Responses: (NOTE: hit RELOAD on your browser to see your
new contribution)
Dear Guillermo Gomez-Pena and
Roberto Sifuentes, perhaps it's time to
delve into the racy sexy aspect of your
work and how (or if) they are entwined.
.
- Monday, September 22, 1997 at 22:40:32 (CST)When I see the Vato Loco dripping blood from his hands, or beating himself with the police club, I want to weep -- or to stop him. To wipe up the blood. To take the stick away. Because in that moment I see him as my brother -- not metaphorically, but as if biologically, a bond of kinship, and it's too painful for me to watch this, because I'm all too aware of the truth behind that image. And I thank God for the fact that my spirit-brother -- who looks so much like Roberto, same age, same hair, same color of skin -- hasn't had to suffer these things. And I want to tell him these things, but don't know if I ever will.
- Tuesday, September 23, 1997 at 15:34:26 (CST)Gómez-Peña and his colleagues dwell with the risky relam of hate/desire for the Other. As the respondant above says, the use of sexual provocation in the work must be explored. OK, es un trabajo cachondo, pero creo que no hacen más que reforzar las fantasías eróticas del público. ¿Estamos ante la seducción y el coqueteo, o ante una verdadera invitación al diálogo? Such aggressive use of stereotypes may be subversive, but I fear your images are mostly reinforcing the idea of Mexicans and Indians as exotic Others. En fin, los felicito for a provocative inquiry into collective fantasies. Por cierto, ¿qué piensan las feministas chicanas e indígenas de lo que hacen?
<Desde la trans-frontera chicalanga, pretoluigi@msn.com>
- Friday, September 26, 1997 at 11:50:34 (CST)mexterminator II was an absolute mindfuck. it blew me away. i found myself confronting and analysing my every thought about what was going on and how i perceive other people. this work was and is a very important study into an area that is often overlooked. i could have done without the chickens though. if those were baby humans hanging there people would be outraged. go vegan!
<daryl>
- Wednesday, October 08, 1997 at 20:12:13 (CST)mexterminator II was an absolute mindfuck. it blew me away. i found myself analysing and confronting my every thought about the performance and also how i perceive and interact with others. i could have gone without the chickens though. go vegan!
<daryl>
- Wednesday, October 08, 1997 at 20:15:14 (CST)mexterminator II was an absolute mindfuck. it blew me away. i found myself analysing and confronting my every thought about the performance and also how i perceive and interact with others. i could have gone without the chickens though. go vegan!
<daryl>
- Wednesday, October 08, 1997 at 20:15:42 (CST)Then, God came and threw the devil into the endless pit and there was peace forever. The Natives and the Mexicans lived happily ever after
<Stephy Acoose>
- Tuesday, October 28, 1997 at 14:55:30 (CST)this performance affected me like no other. all of a sudden
all my thoughts and feelings were instantly challanged. the
idea of interactivity was so amazing and yet i felt inhibited
to "really interact". Why was i scared? why did i look
away when you looked right into my eyes? at first, not everything
"sank in" and it wasn't until thinking about and exploring my
experience that personal meaning really derived. i am truly
affected by this piece...and will continue to be. i thank you for
this experience...i thank you for making me look a little
deeper into myself and being able to find fears and desires
i didn;t think i had. thank you.
- Tuesday, October 28, 1997 at 18:13:51 (CST)this performance affected me like no other. all of a sudden
all my thoughts and feelings were instantly challanged. the
idea of interactivity was so amazing and yet i felt inhibited
to "really interact". Why was i scared? why did i look
away when you looked right into my eyes? at first, not everything
"sank in" and it wasn't until thinking about and exploring my
experience that personal meaning really derived. i am truly
affected by this piece...and will continue to be. i thank you for
this experience...i thank you for making me look a little
deeper into myself and being able to find fears and desires
i didn;t think i had. thank you.
- Tuesday, October 28, 1997 at 18:14:31 (CST)I saw El Mexterminator at Randolph Street Gallery in Chicago.
I, too, found it hard to watch Guillermo and Roberto beating
themselves or tying that bandana so, so tight around their
arms -- and then there was the syringe scene, which was
unbearable, the most powerful symbolic act I have yet
witnessed. Roberto asked me to buy him a drink, and I did,
but I really wanted to ask him a question: there he was,
violent and sexy, terrible and comical. But the violence was
only self-inflicted. I wanted to fear him, and I couldn't,
not even for a second. But if he is El Mexterminator, I should
have feared him -- I , after all , am a white chica, not
a gringa but you can't tell. So my question, as I lead him to
the bar, would have been: "why don't you beat me?".
Thinking of some of Guillermo's other performances, and seeing
this one in the comfort of a gallery space traditionally
showing performance,
El Mexterminator could have been more aggressive towards his
audience -- the fancy -pants art crowd there for a thrill.
<borcilar@pilot.msu.edu>
- Saturday, November 08, 1997 at 11:57:15 (CST)It's been months since I saw the performance sponsored by Neutral Ground (Regina) but it still reverberates in my conciousness. It was a risky thrill to be there, to see and be seen. I thought that a quarter of the performance was put on by those in attendance. I felt like I was visiting a zoo where there are caged animals/specimens -- the people are watching the animals and the animals are watching back. I knew that any physical contact I might have with Roberto in particular would have been scrutinized in depth by those present. There really isn't the freedom of expression in the city of Regina as one would like. Good thing I have an active fantasy life!!!
- Thursday, November 13, 1997 at 16:09:59 (CST)To the previous respondant: it's interesting that you say you felt your interactions with Roberto's persona would have been scrutinized more closely than if you had chosen to interact with Guillermo. Any idea why this is so? When I saw the performance at the Atlanta Arts Festival, it seemed that people were much more free and willing to speak with or touch Guillermo -- in part because he encouraged it, but perhaps also because the "curio shop shaman" is less intimidating than the urban gang member. One woman even scattered rose petals over his feet, which was a very beautiful, touching moment.... I didn't see the performance at Neutral Ground, but am very curious as to why you felt you would have been more closely watched in dealing with Cybervato -- is it the nature of your fantasies? the intensity of his gaze? or something about the other people in the space?
<Nivedita>
- Monday, November 17, 1997 at 11:44:31 (CST)i need some love
- Wednesday, November 19, 1997 at 20:25:21 (CST)I've always had trouble learning any lang. besides the one into which I was born. Therefore, I've tried to learn this one reasonably well. It's my hope to get over this someday. Not much of an admission, but it's the truth.
<wylam@bgnet.bgsu.edu>
- Saturday, February 07, 1998 at 23:49:42 (CST) Arrognorance: American pride.
<ianus@elwha.evergreen.edu>
- Friday, April 03, 1998 at 04:44:47 (CST)actually, upon reflection, that should be 'patriotism' in general, not 'American pride' specifically.
<ianus@elwha.evergreen.edu>
- Saturday, April 04, 1998 at 06:08:25 (CST)But then again...
Say, someone mentioned something about a Temple of the Confessional... was that just a figurative term, or am I just profoundly unable to find it?
<ianus@elwha.evergreen.edu>
- Tuesday, April 07, 1998 at 00:33:10 (CST)I approach you as a leader, as someone with whom I would wish to journey, and ask in ways both subtle and overt -- may I stand with you? May I fight this battle at your side? May I offer my strength andk nowledge and commitment, such as they are, not to you (in the sense of idolatry) but in service of the social transformation that it seems to me your work sets out to bring into being? I am humbled by the magnificent passion of your spirit, your incommensurable intelligence, your shattering vulnerability and your profound compassion. Someone I know once said that you provide a model for a committed life, a life with meaning. I think she is right. I hope that I can learn from you how to transform my own life into service, into an impeccable warrior's battle.
- Saturday, April 11, 1998 at 20:19:53 (CST)Is this the same questionaire that created the MExterminator
project? If so, the questions seem pretty bare.
<turbocat@cats.ucsc.edu>
- Monday, June 08, 1998 at 14:58:02 (CST)Identity lords, the destruction of what was never a whole
piece. Scared of savage blood, but savage blood never
looked so weak. So strong. I think not. Must re group
and re define so racial back and forth becomes no hipocracy
but intuitive genetic scrutiny. Can you see into my genes
brown man? WHite man? WHo can see the things you say?
- Monday, June 08, 1998 at 15:18:27 (CST)My querido Comfather Mexterminator:
I am perplexed to see that you failed to take into consideration, the obvious aztec origin of the concept Globalization; which is not other than; Globalitzatziontzin. Saludos desde Morella Michigan
<mojeda@sociolan.politicas.unam.mx>
- Wednesday, June 17, 1998 at 11:08:38 (CST)Fears - Open border, southwest US becomes mexican territory. Probably will eventually break away from the union
Fantasies - Make people decide, American or not. If you're not, leave. This is America. America first.
- Wednesday, August 05, 1998 at 00:50:11 (CST)I'm proud to call myself a native of Florida, USA. How can the amount of melatonin in my skin provide me with anything but indifference? Juice - Orange or Pineapple. Dish - right now, anything with curry. Fears - that my peers ("whites") will remain closed-minded forever, never wanting the United States to live up to its pseudonym "Melting Pot." Fantasies - To transport myself, even if just for an instant, into the mindset of another culture, all cultures. I want to be Mexican, Egyptian, Indian, Italian, Canadian, Vietnamese, Iranian, hell, even Californian. I want to be able to speak and be spoken to as a pure equal with no preconceptions. Outright Lies - My father wasn't a racist.
<Lucas Grzybowski - totalnerd@geocities.com>
- Thursday, August 06, 1998 at 10:54:30 (CST) This Prince
Secure in your knowledge
of absence
That claims power
In a dominion
Of senseless remorse
The restless somatics
Of cultures lost
To pathologies
Now addressing genetics
In reverse.
Sleep well, my dear Prince
This gets worse.
Held my eyes
Not to see
The contempt
In goodbye
Found another
Not to feel
The beauty
In lies
Shot a dog
At close range
For the pity
In surprise
Wrote some hate
In my sleep
For this love
In demise
Made some art
Not to hear
The last touch
as ordeal
Gave you words
Not to speak
But remember
In tears
Stopped my hands
Where they reached
To fall shapeless
In lust
Lost myself
To the fear
Of the strange
In regret
Lost my God
To the dance
Of philosophy
In wax
Made a pie
To disturb
The greatness
In small
Did damage
To my soul
To fall deeply
In trust
Lost sobriety
To thirst
For your sex
In my mouth
Lost restraint
On the knife
To feel lonely
In fire
Gave you land
Through maternity
You strangled
In knots
Spent money
On being
To hold nothingness
In form
Set you free
With the weapon
You kept hidden
In me
Felt my flesh
On your skin
Fall like meat
In a trap
Made love
With suffering
To recoil
In bliss
This Prince, held my eyes
For a time, while I died.
Secure in your comfort
With remorse
And restless pathologies
Of two cultures lost
To mitosis
Now addressing the damage
Of birth.
At last,
Held my eyes
To see the good
In goodbye.
<neutralground@dlcwest.com>
- Saturday, November 21, 1998 at 20:35:47 (CST)
