of Pablo Casta\u00f1eda and Fernando M\u00e9ndez Corona in 2010, when I visited the border-adjacent gallery Mexicali Rose for the first time. Founded in 2007 in Mexico by filmmaker and critic Marco Vera, when he returned from Los Angeles to his old neighbourhood of Pueblo Nuevo, Mexicali Rose was, in fact, more than a\u00a0gallery: it was an entire cultural centre, hosting media and trade workshops, film screenings, political meetings and a pirate radio station, before it closed in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>At a time when the word \u2018community\u2019 had become a\u00a0part of international art-world rhetoric, I was struck by the authenticity of the community that gathered around Mexicali Rose. I was also struck by the inventiveness, beauty and confidence of the work, and the fact that it was made by artists who were largely self-taught and not necessarily born into the privileged backgrounds that inform most contemporary art. In short, I was hooked.<\/p>\n<p>Eventually, during numerous trips, I visited Mely Barrag\u00e1n and Daniel Ruanova\u2019s wonderful China Project Space, the first in a cluster of artist-run galleries that repopulated Tijuana\u2019s central downtown after it had been decimated by the escalation of violence in 2008. I met Alonso Elias, a hay merchant who began attending art openings for the free wine as an agronomy student and has become the most important collector of North Baja art. Built with his wife, Patty Fontes, the Elias-Fontes Collection reflects a local aesthetic that combines the themes and values of street art, muralism, international contemporary art and California\/Baja California d\u00e9cor.\u00a0The five of us met up at Aurelio\u2019s Cocina Local in Mexicali\u00a0this summer to talk about the situation of their generation of artists in Mexicali and Tijuana and what it\u2019s like to stay in a small city rather than leave.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 <strong>Chris Kraus<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"media media-element-container media-default\"><span class=\"clearfix\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"media-element file-default landscape-image\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/frieze.com\/sites\/default\/files\/ckmain1.jpg?w=530&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" data-delta=\"1\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"field field-name-field-file-image-caption field-type-text-long field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<p>Mely Barrag\u00e1n, <em>Grabs Back<\/em>, 2017, acrylic on\u00a0tapestry cloth, thread, hairy texture, sequins on stretcher, 1.6\u2009\u00d7\u20091.9\u2009m. Courtesy: the\u00a0artist; photograph: Pablo\u00a0Mason<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Chris Kraus\u00a0<\/strong>Fernando, Mely and Pablo, you all began your careers in the 1990s, when there were fewer opportunities for artistic exchanges beyond Baja California than there are now. Did you feel, starting out, that you were up against considerable isolation? Did you think about moving to Berlin or Mexico City?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mely Barrag\u00e1n<\/strong>\u2002No, not really. I\u2019ve always looked to, and spoken from, my part of the world. I was lucky enough to be a young artist during the late 1990s in the border art movements in Tijuana. For about a decade, Tijuana was a\u00a0boomtown for border culture. I worked with Marta Palau on her Estandartes biennial [2002] and with Betsabe\u00e9 Romero and Ros\u00e2ngela Renn\u00f3 for the exhibition \u2018inSite\u2019 [1997]. We were all artists, promoters, handlers and writers. We created because we needed to find out who we were. Of course, older colleagues had done it before \u2013 artists such as Felipe Almada, Fernando Coronado and Benjamin Serrano, as well as Palau \u2013 but there was a feeling then that the world was interested in what the border had to say.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fernando M\u00e9ndez Corona<\/strong>\u2002I had the chance to live in Seattle during the late 1990s. It was an interesting place to be. I had my first shows and got a sense of what was happening in the arts, but the weather was bad and I missed Baja California, so I didn\u2019t stay. It was really clear to me then that I loved Baja as a place to live and create. I feel very free here. I can move around, but I always like to come back.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MB<\/strong> There were no formal art schools in northern Mexico! Pablo and I met at university, where I was studying graphic design. The outside world didn\u2019t know what to make of us. We were neither Chicano nor Mexican enough.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pablo Casta\u00f1eda<\/strong>\u2002I always felt that painting would be the most powerful way to communicate with others and reveal who I am. But I had to find my own way, taking workshops with other artists to learn some technique.<\/p>\n<p><strong>FMC<\/strong>\u2002In Mexicali, Carlos Coronado Ortega was a good master.\u00a0One of his murals, Los primeros pasos [The First Steps, 1975], was across the street from my high school. That was a whole education for me.<\/p>\n<div class=\"media media-element-container media-default\"><span class=\"clearfix\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"media-element file-default landscape-image\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/frieze.com\/sites\/default\/files\/ckmain2.jpg?w=530&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" data-delta=\"2\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"field field-name-field-file-image-caption field-type-text-long field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<p>Mexicali Rose gallery, 2019. Courtesy and photograph: Marco\u00a0Roche<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>MB<\/strong> We\u2019re part of the first generation of Baja artists to have international opportunities while remaining at home. It was only after the violence became an everyday issue in Tijuana that Daniel and I decided to leave. We went to Beijing in 2010 and, a year later, we opened the TJINCHINA Project Space there.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CK\u00a0<\/strong>You\u2019ve all been involved with artist-run spaces in Tijuana and Mexicali. Without much of a network of commercial galleries, you stepped up to create other opportunities.<\/p>\n<p><strong>FMC<\/strong>\u2002Mexicali Rose eventually became a gallery, but it grew out of the needs of the Pueblo Nuevo neighbourhood\u00a0\u2013 of the barrio and the kids. Marco opened the space when he moved back from Los Angeles, and he initially ran video workshops for kids. His ex-students are great DJs, <em>luchadores<\/em> [wrestlers] and activists now. The gallery got going in 2008, with the involvement of people such as Israel Ortega Castro from Centro Estatal de las Artes [CEART]. Marco had some great ideas from his time at the Echo Park Film Center in Los Angeles, and we realized that the right way to do things was to do them yourself. The workshops had a freshness that occurs when people are approaching a\u00a0new medium; it\u2019s hard to get back to that, although most of us try. The space started an honest dialogue between artists and collectives on both sides of the border that was desperately\u00a0needed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MB<\/strong> When Daniel and I moved back from Beijing in 2013, the local scene was diminished by the political struggles and violence. Avenida Revoluci\u00f3n, the main street, was like a ghost town. We wanted to reconnect with the city, so we decided to reopen TJINCHINA in Tijuana as China Project Space. We rented and remodelled an old curio shop and organized dozens of exhibitions and residencies. The art students and interns who helped us are part of the young scene making waves in the city now.<\/p>\n<p><strong>FMC<\/strong>\u2002Mexicali Rose was really one of a kind. We had trade and craft workshops, political meetings, a radio station. The new spaces that have opened are more focused on contemporary art.<\/p>\n<div class=\"media media-element-container media-default\"><span class=\"clearfix\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"media-element file-default portrait-image\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/frieze.com\/sites\/default\/files\/ckmain3.jpg?w=530&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" data-delta=\"3\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"field field-name-field-file-image-caption field-type-text-long field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<p>Fernando M\u00e9ndez Corona, <em>Downtown<\/em>, 2019, acrylic and ink on canvas, 60 \u00d7 40 cm. Courtesy: the artist<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>CK\u00a0<\/strong>Which city do you feel closer to: Mexico City or Los Angeles? Which one holds more exhibition opportunities?<\/p>\n<p><strong>MB<\/strong> Los Angeles, definitely, and San Diego, but I also show in places like Monterrey, in northern Mexico. I\u2019ve done residencies all over, but I don\u2019t believe you should live in one place and pretend you\u2019re living in another. Being in a\u00a0city like Tijuana, which is still building its own history, is a means to make art while making community.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CK\u00a0<\/strong>I think, finally, institutions in the US are realizing that the proximity of Mexico is a huge cultural advantage. Orange County museums run weekend bus trips to Tijuana, and the MexiCali Biennial will be at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena this year.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MB<\/strong> People from San Diego have always been in awe of Tijuana. Sometimes, I think they just can\u2019t believe such a life exists south of the border! And, since San Diego is a very conservative city, the differences are evident. The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego realized a really important project in 2006, \u2018Strange New World \u2013 Art and\u00a0Design from Tijuana\u2019, and they\u2019ve recently presented a\u00a0new survey show with artists from both sides of the border. Also, young American artists are starting to move to Tijuana. That hasn\u2019t happened before.<\/p>\n<p><strong>FMC<\/strong>\u2002There\u2019s so much movement between street aesthetics and fine arts, between California West Coast style and the north Baja style that I think we\u2019re creating. Mexicali Rose brought us into contact with a lot of good stuff happening in Indio, Coachella and Palm Desert apart from the festival, as well as an art scene in Slab City, California. And that\u2019s continued in a more formal way through the MexiCali Biennial. Here in Mexicali, there\u2019s a great art and music show every December called \u2018Viva El Valle\u2019, when people living in California\u2019s Imperial Valley come home for the holidays to visit their families.<\/p>\n<div class=\"media media-element-container media-default\"><span class=\"clearfix\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"media-element file-default landscape-image\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/frieze.com\/sites\/default\/files\/ckmain4.jpg?w=530&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" data-delta=\"4\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"field field-name-field-file-image-caption field-type-text-long field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<p>Pablo Casta\u00f1eda, <em>Appearances<\/em>, 2018, oil on\u00a0canvas, 76 \u00d7 102 cm. Courtesy: the artist<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>CK\u00a0<\/strong>Still, without a commercial gallery network, the state museums play a really big role in the art world in Tijuana and Mexicali. Is that good or bad?<\/p>\n<p><strong>FMC\u00a0<\/strong>On the most basic level, it\u2019s good. CEART is the only exhibition venue that\u2019s been here consistently for decades. But, the art they show isn\u2019t always the best. At this point, there are a lot more alternative spaces fuelling the scene: El\u00a0Centro, The Imperial Valley Kayak Club and The Strangers bar, which also has art shows.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MB<\/strong> I know that commercial galleries create more of an art market, but the state institutions are very positive community resources. They\u2019ve been built and fought for by artists and intellectuals over the years.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CK\u00a0<\/strong>Alonso, you and Patty Fontes started the Elias-Fontes Collection in 2003. The collection has 476 works, almost exclusively by north Baja artists. How did you begin collecting this art? How did you see it?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Alonso Elias\u00a0<\/strong>When we started buying paintings \u2013 mostly for decoration \u2013 we knew that Baja California had a unique art scene, but we never imagined there were so many world-calibre artists. It seemed almost surreal that these artists were either tinkering away or painting madly in their studios with so little attention. We started studying the history of Baja art and got hooked. These works mirror our daily lives. It\u2019s very easy to recognize ourselves in them.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CK<\/strong>\u2002It\u2019s almost as if your collection has assumed the role of a museum.<\/p>\n<p><strong>AE<\/strong> Some collectors proceed quietly and don\u2019t like talking about their activities. But we believe art is meant to be seen. We\u2019ve had exhibitions in San Diego, Mexicali, Imperial Valley and Tijuana. We\u2019re planning our next exhibition at Arizona State University in 2021. The museum curators here are constrained by a\u00a0lack of planning and financial support. Art isn\u2019t a priority for our government officials. The artistic community has lobbied for a state-run museum that collects and safeguards historic works, but to no avail. There are many artists whose almost entire output is stored under very poor conditions, especially after they pass away. One of our most talented writers, Heriberto Y\u00e9pez, has said that this generation of artists is an \u2018ism\u2019 and most \u2018isms\u2019 are best appreciated in the future.<\/p>\n<div class=\"frieze-ads-midbanner frieze-ads-placement\" data-frieze-ads-placement=\"midbanner\">\n<div id=\"dfp-ad-midbanner-wrapper\" class=\"dfp-tag-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"frieze-ad__midbanner\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"media media-element-container media-default\"><span class=\"clearfix\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"media-element file-default landscape-image\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/frieze.com\/sites\/default\/files\/ckmain5.jpg?w=530&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" data-delta=\"5\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"field field-name-field-file-image-caption field-type-text-long field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<p>Mely Barrag\u00e1n, <em>Black Light<\/em>, 2017, oil and fabric on canvas, 136\u2009\u00d7\u2009116\u2009\u00d7\u200916\u2009cm. Courtesy: the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego; photograph: Pablo Masont<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>CK\u00a0<\/strong>There\u2019s a lot of collaboration between artists in Mexicali and Tijuana. Do you think of \u2018northern Mexican\u2019, \u2018Baja\u2019 or even \u2018border\u2019 art as a particular aesthetic?<\/p>\n<p><strong>FMC\u00a0<\/strong>Most of us are friends and we collaborate often: there is not so much of a generational divide as when we were starting out. It\u2019s a more approachable, collaborative vibe. The Tijuana-Mexicali connection has grown over the years thanks to Mexicali Rose, TJINCHINA, the Elias-Fontes Collection and Planta Libre.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MB<\/strong> But I don\u2019t see us as having a single aesthetic! Northern Mexico is constantly changing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CK<\/strong>\u2002I\u2019ve seen the same motifs recur, for example, in Pablo\u2019s and Fernando\u2019s paintings: the tangled electrical wires, the brightly lit studio above a garage. There\u2019s something very intimate about that, as if these paintings were plugged into the same brain.<\/p>\n<p><strong>FMC<\/strong>\u2002When I was a student, I heard the name Pablo Casta\u00f1eda\u00a0often, as one of the best artists of our generation. He was the guy to beat! When we finally met a couple of years later, we found out we had a lot in common aesthetically. We\u2019re really close friends now, so we often visit museums together and share our first impressions from travels and\u00a0experiences.<\/p>\n<p><strong>PC<\/strong> Mexicali is a place where imagination and reality come together as one. I think we both see that. And, since Fernando and I move in the same environment, our ideas and images inform one another.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CK<\/strong> Have recent politics around the border affected you as artists? How does the US culture of racism, hate and xenophobia play out on the Mexican side of the border?<\/p>\n<div class=\"media media-element-container media-default\"><span class=\"clearfix\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"media-element file-default landscape-image\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/frieze.com\/sites\/default\/files\/ckmain6.jpg?w=530&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" data-delta=\"6\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"field field-name-field-file-image-caption field-type-text-long field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<p>Daniel Ruanova, <em>OLD HABITS DIE HARD III (I wish it to be visibly invisible, there\u00a0but not quite, always present but only for the ones who look\u00a0for it and for the ones\u00a0who\u00a0can\u2019t hide it.)<\/em>, 2016, translucent sandblast vinyl decal on window, 61\u2009\u00d7\u200961\u2009cm. Courtesy: the artist and Elias-Fontes Collection; photograph: Alonso\u00a0Elias<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>MB<\/strong> We\u2019ve always known about the racist nature of American\u00a0culture but, over the past few years, it has worsened. The division between the countries has grown and we\u2019re focusing\u00a0more of our efforts here.<\/p>\n<p><strong>PC<\/strong> I\u2019m part of the Galeria Fronteriza artistic group. We continue to paint murals on both sides of the border, with or without support from institutions. We\u2019ve done pieces at Barrio Logan in San Diego as well as in Calexico at Nosotros Park and on the border fence.<\/p>\n<p><strong>FMC\u00a0<\/strong>There\u2019s a lot of bad shit happening here at the moment but, in a weird way, it\u2019s helped the artistic community grow stronger and wiser. There\u2019s also more of a cultural melting pot now in Mexicali. It\u2019s so sad to see what\u2019s happening in the US. Before Donald Trump\u2019s election, there were some efforts to collaborate on mural projects, painting onto the wall from both sides of the border; but, after all the hate propaganda, that just seems naive. And so art moves\u00a0inward.<\/p>\n<p><strong>AE\u00a0<\/strong>Racism and xenophobia are so much a part of our daily lives that we\u2019ve become immune to them. We own a sticker work by Daniel that reads: \u2018We Serve White\u2019s Only. No Spanish or Mexicans.\u2019 Daniel installed it on the window of our house in the US.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CK<\/strong> How do you see things unfolding, culturally, in Tijuana and Mexicali over the next decade or two?<\/p>\n<p><strong>AE\u00a0<\/strong>This is Baja California\u2019s first really international generation. Artists here show at the Whitney Biennial in New York and the Saatchi Gallery in London, but also for local audiences at small galleries in Mexicali. This is a\u00a0breakthrough moment for them, but they\u2019ve developed a\u00a0fast-growing local market that frees them of the need for validation from the rest of the world. We\u2019re proud to have contributed to that.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>From \u2018A Declaration of Poetic Disobedience from the New Border\u2019 (2003\u2013ongoing)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Guillermo\u00a0G\u00f3mez-Pe\u00f1a began\u00a0writing this performance-poem in 2003 as a\u00a0response to the invasion of Iraq and the \u2018War on Terror\u2019.\u00a0His idea was \u2018to map\u00a0out a\u00a0new territory\u00a0in terms of \u201cwe\u201d and \u201cthem\u201d\u2019. For 16\u00a0years, G\u00f3mez-Pe\u00f1a has performed different versions at\u00a0universities, museums, theatres, churches, performance festivals and political rallies. The artist has said that he\u00a0\u2018won\u2019t stop rewriting this poem and performing it\u00a0until the war is finally\u00a0over\u2019.<\/p>\n<p><em>(I address the powers that be; I look at the ceiling)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>1. To the Masterminds of Paranoid Nationalism<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I say, we say:<br \/>\n\u2018We\u2019, the Other people<br \/>\nWe, the migrants, exiles, nomads &amp; wetbacks<br \/>\nin permanent process of voluntary deportation<br \/>\nWe, the transient orphans of dying nation-states<br \/>\nla otra Am\u00e9rica; l\u2019autre Europe<br \/>\nWe, the citizens of the outer limits and crevasses<br \/>\nof \u2018Western civilization\u2019<br \/>\nWe, who have no government;<br \/>\nno flag or national anthem<br \/>\nthe undoqueermented of Homoland Insecurity<br \/>\nWe, the New Barbarians<br \/>\nin constant flux,<br \/>\nfrom Patagonia to Alaska,<br \/>\nfrom Ju\u00e1rez to Ramalla,<br \/>\ntodos somos mojados<br \/>\nWe, the seventh generation, the fourth world, the third country<br \/>\nWe millions abound,<br \/>\ndefying your fraudulent polls &amp; statistics<br \/>\nWe continue to talk back &amp; make art<br \/>\n<em>[Shamanic tongues]<\/em><br \/>\n<em>[Shamanic tongues]\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>6. To the share-holders of mono-culture<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I say, we say:<br \/>\nWe, Americans with foreign accents &amp; purple tongues<br \/>\nWe, bilingual, polylingual, cunnilingual,<br \/>\nWe, los otros del mas all\u00e1<br \/>\ndel otro lado de la l\u00ednea y el puente<br \/>\nWe, lingua poluta et disoluta,<br \/>\nrapeando border mystery; a broader history<br \/>\nWe, mistranslated se\u00f1orita, eternally mispronounced<br \/>\nWe, lost and found in the translation<br \/>\nlost &amp; found between the layers of my words<br \/>\nWe, interracial lovers,<br \/>\nchildren of interracial lovers, ad infinitum<br \/>\nWe, Americans in the largest sense of the term<br \/>\n(from the many other Americas)<br \/>\nWe, from Patagonia to Alaska<br \/>\nFrom S\u00e3o Paulo to New York<br \/>\nin cahoots with the original Americans<br \/>\nwho speak hundreds of beautiful languages<br \/>\nincomprehensible to you<br \/>\nWe [Shamanic tongues]<br \/>\nWe, in cahoots with dozens of millions of displaced<br \/>\nLatinos, Arabs, blacks &amp; Asians<br \/>\nwho live so far away from their land<br \/>\nWe, trapped between ICE and organized crime<br \/>\n<em>[Shamanic tongues]<\/em><br \/>\nWe all speak in unison therefore you cease to be<br \/>\neven if only for a moment<br \/>\nbehind the curtain of language<br \/>\nI am, US, you sir, no ser<br \/>\nNosotros seremos<br \/>\nNosotros, we stand<br \/>\nnot united<br \/>\n&amp; when we talk back,<br \/>\nyou become tongue-tied pendejos<br \/>\n<em>[Shamanic tongues]<\/em><br \/>\nyess! magister dixit:<br \/>\nthe people you call \u2018aliens\u2019<br \/>\nare the original inhabitants of this continent<\/p>\n<p><strong>8. Finale:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>[Finally facing\/addressing the audience]<\/em><br \/>\nWe, baaaad poetry, baaad art!<br \/>\nWe, techno-pirates, Region 4<br \/>\nWe, the shamans exorcising Enron<br \/>\nlos brujos against Microsoft<br \/>\npoetas solitarios contra Wal-Mart<br \/>\nWe, dervishes under the arches of McDonalds<br \/>\nradical clowns confronting the global police<br \/>\nimmigrant teens torching the cars of the wealthy<br \/>\nWe, los indignados y desterrados<br \/>\nEl Movimiento Sin Tierra<br \/>\nParacaidistas en Wall Street<br \/>\nthe Other \u201899%\u2019<br \/>\nWe, the ghosts of the past<br \/>\nin cahoots with the future warriors<br \/>\nin cahoots with all innocent civilians killed<br \/>\non both sides of the useless War on Terror<br \/>\nthe useless War on Drugs<br \/>\nWe, nosotros, going crazy to remain sane<br \/>\nliterally dying for new ideas<br \/>\nperforming against all odds<br \/>\ndancing on the edge of a crater<br \/>\nWe, witnesses &amp; willing victims of the End of Empire<br \/>\nWe, Western World imploding disfunctionalia<br \/>\nhistory\u2019s final chapter \u2026 colapso total!<br \/>\n<em>[pause]<\/em><br \/>\nWe continue to talk back &amp; make art<br \/>\nTabula Rasa; take 2:<br \/>\nWe, here we are, in (name of the city) mapeando,<br \/>\nmapping the immediate future<br \/>\nso you and I can walk on it<br \/>\nwithout falling inside the great faults of history.<br \/>\nYou &amp; I,<br \/>\nverbally walking together;<br \/>\nyou &amp; I,<br \/>\nephemeral community;<br \/>\nyou &amp; I,<br \/>\na tiny little nation-state;<br \/>\nyou &amp; I,<br \/>\na one-hour-long utopia<br \/>\ntitled \u2018You &amp; I\u2019,<br \/>\nalone on stage,<br \/>\nfighting together the World Bank,<br \/>\nthe IMF, the WTO &amp; the G-8 cartels;<br \/>\nfighting avant-garde desire &amp; the Patriot Act;<br \/>\ntu y yo, juntitos, bien abrazados,<br \/>\nfucking suavecito<br \/>\nfighting isolation &amp; isolationism &#8230;<br \/>\nAnd art is our battlefield,<br \/>\nque otra?<br \/>\nAnd if we fall<br \/>\nwe are caught in mid-air by a total stranger.<\/p>\n<p><em>After a long dream called \u2018Western democracy\u2019, we\u00a0ALL\u00a0OF\u00a0US, across\u00a0borders, meridians and continents, we\u00a0finally awake and are hitting the\u00a0streets as we speak &#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>This article first appeared in <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/frieze.com\/issues\/frieze-magazine\/issue-207\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">frieze<\/a><em><a href=\"https:\/\/frieze.com\/issues\/frieze-magazine\/issue-207\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> issue 207<\/a> with the headline \u2018A Generation of Isms\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n<p><sup><em>Main image: Mike Rogers, <\/em>Tel\u00e9fono<em> (Telephone), 2006, performance documentation, MexiCali Biennale, 2006. Courtesy: the artist; photograph: Ed Gomez\u00a0<\/em><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"pager\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field-name-field-contributor field-type-entityreference field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<div id=\"node-8681\" class=\"node node-contributor clearfix\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<div class=\"field field-name-title-field field-type-text field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\"><a href=\"https:\/\/frieze.com\/contributor\/chris-kraus\">CHRIS KRAUS<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field-name-field-contributor-bio-short field-type-text-long field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<p><em>Chris Kraus is a writer and filmmaker based in Los Angeles, USA. Her book\u00a0<\/em>Social Perspectives<em> was published by Semiotext(e) in October 2018.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field-item odd\">\n<div id=\"node-1386066\" class=\"node node-contributor clearfix\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<div class=\"field field-name-title-field field-type-text field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\"><a href=\"https:\/\/frieze.com\/contributor\/alonso-elias\">\u200bALONSO ELIAS<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field-name-field-contributor-bio-short field-type-text-long field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<p>Alonso Elias is a hay merchant who lives on both sides of the Mexico-US border. He is co-founder, with Patty Fontes, of the Elias-Fontes Collection, Baja California, Mexico.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<div id=\"node-1386061\" class=\"node node-contributor clearfix\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<div class=\"field field-name-title-field field-type-text field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\"><a href=\"https:\/\/frieze.com\/contributor\/pablo-castaneda\">PABLO CASTA\u00d1EDA<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field-name-field-contributor-bio-short field-type-text-long field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<p>Pablo Casta\u00f1eda is an artist based in Mexicali, Mexico. Recent solo shows include Planta Libre and Galer\u00eda ARMA, Mexicali. His work is on view at Casa de la Cultura de Mexicali until December.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field-item odd\">\n<div id=\"node-1386056\" class=\"node node-contributor clearfix\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<div class=\"field field-name-title-field field-type-text field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\"><a href=\"https:\/\/frieze.com\/contributor\/mely-barragan\">\u200bMELY BARRAG\u00c1N<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field-name-field-contributor-bio-short field-type-text-long field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<p>Mely Barrag\u00e1n is an artist working on the Mexico-US border. Her work is on view at \u2018CALAFIA: Manifesting the Terrestrial Paradise\u2019, MexiCali Biennial, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, USA, until\u00a012 January 2020.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<div id=\"node-1386076\" class=\"node node-contributor clearfix\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<div class=\"field field-name-title-field field-type-text field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\"><a href=\"https:\/\/frieze.com\/contributor\/fernando-mendez-corona-0\">FERNANDO M\u00c9NDEZ CORONA<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field-name-field-contributor-bio-short field-type-text-long field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<p>Fernando M\u00e9ndez Corona is an artist and a founding member\u00a0of Mexicali Rose, Mexico. Earlier this year, his exhibition \u2018Baja\u00a0Soul\u2019 was\u00a0on view at Centro Estatal de las Artes, Mexicali.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field-item odd\">\n<div id=\"node-1386181\" class=\"node node-contributor clearfix\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<div class=\"field field-name-title-field field-type-text field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\"><a href=\"https:\/\/frieze.com\/contributor\/guillermo-gomez-pena\">\u200bGUILLERMO G\u00d3MEZ-PE\u00d1A<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field-name-field-contributor-bio-short field-type-text-long field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<p>Guillermo G\u00f3mez-Pe\u00f1a is an artist, writer, activist, pedagogue and director of the performance troupe La Pocha Nostra. He received a 2019 Guggenheim Fellowship and is currently preparing two books for Routledge as well as a documentary portrait of his troupe. He lives in San Francisco, USA.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field-name-article-issue-box field-type-ds field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<p>First published in Issue 207<\/p>\n<div class=\"field field-name-field-issue-date field-type-text field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">November &#8211; December 2019<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field-name-service-links-displays-group field-type-ds field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<div class=\"service-links\"><a class=\"service-links-twitter icon-twitter\" title=\"Share this on Twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A\/\/frieze.com\/article\/chris-kraus-borders-racism-and-staying-put&amp;text=Chris%20Kraus%20on%20Borders%2C%20Racism%20and%20Staying%20Put\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">TWITTER<\/a><a class=\"service-links-facebook icon-facebook\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A\/\/frieze.com\/article\/chris-kraus-borders-racism-and-staying-put&amp;t=Chris%20Kraus%20on%20Borders%2C%20Racism%20and%20Staying%20Put\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">FACEBOOK<\/a><a class=\"icon-mail-alt service-links-emailto\" title=\"Share this post by email\" href=\"mailto:?to=&amp;subject=%5BFrieze.com%5D%20Chris%20Kraus%20on%20Borders%2C%20Racism%20and%20Staying%20Put&amp;body=https%3A\/\/frieze.com\/article\/chris-kraus-borders-racism-and-staying-put\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">EMAIL TO<\/a><a class=\"icon-pinterest service-links-pinterest\" title=\"Share this post by Pinterest\" href=\"http:\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/button\/?url=https%3A\/\/frieze.com\/article\/chris-kraus-borders-racism-and-staying-put&amp;media=https%3A\/\/frieze.com\/sites\/default\/files\/default_images\/FriezeWebDefaultImage_0.jpg&amp;description=Chris%20Kraus%20on%20Borders%2C%20Racism%20and%20Staying%20Put\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">PINTEREST<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field-name-field-category field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\"><a href=\"https:\/\/frieze.com\/editorial\/feature\">Features \/<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\"><a href=\"https:\/\/frieze.com\/tags\/chris-kraus\">CHRIS KRAUS<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"field-item odd\"><a href=\"https:\/\/frieze.com\/tags\/alonso-elias\">\u200bALONSO ELIAS<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"field-item even\"><a href=\"https:\/\/frieze.com\/tags\/guillermo-gomez-pena\">GUILLERMO G\u00d3MEZ-PE\u00d1A<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"field-item odd\"><a href=\"https:\/\/frieze.com\/tags\/pablo-castaneda\">PABLO CASTA\u00d1EDA<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"field-item even\"><a href=\"https:\/\/frieze.com\/tags\/mely-barragan\">\u200bMELY BARRAG\u00c1N<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"field-item odd\"><a href=\"https:\/\/frieze.com\/tags\/fernando-mendez-corona\">FERNANDO M\u00c9NDEZ CORONA<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"field-item even\"><a href=\"https:\/\/frieze.com\/tags\/mexicali\">MEXICALI<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"field-item odd\"><a href=\"https:\/\/frieze.com\/tags\/tijuana\">TIJUANA<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"field-item even\"><a href=\"https:\/\/frieze.com\/tags\/issue-207\">ISSUE 207<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/main><\/p>\n<aside class=\"sidebar sidebar--first\">\n<div class=\"region region-sidebar-content\">\n<div id=\"block-ds-extras-article-sidebar\" class=\"block block-ds-extras\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<div class=\"field field-name-frieze-ads-mpu field-type-ds field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<div class=\"frieze-ads-mpu frieze-ads-placement\" data-frieze-ads-placement=\"mpu\">\n<div id=\"dfp-ad-mpu-wrapper\" class=\"dfp-tag-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"frieze-ad__topmpu\">\n<div id=\"dfp-ad-mpu\" class=\"dfp-tag-wrapper-inner\" data-google-query-id=\"CP6lxoX1-eYCFWoLfQodBi0H3A\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/21705138243\/frieze-editorial\/article-topmpu_0__container__\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chris Kraus on Borders, Racism and Staying Put A roundtable with Mexicali and Tijuana artists Mely Barrag\u00e1n, Pablo Casta\u00f1eda, Fernando M\u00e9ndez Corona and collector Alonso Elias. With a poem by artist Guillermo G\u00f3mez-Pe\u00f1a I discovered the work of Pablo Casta\u00f1eda and Fernando M\u00e9ndez Corona in 2010, when I visited the border-adjacent gallery Mexicali Rose for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","hentry","category-uncategorized","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/melybarragan.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/melybarragan.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/melybarragan.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melybarragan.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melybarragan.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1033"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/melybarragan.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1051,"href":"https:\/\/melybarragan.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1033\/revisions\/1051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/melybarragan.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melybarragan.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melybarragan.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}