Feria del Mariachi

On September 27, ZER01 brought a slice of the contemporary Mexican village to the  Feria del Mariachi, which took place during the 2009 Mariachi and Mexican Heritage Festival.

Here’s what we presented:

• HOMiNG: The work and writings of architect Teddy Cruz, who distilled elements from shantytowns in Tijuana to create a template for redevelopment in suburban communities across the border, inspires this thought-provoking, interactive space called CANCIóN Courtyard. Composed of two structures that create three spaces ― a cyber lounge, a house containing a mural about Cesar Chavez, and a courtyard ― the structure was the brainchild of Pilar Agüero-Esparza, the highly regarded local artist and arts educator whose work graces the interior of the Biblioteca Latinoamericana Public Library in San Jose, and H. Dionicio Mendoza, a San Jose-based artist whose work has been exhibited around the globe. CANCIóN Courtyard  served as home base for ZER01’s efforts.

• GAMiNG: Mexican net artist Arcángel Constantini created a cyberlounge inside the ZER01 home; three computer stations featured video game projects by Mexican artists. Constantini curated/ programmed the cyberlounge for Mexico City’s Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporaneo, and has exhibited his performative, sculptural and online work throughout the world.

• SHOCKiNG: Improvising on an old Mexican tradition, Constantini also audio-electrocuted volunteers with his mobile icpiticayotl box. Náhuatl for electricity, Icpiticayotl uses electroshock to involuntarily contract users’ muscles in sync with sound oscillations to establish synaesthesia. Constantini’s artistic experiment was designed to give visitors the same adrenalin rush los señores de los toques have been giving cantina patrons as a chaser to their cerveza for centuries. His intention was to shock them into experiencing “the underlying electromagnetic nature of the physical universe through visceral exaltation.” Icpiticayotl is harmless, fun and appropriate for all ages.

• REFUNDiNG: Buenos Airean Gustavo Romano brought his “Lost Time Refund Office”—a performance project using actors, computers and other technology to portray the loss, transfer and restoral of time—to the U.S. for the first time. The work was originally launched in Berlin in 2004, and later produced in Singapore, Rostock, Vigo, Buenos Aires and Mexico City. Working in a variety of media, including actions, video, installations and web projects, Romano has won numerous awards, including a Guggenheim fellowship; had solo and other exhibitions at museums around the world—from the Museum of Modern Art in Buenos Aires to the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. He is a director of “Fin del Mundo,” a virtual platform for circulating net art projects, curator of the Virtual Space of the Cultural Center of Spain in Buenos Aires, and a featured artist on the Museo Tamayo cyberlounge.