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After the people's upheaval in December 2001(1)
in Argentina, several artists'groups took to the streets with
their actions to join the protests.
Our group, TPS (the Popular Serigraphy Workshop) is made up by
ten visual artists that produce images and texts to accompany
every struggling day. These works are printed along the demonstrations
on posters and on items of clothing which the protesters, spontaneously,
give. In this way, the "re-seized" images set off an
unpredictable journey they merge other mottos, written on flags,
scarves, etc. At the same time, the serigraphy technique is also
spread amidst social organizations like new living tools.
This exhibition tries to show some of the local experiences on
this meeting scenario that is the World Social Forum.
We have invited, to take part in our project, those other groups
and artists that work independently, with whom we jointly attend
demonstrations and protests, and they are: Arde Arte, Gac (street
art group), Etc group, Ojo inquired (left eye), Olga Morales,
Geraldine Lanteri, etc.
Consequently, this suitcase becomes the portable means of the
work of many, which is also their resistance capacity and their
long term desires.
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Preparación de la "valija".
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The groups that participate in the "suitcase"are:
1- Arde Arte is a group that undertakes performances
of all kinds and give away souvenirs in demonstrations and protests.
The souvenirs are: emptied film rolls filled with a film that
has images of the upheaval of 20th December, 2001(1),
or flyers with poetical writings, etc. We are going to take a
video of their actions and any other works (some of the souvenirs).
They also made some mirrors with the writing "go away and
go away" which were held on the face of the policemen that
guarded the houses of the militaries in the "escraches"(2).
2- Etc. is a group that mixes the performing
arts with the scenery of the streets and protests. They hold plays,
for instance, or short performances where the people participate
and they receive some symbolic prizes or gifts. They have also
held some pantomime sceneries in Brukman(3)
(this is a clothes factory), for example, where they made the
game "throw it to the pig" -pig is the name given to
the exploiting owner of the factory- the face of the pig was the
face of the factory owner, and hangers were thrown to it(4)
, the winner received a dinner-meal with the pig the hangers
were thrown to. We are going to take some of their catalogues,
which depict and explain the actions before they were done, and
some souvenirs.
3-Geraldine Lanteri is a photographer whose photos
are about a series of post-20-December-2001 shut down shops; we
are going to take some of them. In all of them the sign "to
let" is hanging.
4-Olga Morales is also a photographer. We are
going to take some of her photos about the upheaval of 20th December,
the picketers, the blockades and the protests.
5-GAC is a street art group, which undertakes
urban interventions changing the public signs, for example, traffic
signs and supermarket sales signs. They also carry out "escraches"
at public monuments like, the General Roca(5),
etc. In the "escraches" they intervene the traffic signs
and they change the writing or sign, using the same font, for
a phrase that reads: "200 away lives a genocide", etc.,
they also draw up the location of torturers, that took part in
the dictatorship, on a map. In a more recent work, they placed,
on maps, the cases of "easy trigger"(6)
that happened during the post-military democratic period. From
them, we are going to take some maps and documentation.
6-Finally, from TPS, we are going to take some
photos, t-shirts printed at demonstrations, posters, and a small
silkscreen kit with some specially made pictures for the Forum
will be prepared, to print there.
All this will be set on a wall.
For the videos we need a monitor and a PAL-video player.
TPS
Buenos Aires, January 2004.
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