43 Returns To the Venice Biennale
“43” is an ongoing art campaign conceived by artist Edward Hillel that takes many forms to build its publics. The project returns to Venice this year after its launch at the 2015 Venice Biennale and subsequent manifestations in New York, Berlin, Miami and Palm Beach.
On September 26/27, 2014, 43 Mexican students from the college of Ayotzinapa were kidnapped in the town of Iguala in the state of Guerrero. Although they are presumed to be murdered, little proof of their disappearance has been found, and so they continue to be officially missing. The case of the missing 43 has become a rallying cry as millions of Mexicans whisper or scream “Ya me cansé” (I’ve had enough) of the gruesome narco-state violence which has killed 200,000 in Mexico, a democratic country that has become a clandestine grave. Beyond the particular tragedy, Ayotzinapa should have an urgency to all of us, our communities and cities’ confronting drug epidemics, gangs and gun violence, money-laundering, gentrification and state corruption. The meaning of 43 is global and it impacts us all, so indeed we too should be saying “enough is enough!”
“43” is based on the simple premise that we all share a destiny for which we are collectively responsible. Its multi-platform, multi-locational, glocal (global+local) method engages art disciplines and processes (photography, performance, social practice, street theater, installation, viral marketing, video and digital media) and varied audiences (artists, curators, students, teachers, urban residents and tourists, the virtual sphere). Through a network of interlinking creations and exchanges, “43” aims to implicate publics (physical and virtual) in a collective human rights/social justice project.
In Venice Piattaforma 43: Ero Stanco will be enacted May 8-11 throughout the Venice Biennale, recording photo/video portraits of visitors as well as locals responding to the question “Che Cosa Siete Stanchi Di? (What are you tired of?)”
If you see us with the cards in Venice, please come and say hello. And please spread the word about Ayotzinapa through your networks.
Info www.theworksnyc.net/43 Contact [email protected] Collaboration www.darkmattergames.net