Amy Sanchez's Album

Future Echoes | Introduction

“I guess you can say the border doesn’t really mean anything to me since I only had contact with it once. It’s there. It’s like the big boogeyman in the closet.” 

Interview with a Tejano university student who speaks on the topics of home, identity, his journey from Mexico to the United States, and how the border has shaped his life living in Texas as an undocumented student.

Produced by Michelle Sandoval

Misael Diaz's Album

Voice of a Tejano

“We’re the only population in space that we know of -- in this milky way galaxy. So why don’t we just be friends?”

7 year-old Madeline understands the concept of separation and the struggles families face as a consequence of immigration laws. She explains why North America is a family continent and should not be divided. What she struggles to understand is why we can't all just be friends. For Madeline, Human Beings need to be appreciated for who they are and not where they come from.

Produced by Nancy Valdivia Ochoa

A Child's Response to the Current Political Climate

subvertisement |səbˈvərtizmənt| 
noun

A portmanteau promoting fictional products to challenge and make evident political barriers confronted by marginalized communities in their day to day lives.

In a capitalist economy advertising is a central expression of ideology. It is a mirror that reflects society and contextualizes its needs and excesses. Its presence is a manmade evil that manifests commercial values. Artist Claudia Cano produces a series of ‘subvertisements’ (subversive advertising) using fictional products to evidence the multiple challenges that immigrants are facing. By producing the spots with an ironic tone and snips of pop Latino music, Cano attempts to empower only the Spanish speaker.

Produced by Claudia Cano

©© / Otro Mundo Nos Espera

Subversivos

A reading which adopts the form of an acrostic poem to reflect on ways of understanding and experiencing the border as a sensorial experience.

Produced by Elizabeth Havey

SETI Border Record

How do you Spell Border?

An interview with the infamous creature known as “El Chupacabras”. 

The piece takes inspiration from critical readings of the alien-monster as a metaphor for the relationship between
immigrants and anti-immigrant legislation/rhetoric (in which each side portrays the other as predatory and threatening).

Produced by Celina Ibarra

Entrevista con El Chupacabras

A promotional spot set in the near future for a free-transit-zone established to straddle the US/Mexico border, “Dos Puertas” [Two Doors], a space of encounter + exchange which can be accessed freely by citizens of both nations.

Produced by Magdelinda Garcia.

Dos Puertas

A field-recording documenting the sounds of a walk along a stretch of beach bisected by the US/Mexico border. 

The recording begins in San Diego, roughly 100 feet from the fence. It moves towards the border and eventually crosses it, before ending roughly 100 feet away from the fence in Tijuana.

Produced by Giovanni Mejia + Genevie Wallendorf.

Border Beach (TJ/SD)

An interview with a local Tijuananense car enthusiast, who tells of his experience in the local binational car cuture + scene.

Produced by Amy Kaenmyxay.

Low and Slow (Through Space)

An interview with a transborder subject who shares their experience growing up crossing, transgressing and being transgressed by the border.

Produced by Marcos Sena.

Tales of a Smuggler

An interview with a resident of Tijuana who speaks about perceptions of the city in relation to violence.

Produced by Miranda Scherman.

A Tijuana Reflection

"California Mía" explores the binational sound-scape that emerged between Baja and Alta California in the 1960s through radio and popular music. Stations like XERB 1090AM broadcast "oldies" throughout Southern California from radio towers located in Mexico. As a result, youth in Tijuana were also able to tune-in to listen, and bands along the border began producing cover versions of the songs they heard on the radio with lyrics re-written in Spanish.  The popularity of this music lived on well into the early 80s, when women's social clubs in Tijuana were still organizing dances with themes such as "low-rider dance -- exemplifying the ways in which culture can defy and transcend political borders and boundaries.

The mixtape takes it's name from a cover of the Mamas and the Papas "California Dreamin'" produced by Los Tijuana Five, which speaks of a longing for a California that is imagined as both spatial and social terrain.

1.  XERB 1090AM - "Wolfman Jack" Show Introduction 
2. "Talk to Me" - Sunny and the Sunliners
3. “This is My Story” - Gene & Eunice / “Esta es Mi Historia” - Los Solitarios
4. “Yo Soy” - Los Friends
5. "Te Quiero A Ti" - California Brass
6. "You'll Lose A Good Thing" - Barbara Lynn
7.  Scene from "American Graffiti" (1973) 
8. “The Town I Live In” - Thee Midniters
9.  “Sueños de California” - Los Tijuana Five
10.  Radio Exito XEC 1310AM - Ernesto Enciso Clark Spot
11.  “Llorando Por Ti” ("96 tears" cover)  - Rockin’ Devils
12. “Cuando Regreses” ("Bring it on Home to Me" cover) - Los Moonlights
13. "Memories of El Monte" - The Penguins
14. “Tardeada en Salon Burocratas con Los Puppets” - Tijuana Radio Ad
15. "Hello Stranger" - Barbara Lewis / "Hola Extraño" - Vianey Valdez
16. “Baile ‘Low Rider Dance’ en Coloso Nicte Ha” - Tijuana Radio Ad
17. "Eres Tu" - Los Solitarios
18. “Nothing Takes the Place of You”  - Toussaint McCall / Wolfman Jack Sign Off

©© | California Mía

NASA Summer Sessions

NASA - Transmission #2 [Abridged]

Otro Mundo Nos Espera

Otro Mundo Nos Espera [Sample Recordings]

FUTURE ECHOES is a site-specific sound installation reflecting on the ways past, present and future inhabitants of the First Street North block in Little Tokyo have confronted displacement, and resisted erasure.

The project culls together sounds excavated through research, speculative fiction written by local authors and recordings produced by Cog•nate Collective in collaboration with traci kato kiriyama, and other community partners throughout their time as +Lab Artists-in-Residence – with Visual Communications as host organization.

Everything in Little Tokyo Has its Own Time and Magic | Vickie Vertiz

Sound Design by Jeffer Giang. 

FUTURE ECHOES is a site-specific sound installation reflecting on the ways past, present and future inhabitants of the First Street North block in Little Tokyo have confronted displacement, and resisted erasure.

The project culls together sounds excavated through research, speculative fiction written by local authors and recordings produced by Cog•nate Collective in collaboration with traci kato kiriyama, and other community partners throughout their time as +Lab Artists-in-Residence – with Visual Communications as host organization.

The Echo Chambers | TK Lê

Sound Design by Cog•nate Collective + Jeffer Giang. 

FUTURE ECHOES is a site-specific sound installation reflecting on the ways past, present and future inhabitants of the First Street North block in Little Tokyo have confronted displacement, and resisted erasure.

The project culls together sounds excavated through research, speculative fiction written by local authors and recordings produced by Cog•nate Collective in collaboration with traci kato kiriyama, and other community partners throughout their time as +Lab Artists-in-Residence – with Visual Communications as host organization.

Future Echoes

30 Seconds Over Little Tokyo | Sesshu Foster

As part of the culmination of Little Tokyo Service Center's "2019 +Lab Residency", cog•nate collective and traci kato kiriyama collaborated to host "Letter Reading + Writing" sessions to reflect on the resonance between the historical displacement and incarceration of Japanese-American families during WWII, and contemporary policies of detention and family separation at the US/Mexico border currently impacting the lives of those seeking asylum.  

During these sessions, Little Tokyo community members read aloud letters written by asylum seekers held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center, and wrote letters in return, which were sent to the Detention Center in partnership with the organization Detainee Allies.

Recordings of these readings were produced through the sessions, were compiled and broadcast over a pirate FM radio frequency in Little Tokyo as part of FUTURE ECHOES. This is an abridged segment of the longer piece that was originally broadcast.

--

FUTURE ECHOES is a site-specific sound installation reflecting on the ways past, present and future inhabitants of the First Street North block in Little Tokyo have confronted displacement, and resisted erasure.

The project culls together sounds excavated through research, speculative fiction written by local authors and recordings produced by Cog•nate Collective in collaboration with traci kato kiriyama and other community partners throughout their time as +Lab Artists-in-Residence – with Visual Communications as host organization.

For more information about the LTSC's +Lab residency, visit:
https://www.ltsc.org/lababout/

HEART/BREAK is a piece of wearable art and a corresponding mixtape inspired by the binational sound-scape that emerged between Baja and Alta California in the 1960s through radio and popular music. Stations like XERB 1090AM broadcast "oldies" throughout Southern California from radio towers located in Mexico. As a result, youth in Tijuana were also able to tune-in to listen, and bands along the border began producing cover versions of the songs they heard on the radio with lyrics re-written in Spanish. The popularity of this music lived on well into the early 80s, when women's social clubs in Tijuana were still organizing dances with themes such as "low-rider dance" -- exemplifying the ways in which culture can defy and transcend political borders and boundaries.

The design draws from this rich history, mobilizing the lyrics of these songs as a form of "readymade" political speech and commentary: issuing an affective cry against immigration and border enforcement policies, which have transformed the US/Mexico border region into a site of tragedy and heartache. 

The piece was commissioned by L.I.B.R.O.S. – an organization dedicated to the improvement of all library and information services to the growing number of Chicano/Latinos and Spanish-speaking people in San Diego County.

You can learn about the collaboration and find details for acquiring the piece here: https://sandiegolibros.bigcartel.com/

[1] Heart/Break

Acerca del Cruce... es una serie de historias que narran la experiencia del cruzar la frontera hacia California/Arizona por el desierto Sonorense. Individuos en fila para cruzar la frontera a pie en la Garita de San Ysidro dan voz a estas historias, basadas en testimonios que colectamos en albergues para migrantes en Tijuana y Mexicali.

Este es parte de una transmisión de radio que llevamos a cabo en la Garita de San Ysidro.

Something to do with Crossing...

Acerca del Cruce... [Clip]

Mujeres Mixtecas – una cooperativa de mujeres indígenas de Guerrero que viven y trabajan actualmente en Tijuana – fueron invitadas a producir y vender sus productos como parte de una residencia que facilitamos en colaboración con locatarios del Mercado de Artesanías de la Línea en la Garita de San Ysidro. 

Como culminación, colaboramos con la colectiva para crear un mural con la frase “es mejor encender una luz que maldecir la oscuridad” bordada a mano en mixteco y en español. 

El mural fue incluido en una instalación como parte del Mexicali Biennial que incluyó este audio. Consiste de una entrevista con la colectiva Mujeres Mixtecas del año 2012 y una entrevista del año 2019 con Janet Martínez y Luiz Lopez Resendiz, coordinadores en California del Frente Indígena de Organizaciones Binacionales (FIOB) acerca de los flujos culturales y sociales facilitados por la migración de familias Mixtecas desde el interior de México a Tijuana y a través de la frontera.

Es una meditación acerca de como la migración y la cultura crean lazos que desafian la capacidad divisoria de una frontera.

Es Mejor Encender... [Mexicali Biennial 2019]

Somos un colectivo de arte binacional analizando e intentando transformar el tipo de intercambio social, cultural y económico que ocurre a través de la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México por medio de la cultura popular.

//

We are a binational art collective analyzing and seeking to transform the types of social, cultural and economic exchanges that occur across the U.S.-Mexico border through popular culture.

©© | Cog•nate Collective

Popular tracks