Beyond Borders: Santa Fe partnership addresses the global refugee crisis and ongoing US/Mexico immigration issues through the lens of the arts and social sciences
This summer, the School for Advanced Research (SAR), in collaboration with SITE Santa Fe and the Center for Contemporary Arts Santa Fe (CCA), presents Beyond Borders, a powerful series of art installations and events that use the lens of art and social sciences to examine the global refugee crisis and realities of migration and border policy in the Northern hemisphere.
SANTA FE, N.M., July 15, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- This summer, the School for Advanced Research (SAR), in collaboration with SITE Santa Fe and the Center for Contemporary Arts Santa Fe (CCA), presents Beyond Borders, a powerful series of art installations and events that use the lens of art and social sciences to examine the global refugee crisis and realities of migration and border policy in the Northern hemisphere.
The series centers on the global debut of Hostile Terrain 94, a participatory art project and exhibition organized and sponsored by the Undocumented Migration Project (UMP), which is directed by anthropologist and former SAR resident scholar Jason De León.
The physical exhibition is scheduled to debut at SITE Santa Fe later this summer, pending NM State approvals. The exhibition is created to raise awareness of the death and suffering that occur regularly at the border between the U.S. and Mexico, and to remember those who have died, including many who remain unidentified.
The exhibit is composed of ~3,200 handwritten toe tags that represent the migrants who have died trying to cross the Sonoran Desert of Arizona between the mid-1990s and 2019. During the COVID-19 shutdown, teams from SAR, CCA, SITE Santa Fe, and others, including students from the New Mexico School for the Arts, have been meticulously filling out the individual toe tag cards at the center of the Hostile Terrain 94 installation. Each tag includes the name, age, sex, cause of death, condition of body, and location of recovery for each person memorialized in this project.
Following its debut at SITE Santa Fe, Hostile Terrain 94 will continue on a tour of up to 150 additional locations around the globe, including Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, Seattle, Miami, Mexico City, San Pedro Sula (Honduras), San Salvador (El Salvador), and Lampedusa (Italy).
Several public programs will accompany the exhibit to facilitate deeper local community conversations about the issues and to offer additional perspective from De León and other leading anthropologists and social scientists who work with and study immigrant communities.
Friday, July 17, 5-6 pm (MDT)
Hostile Terrain 94 Virtual Exhibition Opening
Beyond Borders makes its groundbreaking global debut on July 17, 2020, with a digital opening of Hostile Terrain 94, a participatory art project and exhibition organized and sponsored by the Undocumented Migration Project (UMP), which is directed by anthropologist and former SAR resident scholar Jason De León. This virtual event will begin with introductions by the three partners of the Beyond Borders collaboration and will feature an overview of the project and a virtual walk through by De León of the HT94 installation at SITE Santa Fe
Mid-July, 2020 – January 2021
DISPLACED: Contemporary Artists Confront the Global Refugee Crisis
SITE Santa Fe
1606 Paseo de Peralta
Santa Fe, NM 87501
The physical installation of Hostile Terrain 94 is scheduled to debut at SITE Santa Fe in mid-July, pending the NM Governor's reopening plans, as a part of Displaced, a new exhibition exploring the global refugee crisis. With works by artists from two generations and from around the globe, Displaced explores the experience of the refugee, the migrant, and the displaced from many cultural and historical vantage points. Hostile Terrain 94 brings stark attention to the refugee crisis at our own U.S. border with a powerful work that memorializes so many who have lost their lives fleeing danger and hardship and seeking a better life.
SITE Santa Fe is making plans to reopen and premiere Displaced and Hostile Terrain 94 in July, 2020, though this date is subject to change pending reopening approvals from the state of New Mexico. The show will run through January 2021.
Saturday, July 18, 2020, 3-4 pm
MacArthur Fellows in Conversation: Jason De León and Steven Feld
Presented by the School for Advanced Research (SAR)
Online public program, Free and open to the public. Advanced registration is required.
Following the launch of Hostile Terrain 94, join MacArthur Fellows Jason De León and Steven Feld as they explore how research and data can be translated creatively for public consumption through numerous forms of art and media, and be used to inspire individuals to take action in their own lives to contribute to the greater good.
Funding provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Friday, August 21, 2020, 10–11 am
Beyond Borders Symposium
Presented by the School for Advanced Research (SAR)
$15 SAR members; $25 not-yet-members. Registration required.
Led by Hostile Terrain 94 artist Jason De León, this symposium, designed to foster greater public dialogue about immigration, will bring De León together with leading anthropology and social sciences scholars C.J. Alvarez, Deborah A. Boehm, and Ieva Jusionyte, where they will share and discuss their own work with immigrant communities and their research on border issues and policies.
Beyond Borders Virtual Film Series
Presented by Center for Contemporary Arts Santa Fe/CCA Cinematheque
ccasantafe.org
In conjunction with Hostile Terrain 94, Center for Contemporary Arts Santa Fe presents a series of two related films, including Border South (2019), a Raúl O. Paz Pastrana film, and The Infiltrators by Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra.
Friday, July 24, 2020, 7 pm
Beyond Borders presents A CCA Living Room Series program
Border South: A Zoom Discussion with Jason De León
Raúl O. Paz Pastrana's film weaves together migrant stories of resilience and survival from different vantage points. The film exposes a global migration system that renders human beings invisible in life as well as death. Jason De León served as producer and advisor to the film. (U.S./Mexico, 2019, 88m)
This is a book-club style event in which the film will be watched by participants individually prior to the Zoom gathering. Visit https://www.ccasantafe.org/living-room-series to register.
Friday, August 7, 2020, 7 pm
Beyond Borders presents A CCA Living Room Series program
The Infiltrators: A Zoom Discussion with Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra
Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra's documentary, winner of two awards at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, reconstructs the remarkable, inspiring story of a rag-tag group of activist youth—all Dreamers—who band together to wind up in one of America's mysterious for-profit immigrant detention centers. From the inside, they plot ways to help protect the vulnerable detainees. (U.S., 2019, 95m)
This is a book-club style event in which the film will be watched by participants individually prior to the Zoom gathering. Visit https://www.ccasantafe.org/living-room-series to register.
For further information on the project and a full run of programs, please visit sarweb.org/beyond-borders-2020/
For interviews or high-resolution images contact:
School for Advanced Research / Merridith Ingram / (845) 674.3103 / [email protected]
SITE Santa Fe / Anne Wrinkle / (505) 989.1199 x 22 / [email protected]
Center for Contemporary Arts Santa Fe / JC Gonzo / (505) 919.7614 / [email protected]
SOURCE School for Advanced Research
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