Encrucijada
About this issue
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Note: Due to limitations in HTML and various web browsers, phonetic symbols may appear different from the surrounding text. Please refer to the PDF version of this document for clarification or if you need an exact reproduction of the article.
About this issue
The second issue of Encrucijada/Crossroads focuses on the recent work of performance artist and provocateur Guillermo Gómez-Peña, in particular his site-specific performance Orozco MEXotica: Guillermo Gómez-Peña Underground at Dartmouth, performed May 17-18, 2002. Gómez-Peña's visit to Dartmouth coincided with the 50th anniversary of The Epic of American Civilization (1932), the monumental fresco by Mexican muralist José Clemente Orozco, which he painted on the walls of Dartmouth's Baker Library Reserve Reading Room. Also in 2002, the Hood Museum at Dartmouth College, in collaboration with the San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego and the Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Mexico City, presented an international traveling exhibit, José Clemente Orozco in the United States, 1927-1934. These events and exhibitions brought numerous artists and scholars to the Dartmouth campus, and many faculty, students, and staff participated in their organization and final presentation to the public. Members of the Encrucijada/Crossroads editorial board Douglas Moody and Francine A'ness worked closely with Gómez-Peña and his performance collective, La Pocha Nostra, to execute the site-specific performance that brought Orozco's murals to life. Part of the experience included an interactive website that challenged users to adopt, adapt, and abrogate their own identities. We are very fortunate to offer now a digital archive of that event, as well as supporting texts that describe La Pocha Nostra's performance strategies.
Description of the materials
While Encrucijada/Crossroads continues to be the scholarly portion of Latino Intersections, this issue predominately centers on video materials. The editors believe that as an electronic journal, Encrucijada/Crossroads must take advantage of the digital technology that makes our publication possible. We offer the Internet user the opportunity to engage with textual, visual, and aural media as part of an effort to expand the notion of what constitutes scholarly work. Our goal is to use this electronic journal as a space where the Latino and Latina artists, scholars, and activists who visit Dartmouth can textually, visually, and aurally document their contributions to Latino Studies.
The first article in this issue presents an edited video archive of Gómez-Peña's performance at Dartmouth. A brief explanatory text by Douglas Moody and Francine A'ness accompanies this streaming video (Quicktime required).
The next article we include, "Cross-contaminations" (soon to appear in a collection published by Routledge Press), is co-authored by Gómez-Peña and several members of La Pocha Nostra. It is a "manifesto" that outlines the various performance strategies and political/pedagogical rationales that gave shape and direction to Orozco MEXotica.
Following that, Douglas Moody presents a short clip of an interview with Gómez-Peña, conducted in July 2003. The artist further explains some of the processes that went into creating his unique form of performance installation.
Finally, Gómez-Peña was generous enough to allow us to include several short video clips from the DVD, Ethno Techno: Los Video-Graffitis, Volume 1, available for purchase at La Pocha Nostra's website, www.pochanostra.com. One of the Dartmouth students who performed with La Pocha Nostra in Orozco MEXotica, Ako Takakura, appears as La Kabuki Club Girl in one of the short clips.
BEFORE YOU PROCEED: The following materials are intended for mature audiences and contain profanity, brief nudity, and images of ethnic-looking people committing acts of cultural dissonance.