Posted on Oct 10, 2023
An 'anti-World's Fair' makes its case: give land back to Native Americans
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https://www.npr.org/2023/10/09/ [login to see] /new-red-order-worlds-unfair-native-americans
From the elevated platform of the 7 train in Queens, New York, a formerly-empty lot now looks like a carnival. There's lights and colorful posters and — wait. Is that a giant, talking beaver?
Yes. Yes, it is.
Bruno is an animatronic beaver — think Disney World — and is talking to Ash, a life-sized, animatronic tree. But their conversation is nothing you'd hear at that theme park in Orlando. Instead, it's in part about the clash between the philosophy underpinning the European understanding of land and the Native American understanding.
"Can you believe [the settlers] actually think that freedom is private property?" the tree exclaims, his face appalled.
From the elevated platform of the 7 train in Queens, New York, a formerly-empty lot now looks like a carnival. There's lights and colorful posters and — wait. Is that a giant, talking beaver?
Yes. Yes, it is.
Bruno is an animatronic beaver — think Disney World — and is talking to Ash, a life-sized, animatronic tree. But their conversation is nothing you'd hear at that theme park in Orlando. Instead, it's in part about the clash between the philosophy underpinning the European understanding of land and the Native American understanding.
"Can you believe [the settlers] actually think that freedom is private property?" the tree exclaims, his face appalled.
An 'anti-World's Fair' makes its case: give land back to Native Americans
Posted from npr.org
Native Americans
Philosophy
Europe
Freedom
Art
Posted 7 mo ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."The artists hope that the carnival-like atmosphere will draw non-Native people in. A clutch of documentaries — and mockumentaries — make their case. One, situated behind a folding table, is basically a recruitment video for the New Red Order. There's a phone number. There's a website. It calls on "accomplices" to join together with Indigenous people to help reclaim their land.
Another, which plays in a shipping container called the "real estate office," showcases real stories of people, groups and municipalities already doing this. The city of Eureka, Ore., gave over a small island to the Wiyot people. Oakland, Calif., gave about five acres of a park to the Sogorea Te' Land Trust and the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation.
People watch a talking animatronic tree and beaver chat about land and private property, along with a tongue-in-cheek video. The various documentaries and mockumentaries have slogans like, "Never settle!" and "Give It Back!"
The many testimonials (real and fictional ones) do what they are meant to: make the ideas behind it seem reasonable, even a foregone conclusion.
"It's a spectacle, and it's playing with these ideas of Worlds Fairs and fairgrounds and festivals, [but] it is deeply earnest and real," said Diya Vij, who curated the installation for Creative Time. "The ideas are not fiction. It's an invitation to enter, to join, to seek, to take in, to learn, to listen."
..."The artists hope that the carnival-like atmosphere will draw non-Native people in. A clutch of documentaries — and mockumentaries — make their case. One, situated behind a folding table, is basically a recruitment video for the New Red Order. There's a phone number. There's a website. It calls on "accomplices" to join together with Indigenous people to help reclaim their land.
Another, which plays in a shipping container called the "real estate office," showcases real stories of people, groups and municipalities already doing this. The city of Eureka, Ore., gave over a small island to the Wiyot people. Oakland, Calif., gave about five acres of a park to the Sogorea Te' Land Trust and the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation.
People watch a talking animatronic tree and beaver chat about land and private property, along with a tongue-in-cheek video. The various documentaries and mockumentaries have slogans like, "Never settle!" and "Give It Back!"
The many testimonials (real and fictional ones) do what they are meant to: make the ideas behind it seem reasonable, even a foregone conclusion.
"It's a spectacle, and it's playing with these ideas of Worlds Fairs and fairgrounds and festivals, [but] it is deeply earnest and real," said Diya Vij, who curated the installation for Creative Time. "The ideas are not fiction. It's an invitation to enter, to join, to seek, to take in, to learn, to listen."
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