Drawings, models and real life iterations, 2012 – 2019. 2016 iteration of the Mobile Speakers’ Podium – 8ft x 4ft x 2ft – steel, siding, casters and chainlink fence, with the support of Meg Noe and the Weinberg-Newtown Gallery, Chicago.

A deployable double speakers’ corner that is both functional and symbolic. It was inspired by the effective coalition of citizens and noncitizens who fought successfully to block the building of a new for-profit detention center by Corrections Corporation of America in Crete IL. The Speakers’ Podium’s two halves rely on each other. Suburban house collides with prison fence to invoke the needed voices and ever-presence of the incarcerated among the free in a country that locks up 2 million people.

Activations:
Chicago: scroll down for a 3-min video of selected activations.
July 2016: Comfort Station in Logan Square.
October 14 – November 6 2016: U Chicago Arts and Public Life Muffler Shop, Garfield Arts Block.
December 2016 – 2017: AxisLab’s Baseline space under the Argyle CTA stop in Uptown.
2018 “3 Days, 42 Miles Chicago to Gary Walk” (Images to come!) Durational performance with artist Regin Igloria to highlight the traffic of people from the Midwest to the Gary Airport Deportation Hub. Thanks to: Bikes ‘N Roses, Hyde Park Art Center, and Steel City Academy in Gary, IN, where students from Sam Love’s Art and Politics class took charge of the Podium. Steel City has since hosted further speak-outs and workshops around political speech.
Contact us if you’d like to invite the Speakers’ Podium to your venue.

Drawings: Graphite on paper, each 12in x 9in
Models: Paper and wire 9in x 5in x 2in each