For three Thursday evenings in April, Marfa Book Company is pairing with artist Joachim Hamou to reanimate Rio Bravo, the artist space Hamou operated for several years in Copenhagen, Denmark. During these evenings, Hamou intends to challenge the representation of the river boundary between the U.S and Mexico as an abyss, a liminal place between places. Each night of the series will be dedicated to a different aspect of the border in our area. In the first week, the marvelous Enrique Madrid, a people's historian of the border, will talk about the culture and history of Redford, Texas where he currently resides. In particular, he will address the killing by the U.S. Marine Corps of U.S. citizen, and Redford resident, Esequiel Hernandez in 1997, as well as the nature of border enforcement post 9/11, and the recent introduction of drones to our area. The second week will feature Alpine public defender Elizabeth Rogers, who will be talking about Anti-drug laws, the many distinct forms of drug-trafficking and prosecution. And in the final week, we will be joined by UC-Berkeley professor Ronald Rael, author of Earth Architecture (Princeton Architectural Press), who will discuss a series of theoretical Border Wall Interventions that he has been developing during the past several years.
Past projects by Rio Bravo include a series of events relating to the artist, composer and communist, Cornelius Cardew, presented in collaboration with the artist, Andreas Fuhrer; a series of individual talks by Caroline Bergvall(Meddle English, Fig), Arturs Punte (Orbita), and Francoise Piron (Castillo/Corrales); a Semiotext(e) seminar featuring Chris Kraus, Mark von Schlegell and George Porcari; and, imagine this, projects organized and presented by other artists and groups of artists in the Rio Bravo space.
Rio Bravo is formed around the idea that there is need for an interdisciplinary space in Copenhagen to house performances, lectures, and events produced by artists and practitioners of other fields whose work intersects one another. The goal is to create a place that represents the wide cross section of practices shaping the cultural landscape today.