2/14/2024 0 Comments Utah moca jobsThe entryway leading into ERRE’s main exhibition space will be lined with bar-like vertical strips of vinyl text, a work titled Umbral / Threshold (2017) which spells out the questions that ICE asks travelers crossing the border. The poem by the influential Harlem Renaissance writer frames the American dream as one that is deferred for most, yet imagines a future when “equality is the air we breathe.” These words bring to mind those of the oft-quoted sonnet immortalized on a plaque at the Statue of Liberty, which entreats “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” At the same time, the title of Hughes’ poem is eerily reminiscent of Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again,” which is related to tougher policies regarding trade and emigration for our neighbors to the south. Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,īut opportunity is real, and life is free, ERRE pairs this sculptural wall with a wall of text featuring a stanza from Langston Hughes’ 1936 poem “Let America Be America Again.” At MASS MoCA, the rusty-red metal fence will stretch across 120 feet of the museum, marking the entry to a gallery where a selection of new and existing works by the artist will be on view. This formidable architectural obstruction is – and has been for a long time – a powerful physical and psychological fact in Tijuana, where houses, restaurants, and beaches butt up against the imposing barrier. The endless flow of goods and people is evidence of the intricate and interdependent relationship of the two cities and of the United States and Mexico more broadly.įor those of us who live far from its realities, ERRE brings to MASS MoCA a palpable image of the border wall with the installation of Of Fence (2017), a sculptural recreation of the weathered metal barricade that the artist knows well. The primary checkpoint between Tijuana and San Diego, the San Ysidro Port of Entry, is the one of the most heavily trafficked land border in the world, where over 30 million people pass each year. Artist ERRE, who lives and works between Tijuana and San Diego, has made the border a central part of his work for over two decades, examining its oft-forgotten history and shifting contours (California, Texas, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, and Oklahoma used to be part of Mexico), as well as its current social, economic, and political implications. The U.S.-Mexico border has been the subject of increased attention and heated debate since Donald Trump declared the building of a permanent wall along the 2,000-mile boundary between the two countries as one of his top priorities as president.
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