Reunion/Reunión (2009-2010)
Suzanne Lacy and students from Otis School of Art and Design's Graduate Public Practice program
Reunion/Reunión was a performance produced by Lacy with installations and exhibitions by students, faculty, and guest artists from the Otis School of Art Graduate Public Practice program. This complex project spanned over a year and engaged residents of a small farming community in the San Joaquin Valley in an exploration to revitalize “Main Street,” at a time when the Wall Street meltdown of 2007/8 was having massive repercussions on small towns across the country. The artists worked with residents, cultural and community leaders to reenergize the tiny Main Street and its merchants, to engage public school students of all age levels, and to support cross-cultural conversation between the town's diverse ethnic cultures. They took up part time residence and created a series of projects - painting the town, establishing a free store, creating a mural design program for elementary students, leading a sculpture workshop for high school students, making a new town sign, developing portraits and video projections and creating a culminating performance that drew hundreds of people to view video projections on the store walls, merchant interviews in video installations, live music, stage lighting and barbecue. The performance was later commemorated in an installation at Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery designed by Lacy and her students.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Emerling, Susan, "Laton: The little California town that served as a muse," Los Angeles Times, April 26, 2009
COLLABORATORS
LEAD ARTISTS: Roberto del Hoyo, Andrea Dominguez, Michelle Glass, Baseuf Kim, Shatto Light, Andy Manoushagfan, Faith Purvey, Nathalie Sanchez, Paige Tighe, Hataya Tubtim, and Consuelo Velasco
GUEST ARTISTS: Andrea Bowers, Patrick Contreras, Dana Duff, Tony Mateo, RIchard Montoya, Bobby Joe Neely, jesikah maria ross, and Raul Vega
Residents of Laton, CA.