Why These Questions?

I was inspired by the Anti-War, Anti-Empire Cabaret, which occurred during the Encuentro. Before the Encuentro began, I spent a lot of time pondering what the phrases Anti-War and Anti-Empire meant, and what it meant to perform in an event with such a title. I began thinking about what it truly meant to be creating art in such a context, specifically within the larger global context, and was inspired to talk with a few artists about those issues. I often feel a helplessness in this political climate because of the pervasive violence and anger I am faced with every day. I am often fearful of censorship and propaganda, and of losing my artistic voice because of these elements. I wanted to speak with artists about how they respond artistically to this time and to these factors. I found that as the artists answered the three questions, they each generously exposed their own fears, concerns, and hopes for what their art, or art in general, could do in the world.

Why These Artists?

While these five artists did not participate in the Anti-War, Anti-Empire Cabaret, they each came from interesting political and artistic backgrounds that made their responses particularly pertinent. All of the artists have dealt with or deal with issues of violence, imperialism, war, conversion, social hierarchies and/or political commentaries in their work. The artists’ cultural/national backgrounds also informed their responses. Reona Brass is a Native person from Canada, Rosa Luisa Márquez is from Puerto Rico, Angeles Romero was born on the US/Mexico border, Bently Spang is a Native person from the US and Juan Ybarra is from Mexico. I found the diversity of their roots and the diversity of their methods of artistic expressions to be inspiring and reflective of the diversity of our communities.
I was familiar with the work of each of these artists, and was lucky enough to collaborate with two of them during the Encuentro. They were extremely generous with their time and honest in their responses. I would gratefully like to thank each artist for their interviews and their inspirations. Thank you Reona, Luisa, Angeles, Bently and Juan.

On the Interview Process

I chose to make the interviews informal conversations because I wanted to get as natural a response as possible. The Encuentro was so hectic that there were very few moments I could steal an artist to speak with them. I did not want the artists to feel the pressure of appearance, nor the pressure of organized thought that so often accompany formal videotaped interviews. Because of the informality of the interviews, the artists were often willing to speak with me with little more than 15 minutes notice- which was often the only opportunity we would have had to speak. I was truly impressed with how professional, thoughtful and honest each artist was when faced, unprepared, with my questions.

On Collaboration

I often joked throughout the Encuentro that I had “collaboration fatigue,” a phrase I adapted from Guillermo Gómez-Peña and Roberto Sifuentes’ term “compassion fatigue.” It seemed that everything we were doing we had to do in a group, or with input from others, or under the direction of others. I discovered (or perhaps rediscovered) throughout the process of working with and depending upon many other people, that egos must be left at the door. Every single person involved in that conference had something to offer the group, otherwise they would not have been there. I witnessed many people desperately trying to enforce their ways of thinking upon others in the groups. Many people believed that their methodologies or disciplines were superior to those of the other people in their groups. Many people believed that dissertations were superior to life experience. Many people felt they had little to offer these collaborations because they had little life experience.
Collaborations are precarious, volatile, delicate beasts that thrive or dissolve with the influence of each member. Some “collaborations” during the Encuentro left much to be desired- our work group, for example became a collaboration only within the last day. Other collaborations were successful, and many surpassed my own expectations. I have included three collaborative performances in which I participated during the Encuentro- each with very different results, but each, an exciting example of what can occur when people create together.