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Volume 2 Issue 1 (2004)
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.
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