VARIEDADES: A Variety Show on the Border

The VARIEDADES performance series, curated by writer and performer Rubén Martínez, takes its cue from the Latin American “variety show” format and pushes the genre, combining spoken word, performance art, music, and a dash of “critical karaoke.” In honor of the Looking In, Looking Out: Latin American Photography exhibition, the VARIEADADES crew approach the border between the U.S., Mexico, and Central America through renderings of utopia and distopia—anarchist-inspired communes, on the one hand, and the brutal violence that results from state collusion with transnational illicit markets in human and drug trafficking, on the other. Expect references to the “magonista” transnational utopia headquartered in Los Angeles at the turn of the 20th century and meditations on violence and healing in contemporary Mexico and Central America. The performance also features Rafa Esparza and

Raquel Gutiérrez.