Voting Station and Collaborators
As a legal alien of the United States who is barred from voting, Aram Han Sifuentes’ Official Unofficial Voting Stations inserts an unsanctioned voting process into this year’s election season. This project is an objection to the exclusion of herself and others from central democratic processes. Official Unofficial Voting Stations will be hosted internationally and nationally by collaborators. All ballots cast at these voting stations will be returned to Jane Addams Hull-House to be counted and will contribute to the installation at the Museum. Below is more information about the voting station and collaborators across the U.S. and Internationally.
Image from voting in Tijuana
image from voting on Oct 13th in Acapulco
Mexico City: Cecilia Aguilar and Erick Fernández Saldaña
Voting Stations:
September 14, Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City
October 13, Tijuana, Mexico
October 25, Acapulco, Mexico
Cecilia Aguilar and Erick Fernández Saldaña developed USA Estación-Laboratorio Artístico-Político elecciones estadounidense 2016 (Political-Artistic Laboratory Station for US Elections 2016). Mexico and its northern with the US has played a central role this election in the US national dialogue. On September 14, 24 hours prior to Mexican Independence Day celebrations, Aguilar and Saldana invited participants at Universidad Ibero Americana to cast votes against candidates in the US presidential election. Click the image to the left to watch Spanish language video about the project and visit their blog.
Ithaca, New York: Handwerk Gallery
Voting Station Open: August 31
From August 31 - November 3 Ithaca College's Handwerker Gallery is hosting a voting station designed by collaborator Mara Baldwinm, Gallery Director, and students Anna Gardner ('19) and Michele Hau ('18). The Handwerker Gallery is an integrative arts space that enriches the intellectual and creative life of Ithaca College, and is uniquely committed to supporting emerging and mid-career artists in creating and exhibiting new work, while simultaneously positioning the contemporary in active dialogue with historical processes, ideologies, and objects. Click the image to he right to find our more about the project.
“During these tumultuous times, projects like these by artist Aram Han Sifuentes are more relevant than ever because they create a save platform for the voiceless, to express their needs, concerns and feelings and break the circle of fear.”
Los Angeles, California: Plaza de la Raza Cultural Center for the Arts and Education
Marianne Sadowski
Voting station open: November 1st
Marianne Sadowski is an artist and art educator born in Mexico City. She has a BA in Film from the Universidad Iberoamericana and a MFA from the Academy of San Carlos, both in Mexico City. She lives and works at present in Los Angeles, California. Her paintings, prints, and mixed media works reflect her concerns of social justice and humanity in a time where a personal or local problem merges with a global concern.
Mission statement: Plaza de la Raza: Plaza de la Raza Cultural Center for the Arts and Education is the only multidisciplinary community arts venue dedicated to serving the Eastside neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Founded in 1970 by prominent labor, business and civic leaders as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, it offers affordable after-school, intergenerational arts education programs to nearly 5,000 children, teens and adults each year. Its mission is to foster enrichment of all cultures bridging the geographic, social, artistic, and cultural boundaries of Los Angeles, and beyond.
MCA Studio, Chicago: Roberto Sifuentes and DJ Sadie Rock
Voting station open: November 8
For MCA Studio, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago's Tuesday event programing, Aram Sifuentes has invited Roberto Sifuentes to create an election night voting station on November 8. DJ Sadie Rock, who created soundscape for VOX POP will also be playing her protest playlist at the MCA that evening. Click here to learn more.
Roberto Sifuentes is an interdisciplinary artist from Los Angeles. He is a graduate of Trinity College and founding member of La Pocha Nostra Performance Group. His work combines live performance with interactive technologies and video as a presentation medium Sifuentes has toured with Guillermo Gómez-Peña in performances, lectures, and installation projects throughout the U.S., Europe, and Latin America. He published "Temple of Confessions: Mexican Beasts and Living Santos" which was co-authored with Guillermo Gómez-Peña (1997). Sifuentes is currently Associate Professor of Performance at the School of Art Institute of Chicago.
Haitian American Museum Chicago: Elsie Hernandez
The Haitian American Museum of Chicago (HAMOC) was Founded in 2012, it was the realization of a dream by its co-founder, Elsie Hernandez, to create an institution that would hold programs and exhibits that will contribute to the rich multicultural tapestry that is Chicago. Since 2012 the museum has hosted a wide array of programs and exhibits showcasing Haiti's rich culture and art as well as its complex history. We invite you to enjoy our changing exhibits, use our space and attend varied programs. Click the logo for more information.
Washington State: Maru Mora Villalpando
Voting Stations:
October 25th, Centennial Elementary in Mt. Vernon
October 30th, South Park Community Center in South Seattle
Latino Advocacy provides consulting for non-profits in the areas of policy, advocacy, organizing and membership development, workshops and meetings facilitation, focusing on racial justice and immigrant rights.
“Voting is just one part of the civic process to recognize all communities should be politically represented and taken into consideration. As undocumented immigrants in the US, the political process represents either our oppression or the chance to move to a path for liberation. This project gives us a chance for the latter.”
Chiapas, Mexico: Maitea Daehlin
Maritea Daehlin is an artist that is interested in human behaviors, emotions, rituals and encounters. Her devised theater performances and interactive live works are minimal, playful, non-linear and absurd. Both her solo and collaborative work leave an open space for the audience to make up their own points of view, letting their emotions being touched and the freedom to not have to understand everything.
Detroit: Brandon Bullard
“Official Unofficial Voting Stations is a work that raises the volume on systematically muted voices within the U.S voting system. Voices that were once disregarded will now have the opportunity to be heard, validated, and marked as essential units of a democratic society and process. ”
Brandon Bullard is an artist from Denver, Colorado. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Colorado State University with an emphasis in painting, and a Post-Bacc certificate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, with an emphasis in Fiber and Materials Studies. Bullard is an MFA candidate at Cranbrook Academy of Art's fiber department. Bullard will build 2-5 voting stations strategically placed in highly trafficked areas in Detroit.
Cortland, NY: Erika Fowler-Decatur, Dowd Gallery, State University of New York
"I’ve noticed that many students on our campus–most of whom would be first-time voters–are disillusioned with the election process before they’ve ever had the chance to participate in it. Several that I've spoken with had not registered to vote in the primaries last spring and implied that they may not vote in the presidential election this fall. My hope is that by participating in the Unofficial Official Voting Stations project, the Dowd Gallery will not only empower those who are unable to legally cast their ballot but encourage students who can legally vote to make use of that right on November 8."
Baltimore: Veronica Casado Hernandez
Verónica Casado Hernández is a visual artist and cultural historian who lives and works between the USA and Spain. She has recently earned her MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Casado Hernández has exhibited her work and lectured in the USA and Europe.
Philadelphia: Lilah Thompson
Lilah Thompson is a Law & Public Policy Scholar at Temple University Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia, PA. She is the creator of the Between Borders Refugee Simulation, which seeks to raise awareness and shift perception of the refugee experience through role-playing exercises. This project has been featured on numerous media sources including NPR. Thompson has served as a legal intern at HIAS Pennsylvania, and as a legal assistant at the Law Offices of Immigration Attorney Stephen P. Barsamian. She interned as a Law Clerk at the Office of Immigration Litigation at the Department of Justice - Civil Division. Ms. Thompson is the President of the Student Public Interest Network and is involved in many community advocacy projects focusing on immigration and refugee policy. Thompson received her B.A. from Franklin & Marshall College where served as a Fellow for Human Rights and Social Justice at The Ware Institute for Civic Engagement. Thompson is the author of The Benefits and Burdens of Prosecutorial Discretion in Immigration: How to Fully Effectuate the Exercise of Prosecutorial Discretion in a Broken Immigration System which she presented at the Mid-Atlantic Law & Society Association Conference and at the Law & Society Association Annual Meeting in New Orleans.
