International Markets of Flesh (IMF)
v1. “XI International Performance Art Festival:
Out of Focus,” ExTeresa Arte Actual, Mexico City, July 11, 2003.
v2. in collaboration with Carolina Loyola-Garcia, “Arte
Nuevo InteractivA’05,” Patio Central del Centro Cultural de Mérida Olimpio, Mérida, Mexico, June 25, 2005.
v1. took place on the altar of a 17th century convent church, now a contemporary art space in Mexico City. By means of participatory activities, a video, and performative speeches, the audience learned about the growing international traffic in organs, the global black market in organs and tissues, and the political, social, and medical consequences of this activity. The audience was invited to share stories and rumors about illegal organ harvesting and trade. These were then written in Spanish and English on a large World Flesh Map on which participants could also place small organ stickers to track the flow of the flesh-market worldwide. While handling and exchanging life-size soft sculptures of organs with the participants, the performers discussed changing ideas of the value of human life in the age of genetically engineered, globally distributed, and patented human body parts. Participants were able to calculate the net worth of their organs, body parts, and labor on the world Flesh Market, and receive a certificate of flesh worth Further, we asked: What resistance to market imperatives, patenting higher life forms, and intellectual property laws is possible? How can we deploy our collective biopower to oppose such imperatives and find more democratic and economically just systems of medical care?
