Covering the People's United Nations, Doomocracy, and Palas por Pistolas

1. Doomocracy
• Sunday October 30th
– Meet at 5:30pm at 59th in Sunset Park Brooklyn (N/R)
– Dismiss at 8pm at 59th station in Sunset Park, Brooklyn (N/R)

2. Pedro Reyes creates artwork and
conversation around real world topics that
are considered taboo by some. Simply put:
this artwork is not easy to deal with, but it
contains social issues that we as a society
must deal with nonetheless.
Please be cautious about your voluntary
participation in this trip, because the
performance has triggers for the following
topics.
Gun Violence
Immigration Rights
The 2016 Election
Police Brutality
Drug Abuse
Sugar Addiction and Diabetes
The War on Terror
Climate Change
Women's Reproductive Rights

3. Socially Engaged
Art
Associations with this type of art….?
• Gio: Thinking about artists who create CHANGE in the world.
• Dolfo: Maybe like that 22 boot piece by Plastic Jesus?
• Anna: I DONT GET IT. If you see a Socially Engaged art piece how
does that change your opinion about other art?
• Chess: It’s kinda hard to talk about the shading on a still life
when there’s other artists out there solving problems.
• Alex: I saw this street piece that was a reenacting of a animal
testing of perfume and make up products.
• .
Sometimes Called
“Artivism”….this is art that serves
to raise awareness to a
social/political issue(s), potentially
impacting the actual lives of
participants/viewers.

4. Socially Engaged
Art
Associations with this type of art….?
• Taeron: An artist last year with the mattress? (Emma Sulkowicz)
• Jess: I don’t know if it counts as art….but when there’s taxes on
feminine products, some women chose to walk around openly
menstruating as an act of protest.
• Tash: Like a video I saw about animal rights where they had a
human being tortured in ways similar to animal abuse in the
fashion/makeup industries.
• A lot of Socially engaged art has an element of PERFORMANCE as
well.
Sometimes Called
“Artivism”….this is art that serves
to raise awareness to a
social/political issue(s), potentially
impacting the actual lives of
participants/viewers.

5. Socially Engaged
Artist:
Vik Muniz
(Brazil)
Vik Muniz
Jardim
Gramacho
Ironing Woman
(Isis)
Photograph
y
2008Pablo Picasso
Woman Ironing
Oil on Canvas 1904 WASTE LAND

6. Opened in 2011 in
Corona, Queens
Engages local
communities, social
services, and elected
officials to reform
immigration laws.
108-59 Roosevelt Avenue
Queens, NY 11368
Socially Engaged
Artist:
Tania Bruguera
(Cuba)

7. Socially Engaged Artist:
Ai Weiwei
(China)
Sichuan Earthquake
2008

8. Socially Engaged
Artist:
Ai Weiwei

9. Socially Engaged Artist:
Pedro Reyes
(Mexico)

10. Pedro Reyes
Studied architecture
in the 90’s
Started an
experiemental
project space called
“Torre De Los
Vientos” from 1996-
2002
 basically a
wacky space where
you could do fun
and odd projects

12. Other estimates state the number is closer to 290 deaths per week in Mexico…
Fyi: An average of 170 people are killed each week in the USA’s gun-related deaths
(this figure takes non-drug war deaths into consideration as well)
Stats from 2012
Sources:
The Atlantic

13. Pedro Reyes
Palas por pistolas
(pistols into spades) 2008
In 2008 Reyes collected
1,527 firearms
From the city of Culiacán,
a city plagued by drug
kingpins.

14. Pedro Reyes
Palas por pistolas
(pistols into spades) 2008
1,527 pistolas 1,527 palas 1,527 árboles

15. Pedro Reyes
Palas por pistolas
(pistols into spades) 2008
1. People bring a gun
2. 1 gun=a voucher for an electronic store
3. The weapons were steamrolled into a flat sheet (at a
military base)
4. The metal sheet is melted at a foundry
5. The metal is re-cast into shovels.
6. The shovels are assembled
7. The shovels are used to plan trees in public schools in
Culiacán

16. Pedro Reyes
Palas por pistolas
(pistols into spades) 2008
“THIS ‘RITUAL’ HAS A PEDAGOGICAL (educational)
PURPOSE OF SHOWING HOW AND AGENT OF
DEATH CAN BECOME AN AGENT OF LIFE.”

17. Are these ….just shovels?
Palas por pistolas
(pistols into spades)
People bring a gun
1 gun=a voucher for an electronic store
The weapons were steamrolled into a flat sheet (at a military base)
The melted at a foundry
And recast as shovels, which were used to plant trees in public schools in
Culiacán
PLANTED 1,527 TREES
Since then, the shovels get exhibited around the world and are continued to be
used to plan trees around the world.

18. Are these ….just shovels?
• Khiri: WELL….these shovels were made from
guns….and Reyes has taken something that causes
death and turned it into something that creates
life.
• Janel: They ARE just shovels….but shovels with
MEANING and context. Without the context….we
may just walk past it…and ignore it.
• KT: TOTES AGREE WITH JANEL. Reyes focuses on
his country’s issues….and this hopefully promotes
less violence. And it’s important that it’s 1 gun per
tree…so show how something good can come out
of something bad.
• Anna: Usually there’s a little Title card….to explain
this. But if there wasn’t…Erin would just think of
the seven dwarves…
• .Rizzi: If I saw this wall of shovels….it would make
me even more curious.
• Kozak: This would be an uncomfortable amount of shovels….

19. Are these ….just shovels?
• Angel: The TRANSITION from gun shovel
represents the change from death to life. Like
making a negative into a positive.
• Cailan: Physically they are shovels, but they
have a story behind them. They’re more tha
just a tool for digging.
• Steph: This piece has so much history behind
it, and meaning too.
• Michelle: It’s kind of like him being optimistic
and making the world better.
• Lina: Maybe people don’t realize that this
same material could be used to make the
world a better place.
• Camila: These guns show how many lives are
SAVED because they exchanged their guns.

20. Pedro reyes
Imagine
Una proyecto en la Cuidad Juarez, con 6700 armas

21. Pedro Reyes
Imagine
Una proyecto en la Cuidad Juarez, con 6700 armas

22. Pedro Reyes
Imagine
Una proyecto en la Cuidad Juarez, con 6700 armas

23. Pedro Reyes
Imagine
Una proyecto en la Cuidad Juarez, con 6700 armas

24. Pedro reyes
Imagine
Una proyecto en la Cuidad Juarez, con 6700 armas
And the project continues!

25. Pedro reyes
Dolfo: Surprised by the different tones
that he could make from this.
Alex: What he said was really
lovely….music makes people
unite….like the opposite effect of what a
weapon does.
Chess: I get why the photos are mostly
stringed instruments to they “read” as
instruments. Also surprised by
automation
KT: I like how he’s using his art as a way
to bring community together. Music
brings people such joy!
Anna: Reminds me of Wintergatan’s
Marble music video.
Raian: I figured it would just
be a trigger function….but
this sounds like REAL
instruments. Like soft.
.
.
.

26. Pedro reyes
Tash: The effect music is to bring
people together.
Cailan: The way the whole music is set
up is really interesting, how it’s
automated.
Angel: The xylophone! And those
rhythmic patterns, I thought it would be
louder, like gunshots…
Michelle: 1. I thought it would sound
like TRASH….but it was actually good!
2. Surprised by how the instruments
STILL look like weapons
Kristen: This makes the message
easier to perceive: the original gun is
still intact!
Riddles: This also conveys
how something destructive
can turn into something
GOOD.
Taeron: The way that the
musicians had trouble
getting over the fact that
they’re working with
weapons, it adds to that
SHOCKING quality.

27. And now for something completely
different..

28. CREATIVETIME | DOOMOCRACY 28
What is
Doomocracy?

29. Abandon All Hope
by Nato Thompson
Two pages of electric ideas!
Read and Annotate for homework!

30. CREATIVETIME | DOOMOCRACY 30
What is
Doomocracy?
A visit from
Beth and Isabel
from Creative
Time!

31. P7 Notes from visit….

32. P8 Notes from visit….

33. The experience starts in front of a monumental effigy Reyes
created of the Statue of Liberty as a Trojan Horse, representing
"this idea of how war has been normalized ... in the name of
freedom."

34. The experience starts in front of a monumental effigy Reyes
created of the Statue of Liberty as a Trojan Horse, representing
"this idea of how war has been normalized ... in the name of
freedom." KT: When I think Trojan Horse I think of it as a
decoy, to sneak your way into
something…also France gave us this as a
gift…right? So is there a secret meaning
behind it?
Chess: It’s like America giving us liberty but
giving us war also…we see it on the news but
we don’t experience it personally…so we
don’t care about it that much…
Alex: we get desensitized to war…think of it
as a part of life. Not OUR life…but someone
else’…and maybe we stop caring about
them?
Gio: yeah it’s NORMALIZED. Usually there’s a
build up beforehand. People get anxious, but
for us, since we’ve always been at war, we’re
not scared of anything…
Raian: I thought of this as
candidates using our
nationalism to sneak into
office….

35. The experience starts in front of a monumental effigy Reyes
created of the Statue of Liberty as a Trojan Horse, representing
"this idea of how war has been normalized ... in the name of
freedom." Rachel: The Statue of Liberty
represents Freedom …but the Trojan
Horse….?
Tash: Originally the Trojan Horse was a
gift…like the Statue of Liberty, a symbol
of freedom…but now it’s been turned
into a symbol of war because of our
citizens’ abuse of freedom…I guess??
Camila: Given to us as a gift by
France….but nowadays we can use our
freedom to start a movement or a war.
Angel: Wars are meant to “protect our
freedom” but this is becoming more
and more common. It’s like Freedom
vs. War in a way.
Camila: ALSO…the Trojan Horse was
supposed to be a gift but it secretly
was an INVASION to defeat other
people.
Nowadays we go to countries to deliver
freedom but we’re actually just getting
what we want: Resources…territory.

36. CREATIVETIME | DOOMOCRACY
…SCENE 0 “It’s 7pm…and you just got into an
unmarked white van with a stranger!”

37. CREATIVETIME | DOOMOCRACY
David Gould, Jonathan Swain,
Matt Baguth, Jonny MaldonadoSCENE 1
“WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
GET IN A LINE!”

38. CREATIVETIME | DOOMOCRACY
Marjorie Conn
SCENE 2
“GOD IS GOOD”

39. CREATIVETIME | DOOMOCRACY
Gregg Rizzo
SCENE 3
“STUFFING PILLOWS FOR TRUMP’S NEW HOTEL IN
MEXICO CITY!”

40. CREATIVETIME | DOOMOCRACY
Jenny Tibbels, Sammy TunisSCENE 4 “Yeah that’s a MESSAGE SENDER…”
“Certain demographics are more likely to commit crimes than others….”

41. CREATIVETIME | DOOMOCRACY
Monique Vukovic
SCENE 5
“COULD YOU BE MY SUPERHERO
TODAY?

42. CREATIVETIME | DOOMOCRACY
Matthew Korahais
SCENE 6
“I LIKE TO THINK THAT THESE
CHILDREN CAN ACTUALLY TASTE THE
SWEETNESS IN THE AFTERLIFE…”

43. CREATIVETIME | DOOMOCRACY
…
SCENE 7 DO YOU VOTE FOR THE WORKERS?
DO YOU VOTE FOR YOUR GOLDEN PARACHUTE?
Chloe Sirene

44. CREATIVETIME | DOOMOCRACY
Charlie Gorilla
Mia Jessup
SCENE 8A
“DO YOU EVEN SPEAK ENGLISH?!
SAY IT! GLUTEN FREE CHOCOLATE!”
SCENE 8B
Andrew Butler

45. CREATIVETIME | DOOMOCRACY
Rena Anakwe
SCENE 9

46. CREATIVETIME | DOOMOCRACY
Carolina Do
SCENE 10 “Please….breathe…..”
“Please….inhale….”
“Please….insert your face…”

47. CREATIVETIME | DOOMOCRACY
Lacy Rose, Arielle Gonzalez, Megan Ermilio
Scene 11 “you’re gonna die!
You’re gonna die!
You’re gonna die!”

48. Shashwat GuptaScene 12
“The year is 2100! This is
when people start
dying!!”

49. CREATIVETIME | DOOMOCRACY
Joseph Gregori
Scene 13A Welcome to our privatized park!

50. CREATIVETIME | DOOMOCRACY 50
Clara Kundin
Yasmin Santana Chaves
Scene 13b AHHHH!!!!! RUN AWAY!!!

51. CREATIVETIME | DOOMOCRACY
Michael Golino
Scene 14
….
Aida Aminpour & Siraj Huda

52. CREATIVETIME | DOOMOCRACY
Scene 14
“This is a very sobering moment where you see how drones have
been used in modern warfare…”
-Reyes

53. CREATIVETIME | DOOMOCRACY
…
Scene 15 Brantley Ivey & Dan Sheynin

54. CREATIVETIME | DOOMOCRACY
Scene 16
THE END
IS NOW

55. Pedro Reyes
Speaking about Doomocracy at the Creative Time Summit in
Washington DC in 2016
http://livestream.com/creativetime/summit20
16/videos/138959687
52:44

56. • Khiri: It’s an eye opener. A reality check about
things that we go about in our daily lives that we
may not notice….these are REAL issues that are in
our face and we don’t acknowledge them.
• Jess: We find it uncomfortable to talk about, and a
lot of this is “controversial” and people don’t want
to deal with having to argue….
• Anna: We ignore these problems because they
don’t personally affect us…so it’s easier to ignore.
• What experience impacted us the most?
• -Chess: The Drone strike
• -Dolfo: All of them attacked my senses. Maybe the
gun scene.
• -Khiri: The van getting pulled over….the police.
• -Alex: The privatized park. Jesus planting trees!
• -Derricka: The drone strike one…the only one I didn’t
laugh at.
• Jessica: The sugar coffins.
Why Experience This?

57. • Steph: It was INTENSE but not traumatizing. It wasn’t
scary at all.
• Lina: We can see lots of different conflicts from around
the world in different media.
• Jess: I wanted to see how in touch of reality I am…I
watch a lot of news and I was curious if I was missing
something or could get a new perspective. Most of
what I believed in was showcased here.
• Wing: I wanted it to be eye opening…To experience
what reality is.
• Kristen: BACK TO “SCARY” I associate this with things
that make me jump or supernatural things. Scary here
that this is a potential reality. Scary is…THIS IS THE
FUTURE.
• Angel: This isn’t quite a haunted house…it’s usually a
cheap format with monsters and creatures…but this is
not the point of Doomocracy. It’s meant to open our
eyes.
Why Experience This?

58. Meanwhile….at
42nd street and 1st ave…

59. Purposes of the United Nations
How many nations participate?
What do they decide?
What do they DO???

60. Pedro Reyes
(p)Un
The People’s United Nations 2013

61. (p)Un
The People’s United Nations 2013
This is an experimental
conference that seeks to apply
techniques and resources from
social psychology, theater, art,
and conflict resolution to
geopolitics.
Unlike the real United Nations
(UN), where delegates are
appointed by states and are
career diplomats, the people’s
UN welcomes 193 regular
citizens who live in the region
and are connected by family ties
or by birth to the nations
represented at the UN.

62. For the first iteration of this collaborative performance at the
Queens Museum in Queens, New York, the local performance
artist group Urban Bush Women were hired by Reyes to serve
as coordinators for activities and collaborators with the artist,
each representative, and the ideas discussed.

63. Pedro
Reyes
Over the course of a weekend, delegates
represent their countries in group activities
to grapple with a set of global proposals
that seem to have come from the future,
but which must be addressed in the
present. Although the proposals are often
presented using the language of science
fiction, yet they are nothing but
descriptions of the real issues at stake
today.
Reyes has stated that this is not a model
version or a critique of the existing United
Nations. “pUN focuses on imagining a big
encounter group. If pUN is a naïve role-
play game, it is precisely the light-hearted
spirit of play that will allow its participants
to engage in subjects whose magnitude is
otherwise overwhelming.”
Oh hi,
it’s kozak.

64. Pedro Reyes
(p)Un
The People’s United Nations 2013

65. The Alien Auditor
(p)Un
The People’s United Nations 2013
Photo by Ramiro Chavez

66. The Alien
Auditor
What nation(s) would need to
consult with the Alien Auditor?
• .
• .
• .
• .
• .
• .

67. The Alien
Auditor
What nation(s) would need to
consult with the Alien Auditor?
• .
• .
• .
• .
• .
• .

68. Today and Tomorrow….Research
FRIDAY…
….we become the
people’s United Nations.

69. What country(ies) would you be
qualified to represent at the
People’s United Nations?
What are two things that you would
make a priority to bring up?
What are three things that you wish you knew more about in
your country(ies)?

70. Activity 1
Group by continent
1. What is your connection to this country?
2. How did you come to associate yourself with
this place?
3. What’s a unique issue that your country faces?

71. Activity 2
Change it up.
HEGEMONY is the an idea relating to
power(dominance);who has it over another group or
individual.
What Hegemonic structures exist in your country? How
is power shown to the powerless?
Parents-kids
La policia y el pueblo
Teachers and students
Grades and students
Laws and ….constitutional (human) rights
Religious institutions and worshippers

72. Activity 3
Moving towards tomorrow
What are our next steps as we enter this global community?

73. Debriefing this
activity…(Monday)
..
.
.