The Acteal Reality

Performance instal-action : “Acteal’s Reality or the historical truths are now social injustices.”

7th International Performance Exhibit
Ex Teresa Arte Actual, 1998.
Mexico City.

Photos by Antonio Juárez Caudillo.

Sequence:

During the first action the artist is left in trousers that can be seen tailored as an American flag. While being half-naked, a feminine voice in off says in Spanish.

“The National Anthem will be respectfully listened to.”

The audio corresponds to that of a Funerary Requiem played for three tense minutes. The artist “salutes” the flag as Mexicans usually do as a patriotic gesture while the stateless National Anthem is played.

The audience is asked to immobilize the artist with white color bandage.
Once immobilized, the artist is placed on the inside of the map, in an specifically tailored zone.

50 white mice are freed from a gray colored box placed in the north part of the Mexican Republic map. The gate that frees the mice has an image depicting the official PRI logo, a party that was in power for 71 years in Mexico. On top of its logo is another image that reads aPRIcalipsis.

The installation map measures 7.7m and has been built with 3mm thick of methacrylate modules by 15cm high. Together, they form a labyrinth that leads from Tijuana to the state of Chiapas where a lettuce salad has been placed as food for the mice, which distribution reminds the works of art of 16th century Italian artist Giussepe Arcimboldo.

It took between 45 to 60 minutes for the mice to have gotten from Tijuana to Chiapas. The audience, somewhere around 700 to 1000 people, didn’t know whether to clap or cry when the mice found the exquisite dish.