[+] GUILLERMO GÓMEZ-PEÑA/LA POCHA NOSTRA (MEXICO)
Mapa Corpo
Gómez-Peña & La Pocha Nostra members, Roberto Sifuentes and Gabriela Salgado, create a poetic interactive ritual that explores neo-colonization/de-colonization through acupuncture and the re-enactment of the post-9/11 ‘body politic’. As the audience enters they come across a troubling image: a nude body lies on a surgical table covered by the flag of the United Nations. An acupuncturist intently prepares for surgery, laying out 40 needles. On closer observation it is discovered that a small flag is attached to the tip of each needle, representing a nation of the ‘coalition forces’. Gómez-Peña, in his techno-shaman-in-drag persona, walks throughout the space, erasing the boundaries between viewer and performer.
The performance begins as Gómez-Peña slowly peels the UN flag from the body, section-by-section, exposing the body, but leaving the eyes blindfolded by the flag. Gómez-Peña steps to a lectern, and delivers the wake-up call of a spoken word, multilingual poem.
Performance artist/writer Guillermo Gómez-Peña is artistic director of La Pocha Nostra. His pioneering work in performance, video, installation, poetry, journalism, cultural theory, and radical pedagogy explores cross-cultural issues, immigration, the politics of language, ‘extreme culture’ and new technologies. A Macarthur fellow and American book award winner, he is a contributor to National Public Radio, and a contributing editor to The Drama Review (NYU-MIT).
A founding member of La Pocha Nostra, Roberto Sifuentes has collaborated and performed with Gómez-Peña performing throughout the United States, Europe, and Latin America.
Gabriela Salgado is curator of the University of Essex Collection of Latin American Art. This presentation will be the fourth time she has collaborated with the company as a performance artist.
photo courtesy of Mercosur Biennale