“Revolutions have consisted above all of planetwide transformations of political common sense.”
David Graeber
“We Zapatistas think that now more than ever, we need ART in order to give birth to a new world.”
“Join us, brothers and sisters of Mexico and the world, in dreaming of an art where the people command, for their own good and the good of the people themselves.”
The Museum of Care and the Anti-Institute of David Graeber invite all sisters and brothers to join the Visual Assembly.
to participate, you will need:
A group of friends, crayons and/or chalk-based sprays, a few pre-made stencils, and a willingness to come out into the square.
The Visual Assembly project emerged in the context of the Zapatista delegation’s visit to Europe. Together, we intend to design a plan for a new anti-colonial and anti-capitalist Museum and paint it right on the public square. It will be a museum without walls or borders. A museum without a director, a vault and police. A museum without inventories or tickets.
A museum for the people, created by the people.
What kind of museum would it be?
Would it be a school, a library, a food center, a hospital, or a place to care for animals and our planet itself? Would it be a place of prayer, reflection, or memory? A collection of dreams and visions? Will it simply be a place where people gather to talk or dance…to be together?
All of these ideas, and many others, will be the subject of discussion during the assembly.
We will carefully and honestly record on the square the process of decision-making, the emergence of new ideas, their mutation and development.
We will film our mural and distribute our experience as widely as possible.
We will be joined by those who are already practicing this future: representatives from the Free Autonomous Zone of Northern Kurdistan (Rojava), medics fighting against healthcare privatization, artist-activists, and others.
The Visual Assembly idea was coined with David Graeber, an anthropologist, activist, and writer who passed away unexpectedly on September 02, 2020. Instead of a traditional funeral, his friends and family organized an international Carnival with over 250 locations worldwide and thousands of people in attendance.
This year we want to link David Graeber’s Memorial Day and celebrate the arrival of the Zapatista delegation in Europe. We invite all Carnival participants to join the project, pick up chalks and come out into the square.
It is important that the museum, a traditional symbol of colonialism, be transformed into an image of a world made by people for people.