US-Mexico Transnational Art Event Challenges the Wall Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit US-MEXICO TRANSNATIONAL ART EVENT CHALLENGES THE WALL Creative Sutures for the National Gash: The first transnational celebration of living art by Wayne Sumstine orblink@yahoo.com It was pure joy to document, observe and participate in -- the first international living arts celebration (Fiesta Binacional) on Palm Sunday, April 9, 2001. The event took place just beyond the western end of the twelve-foot-high steel wall that divides Mexico and the United States at Naco, and rips a two-mile-long gash through the middle of that community. More than a hundred and fifty participants on both sides of the border, representing all ages and five countries, took part in hours of creative expression that ignored but didn't violate the artificial boundary at the site -- a mere three-foot-high fence. All the activities were videotaped and closely monitored from start to finish by flanks of U.S. Border Patrol agents, whose most aggressive reactions were attempts at intimidation, driving their vehicles directly through the middle of groups using the international fence as a net for their volleyball games. But no arrests were made and only one person (myself) was detained briefly after the festivities by US customs agents in what could only be described as a comically inept gesture of disapproval. Participants from the Mexican side brought sound equipment and microphones that were passed back and forth across the fence. There was singing, dancing, poetry reading, prayer and a cornucopia of excellent food dishes on banquet tables that straddled the border. The event was covered by a number of television stations including German Television and the Tucson affiliates for ABC and NBC, and it was the lead story for KVOA-TV broadcast of the evening news at ten o'clock. The mayor of Naco, Lorenzo Villegas, had also announced the event on the radio in Mexico. A conceptual artist in his own right, the mayor proposed that for the next binational event, we erect a living monument of two trees, one on either side of the border, with their branches intermingling above the fence and their roots intermingling below it. I suggested a sculpture: a thirteen-foot-high cross-border stepladder, with rungs on both sides, erected just beyond the end of the twelve-foot-high wall where the border fence drops down to a height of three feet. Both projects met with philosophical approval, so now we are seeking official approval for these from our respective governments. During the course of festivities, one member of the German television crew remarked that they used to have a wall like this one in Berlin but they took it down. Unfortunately, there are now plans to extend this one further into the wilderness, where the grading, fencing and searchlights in the intended "no-man's land" are already having horrific impact on the fragile desert environment. The area is beginning to look more like a war zone than many war zones. Another member of the German TV crew couldn't understand why the US government has erected the wall in the first place, as it clearly does not deter anybody from crossing the border. During the course of the day, several groups of US-bound emigrants passed by the celebration on the Mexican side, in clear view of US Border Patrol, heading alongside the fence off into the wilderness for a more remote crossover point. They were never followed. Thinking the Germans' puzzlement may have been due to unfamiliarity with our cultural expression, I tried to explain. Americans, I told them, understand that this structure was never intended for any utilitarian purpose. It is, in fact, an exemplary work of modern American art -- the largest and most expensive work of public art ever funded by our government. To interpret its meaning requires looking beyond the little border town of Naco that has been blessed with this huge metal slash through its center. What this monstrous abstract sculpture is intended to be is a poignant, moving symbol of the greed, paranoia and hypocrisy that have ripped out the bowels of our nation. Since we cannot heal these spiritual wounds with edicts, and are too self-damaged to even seek help, we have decided to erect this giant steel monument as a way to express our collective cry of despair to the outside world. Though the official US government explanation for the wall might differ slightly from my interpretation in some of its details, I think I helped clarify it for the Germans. As the sun began to set on this extraordinary event promoting peace, healing and the dignity of diversity, many discussions were already underway to facilitate more like it, and to decide how we will continue threading creative sutures across the entire length of the national gash. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytcamer-04.12.01-01:43:49-20717