Statement 2019
Transcription of the statement for the 21st Biennial
#RESISTA is part of a series (RESIST) initially created for the Women’s March, held in January 2017 in Washington and several cities worldwide. The march was organized in reaction to Donald Trump’s election as US president and his offensive attitudes towards women, homosexuals and trans people, positions deeply related to body autonomy.
In this installation we give viewers the opportunity to become participants/activists by joining this “imaginary march.” Our bodies are sociopolitical for being identified, represented and absorbed within the social and cultural parameters of each specific group: in the feminist cause, the pelvis is literally the outer shell of our reproductive system, and consequently the perfect weapon for a protest regarding autonomy and reproductive rights. In the LGBTQIA cause, the pelvis is at the core of the gender identity controversy, no longer having an absolute function of identification.
#RESISTA is an auditory instigation and we view it as social action in the collective imagination, mainly because it involves no immediate action. The moment we insert this provocation in a public space, it no longer belongs only to us. On deciding to take part, spectators become actual activists, i.e., they have power of judgment, but also participants required for the artwork to exist within the space of the 21st Biennial, at that moment. In spite of that, we know that not all listeners will take the initiative, have the comfort level needed to participate or even accept the prerogative. However, we believe that passive listeners internalize the work, even if they leave it unfinished. “Non-participation” is inverse participation—the negative space of an image. In this specific work, the appeal lies not only in the space, which is not intended for dance, but also in the body that is not organized to dance.