The social context of the proposed project is the current political debate of immigration in the U.S. I want to do a historical analysis of immigration and in particular asylum to the U.S. in relation to U.S. foreign policy establishing how U.S. foreign policy decisions have influenced political debates and political phenomena. The most recent example in the context of post September 11, 2001, is the increasing militarization of the Mexico-U.S. border, the changes in immigration law and the changes in the constitution. The emergence of the minute-men and the Bush administration’s implicit support to their agenda is also of importance as a visible example of organized anti-immigrant responses.
Depending on how many interviews I get (minimum 5), I plan to project them all at the same time in the walls. The audio won’t be so loud so that the participants can focus on them separately or as a whole. The interviews will be in Spanish and English subtitles.
What guides my design is an interest to project images that participants can engage with and in some cases identify with. The sexiles project will also include an online site (and maybe a physical site) were participants that came to see the installation or that stumbled with it online or otherwise can contribute/share their experience or testimony. (this part of the project needs further developing).
I believe I understand the project and what it is trying to do. The documentary ideas are very strong and clear although I think the installation itself needs some work. While I understand the ideas behind the use of objects in relation to nostalgia and melancholia, I think that needs more development in terms of how that will physically work in the installation. I also think that the website of resources and as a place for the community to gather needs more specific details. What exactly does this site offer visitors? Is it a representation of the installation itself, a re-factoring of the material or something separate but related to the material provided in the installation? What does the interface look like and why? In what ways can the word of this site spread beyond those who have visited the installation itself?
The narrative of the project is very clear although perhaps I'm a little unclear on the relation of other countries' video sources to the project. While I can see many threads that connect the groups inside the United States to those outside, the focus of the project seems to be on sexiles and the process of immigration and asylum seeking. However the connection to why it is important for those seeking asylum and/or who are sexiles to view this material (that which isn't specifically about sexiles or asylum seeking) is not too clear to me.
The author is very clear about how the concept came to her and it is clearly important and necessary work. I understand who the audience is and it is contextualized in relation to other works mostly in the fact that there isn't really any work that has been done, which feeds the need to do the project.
I feel like I can easily answer why the author has proposed it and I can easily answer why it is important to the audience. In short it is proposed because this is an undeserved and underrepresented section of society that is and has been marginalized. It is important to the audience because it is who is being represented and there are little to no resources available that aid in either the transition to a new marginalizing society or in the process of seeking asylum in the case of being a sexile.
I think the proposal could use a little more in depth detail of how the individuals who will be interviewed are found and how they are interviewed. What is the process and what defines this form as "experimental"? Other implementation questions aside, I would assume that the technology needed is space to install the project (possible spaces are well covered in the proposal) and create the circular walls/projection screens, projectors to display the videos, some form of source device (computer, DVD player, etc) to output video to projectors, 1+ computers to allow visitors of the installation to add their own stories (typed, handwritten {scanner or tablet} or voice recorded {microphone}), some form of database to hold media and other information on the website, and a website itself to display the material online.
Other quick questions is why not also offer video recording of installation visitor stories since voice recording is available? Perhaps a little more information about why it is important to you not to "make" anyone visible or "enable" them and how you are avoiding this. I like the fact that this project is made specifically for the audience you are in fact representing in the interviews, objects, etc. It seems to me the greatest single strength this project has, besides the website which would bring larger cultural awareness perhaps outside the target audience, is the physical space that it creates for people to get in contact with one another. I love that.
My Uneducated Synopsis Of Proposal:
By using video interviews, physical objects, communal space, and the internet, this project proposes to explore the issues of queer immigration, queer asylum, melancholia, and US society's homophobia and xenophobia. By providing a space for identification the project wants to bring together people who have experienced similar circumstances thereby beginning the healing process, providing a site of resistance against current social and cultural trends, and to provide the resources necessary and available to begin the sexile asylum process.
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