The Mobile Institute for Citizenship and Art (MICA), is a nomadic platform for research, dialogue and exchange, oriented toward understanding how historically marginalized communities redraw the parameters for political membership by mobilizing social/cultural resources and activating communal spaces: redefining how citizenship can (and should be) understood and enacted as process.
MICA is housed within a retrofitted fiberglass trailer, which functions as a research hub, reading space, listening station, recording studio and hyper-local FM radio station.
MICA is housed within a retrofitted fiberglass trailer, which functions as a research hub, reading space, listening station, recording studio and hyper-local FM radio station.
For its initial initiative, the Mobile Agora Project (MAP), took residence within MICA in public markets, as an outpost that undertook workshops, performative actions and artistic interventions in collaboration with vendors, local artists, and community organizations.
Through such participatory research strategies, MAP analyzes how such spaces facilitate forms of cultural and economic exchange amongst and between the transnational publics who frequent such markets -- largely immigrant, working-class, POC, inter-generational communities -- and asks whether these can become incubators for forms of political solidarity that transcend national boundaries and socio-cultural divides: (re)imagining and (re)constituting parameters of citizenry.
Below are a series of videos exemplifying research we've undertaken in the Santa Fe Springs Swap Meet in Los Angeles county ["La Mirada"], the Sobreruedas Francisco Villa in Tijuana ["Baila Conmigo"] and the Tianguis Lagunilla in Mexico City ["Tianquiztli: Preface"].
Through such participatory research strategies, MAP analyzes how such spaces facilitate forms of cultural and economic exchange amongst and between the transnational publics who frequent such markets -- largely immigrant, working-class, POC, inter-generational communities -- and asks whether these can become incubators for forms of political solidarity that transcend national boundaries and socio-cultural divides: (re)imagining and (re)constituting parameters of citizenry.
Below are a series of videos exemplifying research we've undertaken in the Santa Fe Springs Swap Meet in Los Angeles county ["La Mirada"], the Sobreruedas Francisco Villa in Tijuana ["Baila Conmigo"] and the Tianguis Lagunilla in Mexico City ["Tianquiztli: Preface"].
LA MIRADA
The first iteration of the project, MAP:LA, took place at the Santa Fe Springs Swap Meet in south Los Angeles. During the residency, we were able to explore our own history with this particular market, which became the basis of the video essay "La Mirada."
The first iteration of the project, MAP:LA, took place at the Santa Fe Springs Swap Meet in south Los Angeles. During the residency, we were able to explore our own history with this particular market, which became the basis of the video essay "La Mirada."
BAILA CONMIGO [MAP:TJ]
The second iteration of the project, MAP:TJ took residence within the Mercado Sobreruedas Pancho Villa in Tijuana. We collaborated with Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Professor Christian Zuñiga, and students from the departments of Art and Communication. Together we undertook a series of research exercises, analyzing the logics and space of the market, after which students were invited to develop interventions reflecting on dynamics they experienced. "Baila Conmigo," developed by Xendra Rosales Santiago, was one of those interventions which sought to amplify the festive atmosphere of the market by inviting visitors and vendors to dance with her.
The second iteration of the project, MAP:TJ took residence within the Mercado Sobreruedas Pancho Villa in Tijuana. We collaborated with Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Professor Christian Zuñiga, and students from the departments of Art and Communication. Together we undertook a series of research exercises, analyzing the logics and space of the market, after which students were invited to develop interventions reflecting on dynamics they experienced. "Baila Conmigo," developed by Xendra Rosales Santiago, was one of those interventions which sought to amplify the festive atmosphere of the market by inviting visitors and vendors to dance with her.
TIANQUIZTLI [PREFACE]
Most recently, our research has expanded to trace the history of marketplaces. In the summer of 2022 we visited the Tianguis Lagunilla in Mexico City, a market that has been setting up for over 400 years. Of particular interest is the fact that this market has ties to the Mercado de Tlatelolco, an important market of the Mexica/Aztec, which set up only a few blocks away. The above video explores these links, as a precursor to the exhibition "Tianquiztli: Portraits of the Market as Portal."
Most recently, our research has expanded to trace the history of marketplaces. In the summer of 2022 we visited the Tianguis Lagunilla in Mexico City, a market that has been setting up for over 400 years. Of particular interest is the fact that this market has ties to the Mercado de Tlatelolco, an important market of the Mexica/Aztec, which set up only a few blocks away. The above video explores these links, as a precursor to the exhibition "Tianquiztli: Portraits of the Market as Portal."