Inauguration of FAR Bazaar
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Inauguration of Far Bazaar (1995) performance piece in collaboration with Rachel Siegel.
Materials: papier maché, paint, human hair, rope, pulleys, baseball bat. Performance at Foundation For Art Resources event "FAR Bazaar" at the Brewery, LA. During this performance, volunteer spectators were blindfolded and invited to swing and hit piñatas representing the four Los Angeles Police Department officers–Wind, Briseno, Powell, and Koon–who were tried for their violent beating of Rodney King in 1991. The beating was videotaped by a spectator from a nearby balcony and sent to a news station, and subsequently seen around the world. It raised awareness about the biased, violent, and racist treatment of Black people by police in the United States. When the acquittal verdicts were announced by the nearly, all-white jury, many felt that the decisions were unjust and took to the streets to protest. There was a period of civil unrest, protests, violence, fires, and looting which left 53 dead and 2,383 injured in Los Angeles. The prosecutors later suggested that the jurors found the officers not guilty because they became desensitized and emotionally detached to the violence of the beating after watching the video in slow motion over and over during the trial. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_King |
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