Tanya Aguiñiga expels trauma accumulated from the U.S.-Mexico border
Drawing on her upbringing as a binational citizen, Tanya Aguiñiga’s work reflects the experience of her divided identity and aspires to tell the larger and often invisible stories of the transnational community.
Through her performance, Metabolizing the Border, Aguiñiga pushed the power of art to transform the United States-Mexico border from a site of trauma to a creative space for personal healing and collective expression.
“I just kept thinking about the heaviness of bearing witness to these horrible things on the border,” says the artist in an extended segment from our recent “Borderlands” episode.
“I wanted to make a piece to physically expel these things that I had unearthed and this scar that I kept digging open and digging open.”
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Ten artists who advocate for a more inclusive world
Urgently and directly engaging with the social and political landscape, the artists in this playlist bring their practice to the public to advocate on behalf of a more fair, diverse, and inclusive world.
Upcoming workshops for educators
Join Art21 next Saturday, November 7 at 1:00 p.m. ET for the first in a series of teacher workshops presented in collaboration with SFMOMA.
Exploring three different aspects of the question—”What is contemporary art?”—each workshop encourages educators to think and work like artists, using thematic, inquiry-driven processes and strategies.
The first workshop, “Materials and Processes,” examines artists whose work reflects a dynamic combination of materials, methods, concepts, and subjects that challenge traditional boundaries and defy easy definition.
Registration is free, but space is limited.
Visit our education calendar for a list of upcoming workshops for educators.
Events with Phyllida Barlow and Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
Join us from anywhere for a series of special digital programs to complement the new season of Art in the Twenty-First Century.
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer will be joined by Kerry Doyle (Director, Rubin Center at The University of Texas at El Paso) for a screening and conversation on Wednesday, November 11 at 6:00 p.m. ET. Register now.
Phyllida Barlow will be joined by Daniel Baumann (Director, Kunsthalle Zürich) for a screening and conversation on Tuesday, November 24 at 1:00 p.m. ET. Register now.
All programs are free, but advance registration is required.
Recommendations from Art21 staff
Watch: “Becoming Paul McCarthy” by Louisiana Channel
For an artist whose breadth of work is of epic proportions—and whose influence on a generation of artists is undeniable—an epic documentary series on Paul McCarthy is a fitting tribute to his prolific career.
Clocking in at a total of over two hours, this newly-released production from the Denmark-based Louisiana Channel spans the artist’s entire career through to present day. If you’re familiar with the artist’s work, you might cringe at the idea of watching two consecutive hours of it. The filmmakers are ahead of you on that: they neatly divided the film into three parts.
Shared by Jonathan Munar, Director of Digital; Watch now at Louisiana Channel
Watch: Artbound: “Light & Space” by KCET
Artbround, the long-running arts and documentary series produced out of KCET in Los Angeles, recently kicked off their eleventh season with “Light & Space.” It’s an absolutely gorgeously produced documentary hour on O.G. Light and Space artists Larry Bell, Robert Irwin, and Helen Pashgian.
Besides nimbly pulling off the non-segmented thing—the hour interweaves the stories of three artists, creating a compelling overall sense of time, place, and community—I’m also totally jealous of how effortlessly the director Sue Ding captures artworks that were meant to be experienced in the flesh and confound the camera’s eye.
Shared by Nick Ravich, Director of Video Programming and Production; Watch now at KCET and the PBS Video app
Join a community screening of “Borderlands”
Presented as part of the Art21 Screening Society program, all are welcome to join a virtual screening of our recent “Borderlands” episode hosted by the Western Connecticut State University department of art.
Following the screening, “Borderlands” featured artist, Tanya Aguiñiga, will join WCSU Professor of Art, Sabrina Marques, and Professor of Sociology, Dr. Carina Bandhauer, for a discussion and Q&A.
The event will take place Thursday, November 5 at 7:00 p.m. ET.
Visit Screening Society to learn how to host or attend a screening.
Thank you for supporting our work
More than ever, online access to the lives and stories of artists is crucial, and Art21 is proud to share them with welcome an ever-growing number of visitors including students, teachers, parents, and art enthusiasts alike from around the globe. If you are able at this time, please consider supporting the work of Art21. Every dollar makes a difference.
