Canaries in the Coalmine/ NoAutomatico / Monterrey, MX / 2018
Canaries in the Coalmine; NoAutomatico, Monterrey, Mexico 2018 video: Angelica Piedrahita, Laura Curry, Cita en Bici/ Bike Date participants.
In November 2017, I was resident artist with NoAutomático and University of Monterrey. My work analyzes issues affecting glocalized communities, defined by economic, political and gender structures. In each of my projects, I seek to include diverse narratives that touch on social specificities, building an art practice that links unconventional methods of research and activism. Cita en Bici / Bike Date was a project that developed from bicycle dates with female identified cyclists from the city of Monterrey during November 2107. I use a wireless microphone to record the narratives of the participants with whom I travel around the city. The project outcome resulted in a multi-media installation composed visual and sound documentation, and transportation policies of Monterrey Mexico.
I titled this installation Los canariós en la mina de carbon, Canaries in the Coalmine, because of the practice of miners carrying canaries into the coalmine to determine air quality safety. Much like canaries in a mine, female identified cyclists’ bodies are seen as mere objects on the roadway without personal identity or rights. Los canariós en la mina de carbon disrupts this abstract perception.
4 channel audio, single channel video, inkjet, paper, object, multi-media dimensions variable
Laura Curry 