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Oaxaca: Aqui No Pasa Nada
10/13/2007 - 11/3/2007 | Oaxaca: Aquí No Pasa Nada [Oaxaca: Nothing Is Going On Here], an exhibition and public billboard that responds to the social-political conflict that erupted in Oaxaca between 2006 and 2007, featuring photography, visual art, videos, and a sound installation by artists living and working in Oaxaca, MX. Artists include Demian Flores, Antonio Turok, Radio Plantón, and a selection of videos entitled "Visual Resistance", curated by Isabel Rojas. |
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Oaxaca: Aquí No Pasa Nada features drawings, stencils and a public billboard created at Galería’s Bryant Street billboard by Demián Flores; documentary photography by Antonio Turok; a sound installation by Radio Plantón; and a selection of videos entitled Resistencia Visual curated by Isabel Rojas (Director El Pochote Cine Club, Oaxaca) that includes videos by Ana Santos, Bruno Varela, Damián López, Mal de Ojo TV, Carlos Franco, Hector Ballesteros, Demián Flores, Nadja Massun, Luna Marán, Juan Robles, Gabriela León, Lucero González, and Corrugated Films.
The exhibition captures the social-political conflict that erupted in Oaxaca in the summer of 2006 when Mexican President Vicente Fox sent the army —using the highest level of military force— to silence the state’s popular uprising.
Oaxaca: Aquí No Pasa Nada was organized by La Curtiduría, an independent artist space in Oaxaca, in collaboration with Pochote Cineclub of the Instituto de Artes Gráficas de Oaxaca (IAGO) and the Mal de Ojo TV collective. The San Francisco presentation is courtesy of La Pocha Nostra and Galería de la Raza.
V I S U A L R E S I S T A N C E
Compilation of Videos by: Isabel Rojas
From May to November 2006 a social uprising emerged en Oaxaca in which several forms of resistance were developed. The media was one of the most important. Radio Plantón, Radio Universidad, the radio stations La Ley del Pueblo and Las Comunitarias, the state TV channel taken by the Coordinadora de Mujeres Oaxaqueñas 1° de agosto; as well as websites, blogs, and videos and music sold by street vendors were some of the media that actively participated in the movement.
It was amazing to watch the video Ya cayó! produced by Mal de Ojo TV and Indyoax, filmed during the evacuation of the teachers’ sit-in at the zócalo on June 14 projected on that very site the day after the events. Meanwhile radio broadcasts were amplified and retransmitted all over the world via the Internet. The streets —covered with graffiti— became one more front expressing the people’s discontent.
The images compiled in this collection of videos narrate the days of resistance of an organized community and show us a reality that the mass media never reported. These videos are part of the thousands of hours recorded and filmed during the movement. It is impossible to know how many cameras, of all sorts, were recording the events. We all witnessed the phenomenon of appropriation: the people’s takeover of cameras and microphones.
The videos are presented in the chronological order of the events. All were created between May and November 2006, except for the last one, Pesadilla azul, which features testimonials by people who had been arrested. Filmmakers of many different backgrounds came out with their cameras. In their own way, each recorded and processed the events and actuality. Héctor Ballesteros (architect) created the multimedia project Puntos B, a mapping of the crisis, while Mal de Ojo TV reproduced images and sound in the heat of the moment. Visual artists, musicians and performers, each in their own style, present aspects of the movement from subjective perspectives.
The mass media have the voice to support justice or denounce injustice. Their images stay engraved in our minds. As such, the role of the media goes beyond the transmission of information. Visual Resistance is an attempt to open channels and fight for an alternative media.
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